Early Childhood Development centers design and building in Rwanda

Designing and Building ECD centres - Rwanda - Initiative 1

From 2011 to 2014, I contributed as an architect, researcher and consultant to the design, prototyping and construction of Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) centres, Early Childhood Development and Family (ECD&F) centres, and pre-primary schools across Rwanda. This work was carried out through my roles at ASA Studio and in collaboration with Creative Assemblages, in partnership with UNICEF, the Government of Rwanda, and international and local NGOs including PLAN International, CARE, ADRA and the Imbuto Foundation.

Across this period, our teams designed and implemented 10 pre-primary schools and 22 ECD and ECD&F centres across multiple districts, working in both rural communities and refugee camps. These projects were not conceived as isolated buildings, but as part of a broader research-driven effort to understand how spatial environments influence early childhood development, caregiving practices and community formation.

The initial phase of work, developed with PLAN Rwanda in districts such as Bugesera and Gatsibo, emerged from a two-year field-based research process combining spatial analysis, ethnographic observation and participatory engagement with caregivers, community leaders and children. This research led to the formulation of a “Rwandan-made” ECD model, grounded in local construction techniques, material ecologies, and socio-cultural practices around childcare, particularly the spatial relationship between children, caregivers and communal life.

Key architectural features, such as shaded verandas functioning as collective thresholds, kitchen gardens supporting nutrition programmes, and flexible indoor/outdoor learning environments, were deliberately designed to extend learning beyond the classroom and embed ECD centres within everyday community life.

Building on these initial prototypes, the collaboration with UNICEF Rwanda enabled the scaling, refinement and territorial deployment of ECD&F centres across nine districts. These centres introduced an expanded typology integrating early learning, nutrition, health monitoring, parental education and community gathering functions within a single spatial system. The work required not only architectural design, but also the development of new construction protocols, visual manuals and communication tools to enable implementation by semi-skilled community labour and diverse NGO partners.

A central innovation of this work was the translation of architectural design into replicable systems: adaptable layouts, incremental construction logics, and low-cost material assemblies capable of responding to different topographies, climates and resource constraints. These systems contributed to the standardisation of pre-primary classroom units and ECD facilities later adopted within national frameworks, including the development of child-friendly school environments and integrated ECD policies.

The pre-primary school typologies developed during this period, both in rural districts and refugee camps such as Kigeme and Mugombwa, further advanced the idea of space as an active pedagogical agent. Classrooms incorporated built-in furniture, varied openings, intermediate covered spaces and outdoor learning areas, enabling diverse forms of play, interaction and sensory stimulation.

Importantly, these projects were embedded in participatory design and construction processes, in which communities were not only beneficiaries but also active co-producers of space. This included the co-design of facilities, involvement in construction, and the gradual transfer of technical knowledge through visual documentation and on-site training.

The cumulative impact of this work extends beyond the 30+ centres directly realised. The design principles, typologies and participatory methodologies developed through these collaborations informed national ECD strategies and were subsequently replicated, adapted and scaled across Rwanda. Today, these approaches underpin a network of nearly 5,000 ECD and pre-primary centres serving close to one million children, positioning Rwanda as a global reference in integrated, community-based early childhood infrastructure.

This body of work has been widely disseminated through publications such as Modelling Early Childhood Development Centers in Rwanda (Africa Habitat Review, 2012), Early Childhood Development centres in the Bugesera district (SlumLab, 2014), and Rwamagana ECD&F Centre (Boundaries, 2015), as well as through international exhibitions including the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Africa: Architecture, Culture and Identity, 2015), the Venice Architecture Biennale (2014), and the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich (Afritecture: Building Social Change, 2013–14).