EAIA PRESIDENT’S AWARD 2026

THE EAIA PRESIDENT’S AWARD 2026

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The East Africa Institute of Architects (EAIA), established in 1913 and representing Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda, has long been dedicated to advancing excellence in architectural education and practice across the region. In a new collaboration with Journeyman International (JI)—a nonprofit global platform that connects university students and professional volunteers with humanitarian and development organizations to deliver affordable, high-impact design/build projects in vulnerable communities—the two organizations are joining forces to launch a student competition for architecture students across the four East African nations. This initiative will challenge participants to apply their skills to real-world scenarios that serve community needs, blending EAIA's regional expertise and commitment to educational standards with JI's model of mentored, project-based learning, ultimately fostering a new generation of architects equipped to address the built environment challenges facing East Africa.

2.0 PROJECT BRIEF: GISIMBA MEMORIAL CENTER RENOVATION

2.1 Overview

The Gisimba Memorial Center in Kigali, Rwanda, carries a legacy that began in 1980 as one of the country's first orphanages, founded by Peter and Dancila Gisimba. Over the years, the center became a place of refuge, especially during the 1994 Genocide, when it sheltered hundreds of children and families. Today, the center has evolved from an orphanage into a trauma-informed community hub dedicated to transforming the lives of vulnerable children and youth through education, creative expression, and social resilience. With a mission rooted in dignity and hope, Gisimba continues to serve as a safe space where every child can thrive. To support this transformation, the center is undergoing a phased redevelopment plan designed to align with trauma informed design principles.

• PHASE 1 EDUCATIONAL HUB: Creating a nurturing environment that supports academic and after-school programs.
• PHASE 2 ADMINISTRATION HUB: Honoring the center's history through curated exhibitions and archives.
• PHASE 3 ARTS & MUSIC HUB (EAST AFRICA INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS 2026 PRESIDENT'S AWARD COMPETITION): Providing space for creative workshops and performance.

Together, these phases will reimagine the Gisimba Memorial Center as a holistic space of healing, learning, and opportunity for generations to come.

2.2 Project Justification

The project justification is rooted in EAIA's circulating leadership cycle: in July/August 2026, the presidency will be handed over to the Rwanda Institute of Architects (RIA). This transition presents a timely opportunity to refresh the nature of the competition, moving beyond theoretical design to a live, built project featuring an actual client and a designated site in Rwanda. The competition will be framed thematically around Rwanda's 100 Days of Remembrance (Kwibuka), challenging students to design with sensitivity, memory, and resilience as core architectural drivers. Successful designs will be awarded during the EAIA Annual General Meeting (AGM), giving winning entries high visibility among regional leadership and the opportunity for real-world construction and community impact.

2.3 The Competition

This project focuses on the renovation and adaptive reuse of the existing Arts & Music Workshop as part of a phased development of the larger trauma-informed campus. The objective is to transform the current facility into a safe, sensory-aware, and multifunctional creative environment that directly supports Gisimba's mission of healing through the arts.

The intervention must respond to:

• Trauma-informed design principles emphasizing felt safety, predictability, and emotional regulation
• Existing structural and spatial constraints of the current workshop building
• The needs of children (ages 3–18) and caregivers engaged in after-school and therapeutic programming
• Opportunities for low-cost, high-impact transformation aligned with phased development
• Long-term durability, maintainability, and community stewardship

Design strategies should prioritize:

• Adaptive reuse of existing workshop structures rather than demolition
• Creation of felt-safe, calm, and legible spatial environments for children with diverse emotional needs
• Strong integration of sensory design strategies (light, sound, texture, color, and spatial rhythm)
• Flexible spatial configurations supporting therapy-informed arts education
• Seamless connection between indoor learning spaces, outdoor play areas, and sensory landscapes

2.4 Programmatic Requirements

The renovated Arts & Music Workshop should function as a core creative and therapeutic node within the wider Gisimba Trauma-Informed Community Center, supporting expressive learning, emotional regulation, and healing through the arts.

2.5 Materials & Construction Strategy

Proposals should prioritize locally sourced, culturally rooted, and environmentally responsive materials, aligning with JI's design-build approach, which emphasizes building with communities and leveraging local skills, resources, and knowledge systems. Within the context of a broader "African architectural renaissance" marked by a renewed pride in regional identity, the preservation of pre-colonial spatial practices, and the advancement of vernacular building technologies; participants are encouraged to approach materiality as both a technical and cultural driver of design.

Key Principles:

• Local Materiality & Resource Efficiency: Prioritize materials that are locally sourced, readily available, and familiar to local builders, reducing cost, transportation impact, and dependency on imported systems.
• Buildability & Community Participation: Utilize simple, replicable construction techniques that can be executed with local labor, supporting knowledge transfer and long-term maintenance capacity.
• Vernacular & Hybrid Construction Techniques: Draw from indigenous and pre-colonial building knowledge, such as passive cooling strategies, natural materials, and craft-based construction. Explore how these can be adapted or enhanced through contemporary methods.
• Climate-Responsive Design: Integrate passive environmental strategies including natural ventilation, shading, and thermal mass, to enhance comfort and reduce reliance on mechanical systems.

Beyond technical resolution, participants are invited to consider this project as a humanitarian response focused on trauma recovery and child-centered social healing through architecture. Within this framework, design is not only an exercise in spatial organization, but a medium for restoring dignity, fostering emotional resilience, and supporting long-term psychosocial recovery for children and communities.

Participants are encouraged to explore:

• How architecture can function as a quiet but powerful tool for healing, stability, and emotional grounding
• Innovative yet practical approaches to small-scale interventions that generate meaningful psychological and social impact
• Strategies that prioritize sensitivity, restraint, and precision rather than excess or form-driven solutions
• Opportunities for replication of trauma-informed, healing-centered design principles across similar community contexts facing layered social vulnerability

3.0 ENTRY CATEGORIES

• Category 1 – East Africa Architecture Students Best Design: Open to students from all academic years. The competition for this category will be based on a shared site and theme.
• Category 2 – Section Member Best Project: Projects other than category 1 above in the department of architecture (architectural program).
• Category 3 – Emerging School Best Project: Projects from the first graduating class of the emerging program or school (schools with their first graduating cohort). The competition announcement will be released mid-May 2026.

Eligibility & Entry Requirements

• Entries must be from architecture professional degree programs located in a country member of the East Africa region and whose local professional body is a member of the East Africa Institute of Architects.
• Entries for Category 1 can be in teams or individuals. For individual entries should be from years 3,4,5 and 6 while for Group entries should have members between four and six. Also, note that the team leaders should come from year 4, 5 or 6.
• Entries for category 2 and 3 must be projects started and completed between July 2025 and July 2026.
• Entries for category 2 and 3 must be projects of fully enrolled full-time students in the programs of study.
• Entries in category 1 (East Africa Architecture Students Best Design) cannot compete in other categories.
• Entries in category 2 must be projects done by students in other years rather than the final year of study in the faculty/department of architecture.
• Entries in category 3 must be projects from the first graduating class of the emerging program or school. All entries must be submitted online as per deadline.
• Design output should include but not limited to: Conceptual site analysis and design philosophy and narrative; Detailed architectural drawings (site plan, floor plans, sections, and elevations); Visualizations and material explorations; A sustainability strategy addressing environmental, social/cultural, and economic factors.

Submission Requirements

• Submission Form fully filled (Online) through a portal which will be provided after registering for the competition.
• Four No. A1 (4) digital boards PNG or PDF format.
• A digital recording video explaining and presenting the project. The maximum length of the video must be 10 minutes. The videos must be submitted under WMV, MPEG, AVI, KLV or FLV format.
• The combined size of entries not to exceed 25MB (Submit as a single zip file).
• Entries must be submitted once with all attachments. Entries submitted multiple times will be discarded.

Disqualification Criteria

• Any sort of plagiarism including but not limited to the use of other's work, AI generated work, improper credit or citation and lack of references will automatically lead to disqualification of the entry.
• Entries not meeting eligibility and entry requirements will be disqualified and not adjudicated.
• All entries whose applicant or member of the group applying violates the rules and regulations of the competitions will be disqualified from the competition.

🏆 4.0 AWARDS