he burera district was one of the most under-served parts of rwanda, one of the last two areas in the country lacking a regional hospital.
massachusetts-based non profit firm MASS design group pooled its resources and designed ‘butaro hospital’ as part of a program of partners in health and
in collaboration with the government of rwanda. bringing together infectious disease specialists as well as brigham and women’s hospital and
harvard medical school to effectively mitigate and reduce the transmission of airborne illnesses, the architecture works with the program,
using design strategies in plan, patient and staff circulation and natural cross-ventilation. the architecture takes advantage of the temperate
climate to create a network of outdoor spaces and a ventilation strategy that changes the air in the ward at least a dozen times an hour using
a simple stack principle, wherein hot air rises and is ejected from the building. high-vaulted ceilings and slow moving fans also promote the
gentle movement of air. the hilltop campus is a series of terraced gardens, open courtyards and covered verandahs, that serve the dual purpose
of creating gathering areas and preventing infection by eliminating enclosed spaces where possible. additionally, color coded signs are employed to
help patients and families navigate the veranda system and prevent cross-contamination between wards. a spatial triage system is designed to assist
the most vulnerable and immune-compromised patients. the architects prioritized air quality as a central design problem because tuberculosis is a
leading killer along with HIV; many clinics became sites of infection rather than places for finding care. the building solves to create new standards
where infection control becomes a design strategy.