A 12,000-square-metre public space at the edge of a wetland and an informal settlement in Kigali. The site sits at a threshold, and the design responds to that condition rather than overriding it.
The question the project asks is straightforward: what does this community actually need from its public space? The answer is not benches and paving. It is meaningful engagement with the land they live beside. The wetland is not a backdrop here. It is the subject.
The programme has three parts. The first is a learning zone: outdoor classrooms and interpretive signage placed along existing circulation paths. The signage identifies birds by sound, explains why the reeds grow where they do, and gives visitors a way into understanding the ecology they are walking through. The second is movement: nature trails and elevated boardwalks that pass through the wetland without disturbing it. The boardwalks lift visitors above the most sensitive zones, so you experience the wetland from inside it rather than from its edge. The third is play: nature-integrated spaces for children using slopes, textures, and natural materials instead of imported equipment.
Together, the three parts make a gathering place. Twelve thousand square metres of public space for a neighbourhood that formal urban planning has largely passed over.
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