The roof is the first thing to read about at Kimisagara. The district sits in a valley in central Kigali, with steep hills rising on every side, so the building is seen from above as much as from the street. The designers treated the roof as a fifth facade and the community’s landmark.
The centre came out of the 20 Centres for 2010 campaign. FIFA ran it to use the 2010 World Cup in South Africa for social change. The attention around the tournament raised funds for twenty Football for Hope Centres across Africa, combining public health, education and football. Kimisagara is the Rwandan example.
The idea: a building that gives people a reason to meet
At Kimisagara, football is a tool for reconciliation, together with education and awareness. The client was Espérance, a Kigali nonprofit. Architecture for Humanity oversaw design and construction, working with FIFA, streetfootballworld and Espérance, to give youth in a society recovering from civil war access to sport, education and social programs.
The architecture does not depict reconciliation. It supplies shared ground where young people can spend time together, which is a common approach to recovery after conflict.
The place and its design choices
The site is in the Kimisagara valley, the most densely populated, disadvantaged part of central Kigali, with few opportunities for young people. It lies within a primary school’s grounds, next to a re-engineered water channel and a seasonal wetland that floods.
The brief called for a half-sized pitch and a community centre with changing rooms, educational spaces and a multi-functional gathering space. The completed centre includes the pitch, changing rooms, a library and a meeting room.
- Orientation. The pitch runs north/south, which activates a path along the watercourse, providing water and public recreational space.
- Path and canal. The road beside the channel, used for washing cloth and as commercial space, connects the centre to the residential area. The informal route links the centre with existing public facilities and the dense neighborhood.
- One block, one big roof. The main functions sit in a single block, while a roof with an extended canopy gathers overlapping activities and marks out play areas and edges for informal economies.
- Water. The roof harvests 2.6 million liters of rainfall a year. Water collected from the pitch area flushes the toilets and showers.
- Power. All of the electricity comes from solar panels. Solar lighting reduces utility fees and provides some community resources.
Archis describes the building as low cost and low tech. That matters for a community organization that has to pay to run the place after the designers leave.
Working with the neighborhood
Each Football for Hope Centre is designed with local materials and attuned to local circumstances. Architecture for Humanity placed staff near the project sites, embedded in the community, so residents’ needs were heard and they were involved throughout.
Archnet lists Kimisagara as completed in 2012, at 500 square meters.
What other designers take from it
Kimisagara shows how much a modest building can do when it is tied to existing routes and daily needs, such as washing, trading, schooling and play. Managing flood-prone water, covering utility costs and marking out space for informal trade are practical choices, and they sit alongside the social mission rather than apart from it.
The wider program followed the same principle. It was launched in 2007 by FIFA and streetfootballworld to build 20 community centers across 15 African countries. According to Architecture for Humanity, designing each centre uniquely let every community build its own identity into it.