Grande maquette

Learning from Bukavu: two experimental graphic protocols for humanitarian modelling in an un-planned city

This exhibition will introduce participants to the production of newly sensible graphic methods for designerly urban and architectural research. In the city of Bukavu, Eastern DR Congo, the longstanding internal conflict has blurred the lines between economic mobility towards urbanized centres and the displacement of populations towards safe areas, both phenomena resulting in the rapid growth of cities usually without plans. Unprecedented urban growth and the development challenges of Bukavu are demanding for imaginative debate and original thinking.

Two graphic protocols will be discussed:

Protocol 1 — La Très Grande Maquette (TGM)

In April 2024, around 150 architecture students from the Université Catholique de Bukavu (UCB) built a gigantic model of their city — La Très Grande Maquette (TGM).

This model represents a first attempt to visualize and test pragmatic elements necessary for the city’s expansion. The TGM workshop explored Bukavu’s “implosion and explosion” — scenarios for inclusive and sustainable urban transformation.

Through the TGM, Bukavu’s students and researchers developed a prospective vision addressing challenges such as rapid population growth, high resource consumption, and climate pressures.

Protocol 2 — Humanitarian Design in an Unplanned Neighbourhood

In July 2025, the research group The Future of Humanitarian Design (HUD) co-organized a workshop titled Learning from Bukavu: Humanitarian Design in an Unplanned Neighbourhood.

Participants collected visual data using mobile phones, transforming everyday technology into a “hacking” tool for observation, learning, and reimagining the urban environment.

The workshop produced “sensitive cartographies” — visual narratives that capture Bukavu’s development challenges and potential. Starting from the small scale and from within the community, these graphic explorations seek to reappropriate mapping as a design tool, enabling alternative and locally grounded planning proposals.

From 4 to 12 April 2024 the School of Architecture of UCB organized the Très grande maquette, a very large model of the city of Bukavu. Around 200 persons participated in building their city to scale.