Brick Tower
A locally built brick tower rises from a sea of corrugated-iron roofs in an upgrading Kigali neighbourhood, proving that a comfortable, naturally ventilated high-rise can be built without air conditioning, imported materials, or high technology.
The Context and Challenge
The building stands in Kacyiru, a rapidly transforming district of Kigali, on a compact, fully landlocked plot of roughly 550 square metres embedded in a dense, informally developed fabric. Enclosed on all sides by neighbouring parcels, it connects to the public road only through a narrow access tongue and emerges visibly from the surrounding red and rusting metal roofscape.
Roger Brugger and Sandra Haile Brugger asked ASA Studio to replace the existing single-storey dwellings with a mixed-use building that would maximise a small plot while remaining affordable and respectful of its context.
A minimal footprint, a tight budget, Kigali’s seismic conditions, and the need to deliver interior comfort without mechanical cooling defined the limits of the design.
The Design Concept and Solution
Organised as a G+4 tower, the building stacks parking and services on the ground floor, three levels of open-plan offices above, two apartments on the fourth floor, and a shared rooftop terrace, creating a gradient from public to private.
The environmental strategy is embedded in the plan: all servant spaces — stair, elevator, toilets, and storage — are concentrated along the heat-exposed west façade, forming a deep thermal mass that buffers the habitable rooms. This allows the west façade to be almost entirely closed while freeing every floor to open on three sides — east, north, and south — as flexible, column-light plates that capture daylight, cross ventilation, and valley views without direct heat gain.
The reinforced-concrete frame, sized for seismic conditions, is fully concealed behind an envelope of locally produced fired clay bricks, made by a women-led cooperative and laid by local masons, many trained under the SKAT-led PROECCO programme, a Swiss initiative transforming Rwanda’s construction sector towards lower-carbon brick technologies.
The rowlock-bond walls reduce the use of cement, sand, and stone, while their cavities house services and improve thermal and ventilation performance. Solid, perforated, and protruding bricks compose an earthy, tactile façade, with openings framed by bold coloured reveals.
Comfort is achieved through architecture, not machinery. The perforated west wall draws air through the full height of the building and, with the open staircase acting as a stack, ventilates the tower passively. At the fourth floor, the façade opens to a terrace shaded by a single tree: a shared outdoor room read as a play of solid and void.
