Traditional circular plan housing for rapidly urbanizing Rwanda

Rwanda?s plots and housing plans featured a circular shape until the time of colonization by Germany Belgium, when-beginning with house Dr Richard Kandth in 1909-a new configuration buildings having square or rectangular base was introduced. Today, some contemporary public seem to recall traditional forms, merging local building tradition aesthetics global architecture. With population more than 12 million an annual growth rate 2.8%, Rwanda aims accelerate pace urbanization making significant investments urban infrastructure construction sectors capital city Kigali secondary cities. This includes recent revisiting development master creation strict guidelines for sizes dedicated individual housing. paper reconsiders shapes that may emerge from these frameworks raise possibility re-emergence configurations would reinforce Rwandan identity transform rapid into mechanism cultural significance. provides overview historical, technical, cultural, aesthetic values pre-colonial architectural shapes, while also tracing those influences on twenty-first-century other cities Rwanda. Authors consider as well how potentially be used solutions given current plan requirements. Although circle is not commonly at present single-family due technical challenges higher costs involved, it nevertheless remains historically culturally important design potential future applications.