Hand-built in four months by architects, local craftsmen, pupils, parents and teachers, this primary school in Rudrapur, a village in north west Bangladesh, uses traditional methods and materials of construction but adapts them in new ways. The architects, Anna Heringer from Austria and Eike Roswag from Germany, made every effort to engage the skills of local craftsmen, helping them refine processes and learn new techniques that they could then use to improve the general standard of rural housing.

The school is part of the Modern Education and Training Institute (METI) of the Bangladeshi NGO Dipshikha, which places an emphasis on helping children develop their own potential and use it in a creative way. The building follows the same principles, bringing out the best in local materials by inventively combining them with improved construction techniques. Earthbound materials such as loam and straw are combined with lighter elements like bamboo sticks and nylon lashing to shape a built form that addresses sustainability in construction in an exemplary manner.