Gando Primary School

The primary school at Gando, a village on the southern plains of Burkina Faso about 200 km (125 miles) from Ouagadougou, was designed by the architect Diébédo Francis Kéré. Built between October 2000 and July 2001 and awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004, it became an internationally cited example of a climate-responsive roof made from simple materials.

The roof problem

Corrugated metal sheet is a common roof for schools and houses in Burkina Faso, but fixed directly over a room it transmits a great deal of solar heat. The Gando design separates the two jobs of a roof: keeping off the rain and keeping out the heat.

The double roof

• Ceiling. Over the classrooms is a ceiling of compressed earth blocks laid on steel bars that span between concrete beams. The earth mass absorbs heat and moderates the indoor temperature.
• Rain roof. Above it, a corrugated metal roof sits on lightweight trusses made from ordinary steel reinforcing bar. Because the metal roof is raised clear of the ceiling, air can flow through the gap, carrying away the heat that the sheet absorbs. The overhanging roof also shades the walls.

Walls are load-bearing stabilised compressed earth blocks.

Construction

The school was built largely by hand by the villagers, men, women and children. Funding came through the German association Schulbausteine für Gando, the government agency LOCOMAT trained local brickmakers, and the project managers all came from the village. The method kept money and skills in the community and avoided dependence on imported components other than the steel and roof sheet.

Influence

Later buildings in the Gando school complex, including a library, developed the same approach, and the raised, ventilated metal roof over a heavy earth ceiling is often cited as a low-cost way to make metal-roofed buildings in hot climates more comfortable.