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2022 Spring Lecture Series: Sierra Bainbridge

Learning from Rwanda

Sierra Bainbridge

Date

March 09, 2022

Time

6:00 p.m.

For More Info

communications@the-bac.edu

Cost

FREE

Categories

Events Lecture

Watch the Lecture Vidoe

Architects earned 1 LU/HSW credit by attending this lecture.

Since its beginnings, MASS Design Group sought to see how design could support projects under challenging conditions and with limited material access, striving to create outcomes that both serve the needs of communities and meet ambitious environmental targets. Helping build a climate positive future is imperative. Our projects move beyond just issues of energy use and efficiency, to holistically design the project ecosystem, including an entire supply chain that is sustainable, resilient, and regenerative.

From our early work in Rwanda to the present, this session will explore the notion that the best results for all stakeholders occur when a project is conceived and built with purpose, supporting equity and capacity-building within the local community. Additionally, it inspires the pursuit of environmental goals through a holistic approach to design and practice, going beyond carbon mitigation to protect and enhance biodiversity, and delivering life-changing benefits to vulnerable communities.

Date

March 09, 2022

Time

6:00 p.m.

For More Info

communications@the-bac.edu

Cost

FREE

Categories

Events Lecture

Watch the Lecture Vidoe

Architects earned 1 LU/HSW credit by attending this lecture.

Watch the Lecture Now

Sierra Bainbridge is a co-founding member of MASS. Sierra oversaw the design and construction of Rwanda’s Butaro Hospital. As cross-disciplinary Senior Principal and Managing Director, architect, licensed landscape architect, and educator, Sierra oversees MASS’s landscape architecture department. She directs the design and implementation of MASS’s projects in the United States and Africa.

By working deeply across disciplines to radically reshape the material supply chain, Sierra helps shift MASS’s portfolio to approach carbon neutrality as close to project completion as possible. This began with working with the African Wildlife Foundation on the Ilima Primary School through their African Conservation Schools initiative and continues to be tested at scale through educational agricultural campuses including Farm Hub in Hudson Valley and the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture in Bugesera. Sierra is also working on multiple campuses with indigenous communities in North Dakota, Louisiana, and California and has overseen the development of international design standards such as The African Wildlife Foundation’s Guidelines for Conservation and the creation of healthcare guidelines for Rwanda.

Prior to joining MASS, Sierra worked at James Corner Field Operations, in the design and implementation of Section 1 of the New York City High Line. Sierra has taught graduate-level studios at various universities and from 2010-2012, Sierra served as Head of the Architecture Department at the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) in Rwanda. Sierra served as a Sasaki Distinguished Visiting Critic at the Boston Architectural College and has lectured widely including at UPenn, Harvard University, and the University of Toronto. She is on the Executive Board of the Landscape Architecture Foundation, and taught Options Studio at Harvard GSD in 2020 and 2021. Sierra earned her Bachelor of Arts in Art and Architectural History from Smith College and her Master of Landscape Architecture and of Architecture from the University of Pennsylvania.

Architects earned 1 LU/HSW credit by attending this lecture.

Rwanda Institute of Conservation Agriculture. Credit: MASS Design Group. RICA’s team orchestrated a masterplan for climate-positive design that will produce a net-zero carbon footprint through landscape design, sustainable construction methods, and materials such as stone, soil, and vegetation sourced directly from the site.

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