Designing with local resources: Library in Muyinga, Burundi.

Belgian firm BC architects has adopted the concept of the OpenStructures.net at the architectural level, building a facility for – and with – the local community. A library that pays special attention to deaf children.



Hearing impaired people who live in a society based on oral tradition are excluded. So, the first library to be built in Muyinga, Burundi the capital of the homonymous province in the country’s north has a dual purpose – to give locals cultural opportunities and to give hearing impaired children the possibility of integration, since the project includes a special school for them.





During the design stages, the architects followed a participative process, involving not only the local labour force but also students and young architects to develop a facility that really meets the needs of the people: hearing impaired and non.





Workshops for European students during construction turned into the opportunity for cultural exchange and to pool knowledge both about the local materials used in the building – earth first and foremost – and about building techniques. The whole project has contributed to the local economy and gives prominence to what the territory offers.



An excellent example of sustainable architecture – social and environmental.

Architect: BC architects
Location: Muyinga (BU)
Client: ODEDIM 
Local material consultancy: BC studies
Community participation and organisation: BC studies and ODEDIM Muyinga
Cooperation: ODEDIM Muyinga NGO, Satimo vzw, Sint-Lucas Architecture University, Sarolta Hüttl, Sebastiaan De Beir, Hanne Eckelmans
Financial support: Satimo vzw, Rotary Aalst, Zonta Brugge, Province of West-Flanders
Concept: 2012