Benimana on training a new generation of architects

Christian Benimana earned a scholarship to China a decade ago because there were no architectural schools in Rwanda. He now holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP) of Tongji University in Shanghai, China. The scholarship however, did not only earn his dream profession, but the experience while there also made him aware of the dangers of uncontrolled urbanization, such as population displacement and uncontrollable pollution. “Architecture is widely misunderstood and because of that we often malpractice it and we conceal all the negative consequences created behind the beauty façade. Christian Benimana. / Courtesy The old thinking of new cities that involves facial beauty architecture, does not provide economic and social opportunities for economic growth or social inclusiveness.The facial beauty should not stop us from questioning the foundation of the architecture,” Benimana says. After returning home in 2010, Benimana witnessed problems that were similar to those he had seen abroad. Rwanda was also going through a major urban-construction boom withneighborhoods being destroyed to leave place for the new developments. “Right now if you look at all the African cities, none of it can contain twice its population because none of them has an ecosystem that is resilient to support it. It will be characterized by terrible waste management and insecurity, poor housing and it will be a disaster which means that the cities will not absorb the urban population.” “Right now, because of the misunderstanding, we plan our cities and environment based on that shallow thinking of architecture and that is a grave mistake, especially in Africa because fifteen years from now, more than 50% of Africa’s population will be hugely urban,” he says. Benimana is particularly interested in the innovative use of materials and technologies for sustainable designs and is helping lead a new generation of African architects who he hopes will help shape Rwanda’s entire infrastructure leading the implementation of the African Design Center, a field-based apprenticeship that is meant to foster some badly needed design talentat a time when Africa is experiencing unprecedented growth. “Most professions cannot be neutral and everything we do comes with implications and our actions involve a lot of investments, both financial and time and human capital. They also happen to be the ones that affect the environment the most, buildings account for 40% of the emitting carbon dioxide emitted,” he says. For this reason, he believes that architectures sit at an interesting intersection where they hold a lot of power with our actions even though“the trends in the profession have made us blame everything on other people but when you analyze, you realize that our actions end up hurting our societies.” “Rwanda,” he says, “has a unique opportunity where we stand a chance to prove that these things are possible because of its political will which is very supportive of investment solutions and that’s a very valuable asset because once you have that, it is possible to pay attention to these things that we are trying to address and figure out where we get the right solution.” His call to action is to try to convince fellow architects that there are possibilities to provide better solutions for our societies and also convince those that are not architects that they should demand that type of architecture, they deserve. There is no reason why they should settle for less and he has committed his professional career to fight for this cause. “As architects I feel like we are not educating young professionals correctly. We are basically teaching these young people the same mistake we have been doing and hoping that they can repeat them.” “We don’t know how life will be in the years to come: Technology is changing life and slowly giving people a mind shift on how we live our lives. The whole concept of urban life is changing and there is a total lack of definition of African urban life and there is no identity of our cities and that’s a major problem.We need people who can think within the context of sustainable development,” he says. His professional background Christian Benimana has been involved with design/build projects, development initiatives, operational and administration leadership at MASS, as well as teaching at the School of Architecture of the University of Rwanda’s College of Sciences and Technology. He is currently the chairman of both the Education Board of the Rwanda Institute of Architects and the Education Board of the East African Institute of Architects. He was a designer on the Rwinkwavu NICU/OR project, project manager for the construction administration of the Maternity Waiting Village project in Malawi. In addition, he worked on the Liberia Health Infrastructure Standards and Guidelines for the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, where he lived for six months, and designed a master plan for the Albert Schweitzer hospital in Lambarene, Gabon. editorial@newtimes.co.rw

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Benimana on training a new generation of architects