Since 2019, a team of Syracuse Architecture students led by Associate Professor Yutaka Sho has been digitizing sketches and measurements that their counterparts at the National University of Rwanda have gathered in rural Masoro.
The Rwanda Housing Project exhibits the survey of 370 self-build homes depicting the structures, landscape, and infrastructure that the Masoro community members built for each other, along with the inhabitants’ demographics data. Also on view is a 36 foot-long drawing of historical Rwandan flora, fauna, and architectures since the pre-colonial time, to situate the contemporary autoconstruction practices.
The panel will discuss the aspirations and challenges of the global development projects involving various actors, including benefactors, beneficiaries, and technocrats, in both the global South and the global North, whose development ambitions often conflict.
Panelists
- Fatou Dieye, a Rwanda-based consultant specialized in the design, policy and supply chain mechanics necessary for building Sub-Saharan Africa’s green and inclusive cities
- James Setzler, Rwanda country director of nonprofit architecture firm General Architecture Collaborative (GAC)
- Yutaka Sho, Associate Professor at Syracuse University’s School of Architecture, and a partner at GAC
- Christina Chi Zhang, 2023-24 Harry der Boghosian Fellow and scholar of post-genocide Rwandan spaces
