• Butaro Ambulatory Cancer Center/ MASS Design Group

Architects: MASS Design Group  
Location: Butaro,  Rwanda
Interior Décor: MASS Design Group
Project Year: 2012
Photographer: MASS Design Group
Website: www.massdesigngroup.org

 





From the Architects
With every structure, wall and building element within the ambulatory clinic by Mass Design, it seems to ask how can we design the best possible environment to receive cancer treatment?
The Butaro Cancer Center of Excellence (BCCE) is the first comprehensive cancer center in East Africa. Developed for Partners In Health, who are pioneering the movement towards non-communicable disease care in sub-Saharan Africa, and funded generously in part by the Jeff Gordon Foundation, the BACC adjoins the Butaro District Hospital and administers IV chemotherapy in an outpatient setting.

The clinic’s chemotherapy hall is designed to be a patient-centric space. Its infusion chairs arranged radially around central pods for ease of physician access. The arrangement allows each patient access to the exterior through an operable pivot door façade, bringing the beautiful landscape and vista of the Virunga mountain range directly into the infusion room.

A ventilation system completed with engineers at Big Ass Fans maximizes natural air flow and uses strategically located UVGI lights to neutralize harmful pathogens. Moreover the clinic incorporates all outdoor circulation and waiting areas, and is strategically separated from the sick, admitted patients at the nearby hospital, all in an effort to protect cancer patients with weakened immune systems. The state-of-the-art facility and much of the equipment were built with locally sourced materials, custom-assembled on site. Expanding upon the craft innovation and skills-training practices first deployed on the Butaro Hospital, the facility’s construction created jobs for over 550 people.

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