Pan African Movement

Africa’s mud houses and thatched roofs have been spoken of in derogatory ways for decades. Sadly, even by Africans themselves. The same forms dismissed as primitive are what the rest of the world pays premium rates to sleep inside when they are refined and taken seriously. This is Bisate Lodge, Ruhengeri, Rwanda. Twelve spherical thatched villas woven into the slopes of an eroded volcanic cone adjacent to Volcanoes National Park. The form is taken directly from the King’s Palace at Nyanza, a precolonial Rwandan royal structure. The thatching is done entirely by hand using traditional technique. The stone references the volcanic landscape surrounding the site. The entire complex runs off-grid. This is not wildlife tourism. People come here specifically for what the building is and where it comes from. That is architectural tourism. And Africa is sitting on an enormous, largely untapped version of it. Our vernacular forms are climatically intelligent, culturally rooted and visually extraordinary. The only thing standing between what we have and what the world will pay for is the decision to stop being embarrassed by our own heritage and start refining it. Rwanda made that decision. The world showed up. Nicholas Plewman Architects | Ruhengeri, Rwanda 🇷🇼 | 2018 📸 Crookes and Jackson