Norrsken temperatur
The École Belge de Kigali, established in , is one of the oldest international schools in Rwanda and an educational pillar of the country. How can an entrepreneurial workspace become a catalyst for rapid, just, and inclusive economic transformation in the region? The northern lights are ephemeral, and the forecast is not always entirely accurate. Combining these conservation measures, the campus design achieves a 32 percent embodied carbon reduction compared to the global average for similar office buildings.
While repurposing existing classroom blocks, the site also presented an opportunity to build a new frontage that is open, transparent, and engaging. With the historic classrooms and former school playgrounds at risk of being demolished for high-rise commercial use, MASS aimed to preserve the historic structure of the École Belge and illustrate how adaptive reuse could work within the neighborhood to create moments of green and public spaces.
Instead of demolition, MASS prioritized deconstruction and reuse of materials, including benches, walls, and pathways. For temperature. Program: Adaptation of a historic site into an entrepreneurship hub to fuel growth and investment in East Africa. The steel of one existing building was entirely salvaged, and then reused to build the outdoor pergola event space. Kigali, Nyarugenge District, Rwanda.
Northern Lights
Norrsken Kigali House. The new Norrsken hub is housed on the historic École Belge site in central Kigali, and marks the first adaptive reuse project in the area. For temperature control and ventilation, the design optimizes clay-shaded facades and natural ventilation, and incorporates a thermal labyrinth, a pioneering sustainable cooling system, to reduce energy demands. Treated water flows into infiltration trenches below on-site gardens, where it seeps into the soil.
The campus design successfully prioritizes existing architecture and landscape, requiring only two trees in total to be cut down. To conserve energy and water, all stormwater is managed on site or harvested for non-potable water services, including flushing toilets. It offers a new model of how restoration and mixed use development can occur in harmony, setting the tone for future redevelopment in the Central Business District.
Year: Status: Completed Size: 4, sq. The best northern lights forecast we have is our own eyes. Photo: Chris Schwagga. The completed campus is comprised of four buildings and an outdoor pergola structure: three renovated École Belge classroom blocks and one newly constructed building, the main Norrsken House. Adaptive reuse measures make the Norrsken Kigali House an example of inclusive urban development, creating new public thresholds along the site perimeter.
The Norrsken Kigali House is a model of green building development and will be EDGE Advanced certified, meaning its buildings will have 40 percent or more on-site energy savings. Combining New Buildings and Adaptive Reuse Adaptive reuse measures make the Norrsken Kigali House an example of inclusive urban development, creating new public thresholds along the site perimeter. The time from measurement to atmospheric impact and the creation of northern lights varies between minutes depending on the speed of the solar wind.
Nordlysvarsel
The Norrsken Kigali House is a model of green building development and will be EDGE Advanced certified, meaning its buildings will have 40 percent or more on-site energy savings. The main Norrsken House was designed with a circular economy approach by using a steel and timber structural framing system, which is more lightweight than concrete, and reduced the amount of materials required for the foundation by 28 percent.
The landscape design, also led by MASS, fosters collaboration and networking opportunities beyond the building. After flushing, the water makes its way to the on-site wastewater treatment plant. For existing classroom blocks, this entailed conducting seismic retrofitting, reinforcing existing low-strength masonry walls and foundations, and incorporating a diaphragm into a new roof. Across the site, new spaces for different scales and types of work, from large collaborative areas to quiet individual workspaces, in addition to landscaped and semi-public outdoor spaces were designed.
This reduces the risk of harmful flash flooding effects on vulnerable communities located downstream from the site.