At MASS Design Group, he leads the Africa Studio as a Co-Executive Director and Senior Principal. His extensive portfolio includes the Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture, the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, the African Leadership University, Ruhehe Primary School, the Nyarugenge District Hospital, Munini Hospital, the Maternity Waiting Village, and the Regional Centre of Excellence in Biomedical Engineering and eHealth.

He is dedicated to empowering leaders who will design a more equitable, just, and sustainable world. The African Design Centre provides a field-based apprenticeship that aims to equip the next generation of African designers with socially focused design principles.

Christian Benimana is a recognized global thought leader with extensive knowledge of the architectural industry in Rwanda and East Africa. In 2023, he curated an exhibition at the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. He was recognized as a 2017 Quartz Africa Innovator and has been named among ten architects and designers who are championing Afrofuturism.

He has taught at the University of Rwanda’s Architecture School and authored articles and book chapters, including “An African Theory of Architecture” in The Architectural Guide to Sub-Saharan Africa (DOM, 2021), “Re-Thinking the Future of African Cities” in The African Perspective (TAP) Magazine, and “Creating Design Leaders: The African Design Centre” in The Public Interest Design Education Guidebook: Curricula, Strategies, and Seed Academic Case Studies (Routledge 2019).

Christian Benimana holds a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from Tongji University’s College of Architecture & Urban Planning in Shanghai, China. He was a Global Health Corps Design Fellow in 2010 and more recently served as the Secretary General of the East Africa Institute of Architects.