African Design Centre
Empowering African designers to shape a just, sustainable, and prosperous future for the continent.
By 2050, one in four people on the planet will be African, making the continent the epicenter of global population growth and urban development. Many past interventions – often led by outsiders – have displaced communities, erased cultural identities, and deepened economic dependence rather than fostering self-determination and equitable prosperity. How cities, infrastructure, and landscapes are responding to this unprecedented growth today threatens to deepen inequality and environmental degradation.
Iwan Baan
Mubuga Primary School
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African Leadership University Campus
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The Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
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We pilot high-impact, proof-of-concept projects — including maternal health facilities, innovation hubs, conservation infrastructure, and education campuses — that demonstrate scalable, community-centered design solutions for Africa’s most urgent challenges.
Moving Windmills
Developing a transformative education model in Malawi that empowers youth and local farming communities through hands-on learning, entrepreneurship, and sustainable development. Rooted in design-thinking pedagogy, this initiative fosters innovation, self-reliance, and economic resilience—providing alternative pathways out of poverty and equipping learners with the skills to drive community-led change.
African Design Center Fellowship
The Fellowship is a one-year residency program aimed at empowering emerging African designers. Through intensive training, mentorship, and hands-on projects, the program fosters local talent to lead equitable and sustainable development. The fellowship ensures that Africa’s architectural and design future is shaped by individuals who deeply understand the region's culture, environment, and communities.
Ellen DeGeneres Campus into a Conservation University: Phase 2
Future phases will transform the Ellen DeGeneres Campus into a Conservation University, creating a world-class educational institution dedicated to African leadership, cutting-edge research, and inclusive community engagement. Building on MASS’s commitment to locally driven solutions, the university will offer transformative academic and research opportunities in biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, and sustainable livelihoods, establishing the campus as a leading hub for regenerative development and ecological stewardship in Africa.
Case Study: Rwanda Institute of Conservation Agriculture
Iwan Baan
Rwanda faces urgent challenges in food security, land degradation, and rural poverty—issues exacerbated by unsustainable agricultural practices and a lack of training infrastructure. Historically, education systems have emphasized theory over practical skills, limiting the next generation of farmers and conservationists from building sustainable livelihoods. The country needed a new model—one that could regenerate ecosystems, empower communities, and shift national agricultural practices toward resilience and prosperity. Without bold intervention, the cycle of environmental degradation and economic vulnerability would continue, threatening biodiversity, nutrition, and long-term stability in a region deeply reliant on the land for its survival and future growth.
Iwan Baan
Iwan Baan
An extensive living laboratory was created on the former agricultural site through the planting of more than 250,000 native plants and the use of green roofs, rainwater harvesting, and a constructed wetland for wastewater treatment. Within three years, the researchers have seen wildlife at the campus that hasn’t been witnessed in the area in living memory - a testament to nature’s capacity to recover rapidly.
The campus marked the first project completed by MASS’s construction company, MASS.Build. This gave MASS agency over how resources were deployed and improved the ability to promote social, environmental, and economic impact through the construction process. MASS developed a measurement framework for the campus that evaluated mission-driven impacts, which are unique to each project, as well as indirect impacts related to environment, education, equity, economy, and emotion.
