Kigutu in Formation was an environmental installation within the Traces of Centuries & Future Steps exhibition at the 13th Venice Architecture Biennale. Depicting our architectural teamwork with Village Health Works and the Kigutu community to rebuild their off-the--grid site after many years of overwhelming civil strife in Burundi, Africa, the installation portrayed the interwoven relationship between the East African cultural and natural landscapes in the context of aesthetics, sustainability, and societal advancement. Fabric wrapped cylinders intertwined with images and video enhanced by the urgent sound of African drumbeats created a collage of the collaboration that will craft this community. The exhibit displayed our current global/local effort to create a sustainable design for both the master site plan and several new buildings on this 40 acre rural site. Because the Kigutu community was probably unfamiliar to many people viewing the exhibition, we felt that our installation must be experiential, incorporating the feel and the sounds of East Africa. Consequently we created an environment which three dimensionally embraced visitors who passed through, bringing them closer to the human dimension of the local/global collaborative plight of the people in Burundi.
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