Schools get mud and clay update to stay cool in warming climates

When prize-winning architect Francis Kéré was growing up in Burkina Faso he spent his schooldays in a gloomy classroom that was so stifling he says it would have been better suited to making bread than educating children.

Years later, while studying abroad, Kéré returned to his home village to build a light and airy school where children could learn in comfort despite temperatures that can hit 45 degrees celsius.

But the Berlin-based architect did not use air conditioning. Instead, he incorporated a host of cooling features into Gando Primary School that he has since applied to projects across Africa.

Kéré, who won architecture’s highest honour of the Pritzker Prize in 2022, is among architects pioneering sustainable school designs for a warming planet.

“My own school was so hot it was hard to concentrate,” he told Context. “So I wanted to build a school that would be comfortable and inspiring for children.”

Studies from Brazil to Vietnam show heat significantly impacts learning. In a report last year, the World Bank warned that climate change was threatening educational attainment, creating an “economic time-bomb”.

Experts say classrooms should be no hotter than 26 degrees celsius.

In Gando, villagers were initially shocked when Kéré announced he would build the school from clay, but the material is a natural temperature regulator, absorbing heat during the day...

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