The schools that stay cool in 40C

Architects use local materials and merge traditional techniques with modern technology to make welcoming spaces

- Elia Borràs

If architects are people who like to think their way around challenges, building schools in Burkina Faso must be the dream job. The challenges, after all, are legion: scorching temperatures in the high seasons, limited funds, materials, electricity and water, and clients who are vulnerable and young. How do you keep a building cool under a baking sun when there is no air conditioning?

Architect Diébédo Francis Kéré grew up in the small village of Gando and knows the challenges well. He and other architects such as Albert Faus are finding ingenious ways to use cheap materials to make sure that the schools and orphanages that they have built around Burkina Faso are cool, welcoming places.

Kéré, who won the Pritzker prize in 2022, has spoken movingly about the support he was given as a child by the whole community, with everyone giving money towards his education as he left the village and eventually gained a scholarship and studied in Germany. "The reason I do what I do is my community," he said.

Gando primary school, built in 2001, was Kéré's first construction after completing his studies. "At first, my community didn't understand why I wanted to build with clay when there were glass buildings in Germany, so I had to convince them to use the local materials," Kéré has said. Men and women came together to build the school, merging traditional techniques such as clay floors with more modern technology to seek better comfort.