Can better housing bring better doctors?

Located on an adjacent site to the Butaro Hospital, the Butaro Doctors’ Housing is designed to attract and retain skilled physicians at the new hospital. The construction process provided invaluable opportunities to further implement and scale MASS’s on-site job training in sustainable construction for members of the community.

© MASS Design Group

Completed in November 2012, the project lays precedence for innovative, earthquake safe, and sustainable building practices that use locally available materials. MASS designed and built four duplexes using compressed stabilized earth blocks (CSEBs)—a brick produced with dirt excavated on-site—manufactured by skilled, local craftsmen that were trained throughout the process. The project was able to fill 900 jobs for members of the community, and provide training in sustainable building practices, leading to $400,000 distributed into the local and regional economies. Today, the Butaro District Hospital is outfitted with eight new doctor accommodations in a region previously without access to quality doctors.

© MASS Design Group

The project was completed in collaboration with the Daniel E. Ponton Fund at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Partners In Health, and the Rwandan Ministry of Health.

© MASS Design Group

© MASS Design Group

© MASS Design Group

© MASS Design Group

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