The secondary school in Gando is a lighthouse project providing an outstanding contribution to the dominant issues on the country’s path to a sustainable future. The jury was unanimously impressed by the school’s beauty and its innovative architectural concept, which combines both modern and vernacular construction methods, as well as by its social and educational impact. Locally-sourced clay is mixed with aggregates and cement to cast walls on-site based on a two-piece formwork.
The school also shows how a low-tech, energy saving and low-cost climatic concept can be used in extremely hot weather conditions. Technical solutions including passive ventilation, underground cooling, and automatic irrigation are integrated into the architectural solution. Reforestation, greenery, stack-effect air currents, and double-skin roofs and façades are other important sustainable components of the clay building. To fight against the ongoing expansion of the desert and to prevent the dehydration of the ground, rainwater is captured and centrally stored for irrigating the newly-planted trees in the area. From a materials and technology perspective, the secondary school in Gando will set an example for new sustainable construction – not only in the arid Sahel, but in all developing regions around the world.
The project provides more than just a testament to the potential of locally-sourced materials. Built by the community, the construction process is considered to be an important part of the transfer of knowledge, whereby locals acquire new building skills that can be reused and taught. This common effort and on-site training of the residents in the vicinity of the new school substantially increases social cohesion among families and self-reliance of the whole community.
The project presents a credible economic catalyst for the local market that is simultaneously ecologically sensitive to the context. Skillfully handled is the creation of a microclimate that adaptively reacts to the intense climatic conditions of the region. The hybrid combination of commerce and tourism presents a convincing and feasible model for cross-financing the required investments to implement such a project. This project deserves special merit for achieving the highest of architectural standards and creating a work that promises to have beneficial and long-term impact on reactivating collective recognition of the city and its culture.
Burkina Faso is amongst the poorest country in the world. With an illiteracy rate of over 80%, the majority of its people has no alternatives than agriculture. The village Gando – 3000 inhabitants – is situated 200 km from Burkina Faso’s capital Ouagadougou. Born here as the son of the headman, Francis Kéré was the first to study abroad. He reinvested his knowledge as an architect into the urgently needed construction of a new school in his home village.
Guided by principles of sustainable development, Kéré stressed the importance of clay as one of the main building materials. The Gando School project taught the local people how to refine clay and local materials, and how different construction techniques could further improve the performance. In 1998, Kéré founded the association "Schulbausteine für Gando" to raise private money and government support to replace Gando’s dark and small school in 2001. The school counts today more than 350 pupils. The construction of teachers’ accommodation, with standards to match the school building, followed the school. It does not only provide education for the village children, it is also used to pass on new skills and knowledge to the entire community. Growing numbers of students affected the necessity of a school extension which has been completed in 2008. A public library is currently under construction.
The Secondary School-Gando is giving the graduate students the accessibility to further education, and is therefore enhancing the sustainability of the educational opportunities created. The extremely hot weather conditions in the area make studying in buildings without air-conditioning very difficult. That is why all interior spaces are embedded in the new designed landscape in order to create a shadowed oasis. The project is looking for a sustainable use of resources to provide natural ventilation without any use of electricity. The natural ventilation system works with low-tech, cost-effective earth-tubes, which is a sustainable, zero-energy passive geothermal solar cooling system. The rich vegetation near the ground pre-filters the incoming air. The air routes through the underground tubes to achieve a cooling effect inside of the buildings, by entering through holes in the floor. The hot air in the classroom rises through openings in the ceiling into the space between the ceiling and roof cladding. The large overhang of the roof allows the wind to circulate freely in the space between ceiling and roof, providing a rapid exchange of air.
Pressure differences between inlet and outlet facilitate the natural flow of air. Rainwater will be introduced in the pipe by dropping from a basin, which is integrated in the landscape. Due to the massive deforestation which has taken part in the past, the region is now facing the expansion of the desert. To prevent the dehydration of the ground, collected rainwater irrigates the lately planted trees around the existing school buildings. The reforestation is continued in the Secondary School-Gando and creates leisure space.
