US firm announces plans to open "the Bauhaus of Africa"

由专筑网Ann，杨帆编译

MASS 设计组，一个非营利性质的美国机构，计划在卢旺达首都基加利开设建筑设计培训中心，用以帮助解决非洲地区专业设计师的匮乏问题。

MASS在波士顿和基加利均设有办事处，并将于九月二十七日在纽约举行的联合国峰会上公布设立新的非洲设计中心这一计划。MASS在2010年成立，在撒哈拉以南的非洲、海地和美国等地区已经完成了一系列的项目，其中包括学校、医疗诊所和住房。

MASS目前正在筹集资金准备新设计中心的建设，并计划明年开放。它将提供室内外的设计培训，以及相关的“软技能”，如网络和业务发展类课程。该公司希望在大陆其他地区复制这种试点学校。

MASS Design Group, a nonprofit US firm, plans to start an architecture and design training centre in Kigali, Rwanda, to help address the "dearth of professional designers" across Africa (+ movie).
MASS, which has offices in Boston and Kigali, will announce its plans for the new African Design Center at the United Nations Solutions Summit on 27 September in New York. The firm, founded in 2010, has completed a number of projects – including schools, medical clinics, and housing – in sub-Saharan Africa, Haiti and America.
The new centre, which the firm is raising money for and intends to open next year, will offer design training both in the classroom and in the field, and will also offer classes geared toward "soft skills" such as networking and business development. The firm hopes to replicate the pilot school in other regions around the continent.

MASS卢旺达地区项目总监同时也是基督教徒的Benimana将负责该中心。Benimana是卢旺达本地人，他在获得上海同济大学建筑学学位之后，于2010年开始在公司工作。

联合国峰会期间，Benimana将对新设计中心方案进行汇报，他将该提议称为"非洲包豪斯"–这将有助于解决美洲大陆地区专业设计师的匮乏问题。
据MASS统计，意大利拥有约153000名建筑师和设计师，而非洲只有35000名。尤其是针对非洲的人口与发展繁荣问题，新中心旨在发掘本土设计潜能。

Christian Benimana, the Rwanda program director for MASS, will lead the centre. A Rwandan native, Benimana started working for the firm in 2010 after earning an architecture degree from Tongji University in Shanghai.
During the UN summit, Benimana will give a presentation about the new centre, which he bills as the "the Bauhaus of Africa" – one that "will address the current dearth of professional designers across the continent."
There are only 35,000 architects and designers in Africa, compared to Italy's 153,000, according to the firm. The new centre aims to cultivate homegrown design talent, especially in light of Africa's population and development boom.

“预计未来20年人口将增长十亿，非洲将迫切需要基础设施建设。”该公司表示，“城市将利用社会性和可持续生态的方式，依靠以人为中心的设计者来应对欧洲大陆的挑战。”

“跨学科、基于各领域的项目将训练并部署出大陆最具创造力的人才，提供公共健康和环境危机的解决方案，消除威胁非洲发展进程的潜在因素，”该公司表示。

"With population growth projected at one billion over the course of the next 20 years, Africa is in dire need of primary infrastructure," said the firm. "Its cities will need to rely on human-centred designers to tackle the continent's challenges in a socially and ecologically sustainable way."
"The interdisciplinary, field-based program will train and deploy the continent's best creative minds to offer solutions against public health and environmental crises that threaten to cripple the potential of Africa's growth trajectory," said the firm.

Michael Murphy，MASS的创始人之一，补充说非洲的许多发展项目都依靠外国工人、材料和设计思路。“通常解决方案并不十分理想，不过持续性的转移提高了就业和经济自给的机会。”他说。

Murphy和 Alan Ricks在2010年创立了MASS 设计组，他们都毕业于哈佛大学建筑学院。随着在波士顿和基加利相继设立办事处，这一年轻的机构致力于创造“促进尊严、机遇和健康”的建筑，并在每一阶段的设计和施工过程中服务社会。MASS成为近期九月二十五日波士顿双年展上参展的四个新兴机构之一。

Michael Murphy, co-founder of MASS, added that many development projects in Africa rely on foreign workers, materials, and design ideas. "Oftentimes solutions aren't contextually appropriate, and they continue to divert opportunities for job growth and for economic self-sufficiency," he said.
MASS Design Group was established in 2010 by Murphy and Alan Ricks, both graduates of Harvard's architecture school. With offices in Boston and Kigali, the young firm is focused on creating architecture that "promotes dignity, opportunity and health" and engages the community at every stage of the design and construction process. MASS is one of four emerging firms thatcreated installations for Design Biennial Boston, which closes 25 September.

2013年，David Adjaye在接受Dezeen的访问中说道，非洲是建筑师的沃土。“此刻，非洲提供了一个非同寻常的机会。”他解释说，因为非洲大陆的GDP增长甚至优于中国。

最近在卢旺达计划的项目包括Foster事务所设计的无人机配套建筑和由Adjaye设计的儿童癌症治疗中心，而纽约建筑师 Sharon Davis则在最近完成了位于东非国家的医疗护理之家项目建设。

David Adjaye, in a 2013 interview with Dezeen, said Africa is fertile ground for architects. "Africa offers an extraordinary opportunity at the moment," explained Adjaye, who said that the continent's GDP growth was outperforming that of China.
Recent proposed projects in Rwanda include a droneport designed by Foster + Partners and a children's cancer treatment center by Adjaye. The New York architect Sharon Davis recently completedhousing for medical workers in the east African country.

出处：本文译自www.dezeen.com/，转载请注明出处。