Muzamil Mutalib

advisor

City University Malaysia

Malaysia

Lecturer specializing in Interior Design and Architecture, with a strong passion for blending… more

This project stands as a bold and deeply meaningful reinterpretation of a colonial-era structure into a beacon of local identity and social empowerment. By transforming a Belgian modernist building in the heart of Bukavu into a vibrant socio-economic reintegration center, the design merges history, culture and hope into one expressive architectural gesture. The use of vivid color is both aesthetic and symbolic replacing colonial neutrality with regional vibrancy, it becomes a language of optimism and belonging. The playful modularity and dynamic facade echo local craftsmanship and communal spirit, reasserting the people’s voice in a once imposed structure. Technically, the intervention respects the building’s core geometry while adding culturally resonant features like lattice brickwork, open balconies and passive shading strategies. It is adaptive reuse at its most socially conscious sustainable, transformative and community driven. Ultimately, this is more than a building revival, it’s a reclamation of space, identity and dignity an architectural statement of resilience and future potential for the Bukavian people.