Rajkumari Ratnavati Girl's School

Utilizing traditional design from northwestern India, this desert building serves a nontraditional purpose.

- Nate Berg

To survive in the remote, sandstorm-prone Thar Desert region of northwestern India, structures require rugged sandstone. Builders there specialize in the intricate carving and stacking of stones to provide shelter, shade, and defense from the desert’s fierce winds. The new Rajkumari Ratnavati Girl’s School, outside the city of Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, was designed by Diana Kellogg Architects as an elliptical fortress, using