Implementing appropriate building standards for the Rwandan climate.

Show ‘real people’ not staged photo-ops. Images showing ‘real people’ doing ‘real work’ help to generate a sense of climate solutions being integrated into daily life.

MASS Design Group was set up in 2008 as a non-profit organisation to deliver a model of architectural practice that has maximum impact for building users and surrounding communities in developing countries. The organisation’s aim is to design buildings that improve people’s lives, and since its first project in 2008, the design and building of the Butaro District Hospital in Rwanda, MASS has expanded to work in over a dozen countries in Africa and the Americas.

Their approach deliberately differs from western building standards, and instead tries to opt for a method that works with the natural environment in Rwanda and is as energy efficient as possible. The Group also performs community outreach by visiting schools and teaching students building techniques.