imigongo chapel

Location: Rukomo, Rwanda
Type: Religious - Community Church, Ground Up
Status: International Competition, 2019
Size: 4,000 SF
Team: Miroslava Brooks, Daniel Markiewicz, Tyler Krebs

This project is an exploration in architectural form and a reflection of local Rwandan artistic practices. Inspired by the traditional art of Imigongo, this project aims to create meaning for all Rwandans regardless of their ethnic ancestry.  Imigongo artworks are composed from a series of even-width-lines that arrange themselves in a compact composition. Similarly, the chapel’s exterior is conceptualized as a thickened compacted line that turns and travels in space within a simple geometric volume.

Imigongo Chapel is an abstraction of the local artistic linework and it encourages unity in a nation recently divided. It creates a new church architecture with a robust formal language devoid of traditional religious symbols, but full of unique spatial moments. It is both a space of self-reflection and merely a moment within a continuous religious journey.