Kevin Kimwelle, a Kenyan architect and researcher, was never convinced that megastructures and massive development projects are the best way to serve African communities. Yet teaching sustainability to communities who already live it seemed hypocritical. As a result, he now practices community architecture, which foregrounds local knowledge as its greatest asset. From rural villages where reuse is a way of life to urban demolition sites where waste becomes a resource, his work in South Africa reconsiders circularity in construction. He talks to Noah Pasqualini, an assistant at the CEA Lab at ETH Zurich, about how community-driven design can bridge social, economic, and environmental divides.

Episode credits:

Interview by Noah Pasqualini. Produced and edited by Jennifer Bartmess with assistance from Noah Pasqualini and Reva Saksena. Music by Coma Media. © Chair of Circular Engineering for Architecture at ETH Zurich