Award Cycle: 2002-2004 Cycle
Status: Award Recipient
Country of origin: Burkina Faso
Location: Gando, Burkina Faso
Client: Community of Gando Village
Architect: Francis Diebedo Kéré
Size: 30'000 m²
Completed: 2001
A primary school built cooperatively by a whole village community. Its clay walls are topped with a double roof structure of adobe and tin that blocks the heat of the sun, making the inside up to six degrees cooler than it would be with tin alone. Inspired by this model, two neighbouring villages now have their own new schools, built entirely with their own labour and funded by community members living away from home.