Kit Lee-Smith Y5
Transboundary Massif Challenging the ‘necessity’ of Portland cement on the Albertine Rift against the potential of geopolymer cement from mine tailings in the artisanal slopes of north Burrera, the project integrates community construction within the Rwandan ‘extraction’ policy minimising footprints in the densely populated Rwandan rural. In reviewing a new ‘artisanal’ approach that responds to the current blood mineral trades and investments into Portland Cement production, the project is a critical reflection that develops a strategy to prevent the regional reliance on concrete and promote a return to local material cycles. It proposes a constuctionarium to express, explore and educate inhabiting, utilising and stabilising past industrial scarring through geopolymeric lateritic soil blends and techniques. The design methodology employs an analogous making process that utilises actual mine tailings brought back from site and reflects the material and manufacturing conditions of the Bugarama mine district.
