Hillside saunas with city views in Rebero, Kigali

Building on a ridge

On this ridge a cabin stands on galvanised posts anchored into the terrace's stone wall, and its floor is levelled on top of them rather than on the ground. Nothing new is dug into the terrace, the wall that already holds the garden carries no extra weight, and rainwater runs beneath the cabin instead of through it.

We set the corner of the cabin at the edge of the terrace so the glass frames the city, and put the plunge behind it where the ground is wider. That turns the usual arrangement back to front, and on this ridge it is the right way round.

Getting materials down

The lanes are steep, narrow and red. The lorry stops wherever the lane still allows a turn, and the crew walks the panels down, often early in the morning before the surface softens. In the rainy seasons we schedule deliveries for the dry half of the day and accept that some weeks lose an afternoon.

Every panel is numbered in the factory and the crates are packed in assembly order, so the crew carries down only what the day's work needs instead of stacking the whole cabin on a narrow terrace.

The frame around the view

Two glass walls meeting at an open corner, with no post, is the detail that sells this neighbourhood: the city lights sit at the edge of your eye while you are on the bench. It costs more in structure and in heater capacity, and on this ridge it is worth it.

What the slope adds to the budget

We split the slope out so you can see it. A six-person cabin with corner glazing is 6.9 – 9.5 million RWF; the galvanised sub-frame for a steep terrace adds 0.9 – 2.4 million; the carry down the lane is its own labour line; and a longer cable run from the house to the edge of the terrace is priced by the metre. Corner glass also raises the heater: two glass walls take a six-person cabin from 15 kW to 21 kW in our altitude-corrected sizing. The reasoning behind each line is in Rwandan sauna prices explained.