Gando is a small village located 200 km from the capital of Burkina Faso. Built here in 2001, the primary school is one of the most famous sustainable projects in Africa today, with many prestigious awards including the Holcim Awards and the Aga Khan Awards. The author of this building is a native of Gando, architect Diebedo Francis Kere. Kere received his architectural education in Berlin and now continues to work there, specializing in projects of cheap and environmentally friendly socially significant buildings for the poorest regions of the world.
The expansion of the existing primary school complex was an inevitable consequence of the "popularity" of this facility - residents of not only Gando, but also many neighboring settlements strive to arrange their children in this convenient and comfortable educational institution. At first, an additional educational building was built for the school, and now the implementation of two projects at once is completed - a complex of houses for teachers and a library, which will be open to everyone.
A complex of six residential buildings intended for the school's teachers and their families is located south of the educational buildings. Each house consists of three parallel walls, each 400 mm thick, built of clay bricks and covered with a vaulted clay ceiling. The top layer of the roof here is made of corrugated metal, and due to the difference in height, the houses are provided with daylight and flawlessly functioning natural ventilation. In addition, due to its outlets, the metal roof reliably protects the walls of houses from burning out in the sun and moisture penetration, and special grooves on the walls drain rainwater to the ground.
A total of 15 thousand clay bricks were made for the construction of residential units. Traditional Burkina Faso houses use a mixture of lime juice and cow dung as plaster, but this “protective layer” is not very reliable during the rainy season. It also attracts termites, which can eventually cause walls to collapse, which is why bitumen was used in this project. During the construction, local residents helped to level the clay floors - the architect says that without their selfless participation, this project would not have taken place.
Unlike the school buildings themselves, in terms of laconic rectangles, the library got an elliptical shape. It was located between the first and second educational buildings, protecting the schoolyard with its volume from the winds carrying sand. As with his previous projects for Burkina Faso, Kere relied on local building materials that can be produced by the villagers themselves. However, this time, not only clay bricks were used, but also pots, which from time immemorial have been made by the women of Gando. The architect cut off the bottom and the upper part from them, and placed the remaining wide clay "hoops" on the roof of the building, turning them into skylights and ventilation openings. A corrugated steel sheet also acts as a canopy above them, which is supported by columns of eucalyptus trunks. Heating up in the sun, the iron roof “launches” the mechanism of natural ventilation of the library's interior, and its developed outriggers allow creating several cozy shaded corners around the building, intended for study and relaxation.
Kere's next facility in Gando will be a secondary school, where primary graduates can continue their education close to home.
