We Don’t Need Air Con

The Guardian speaks to architect Francis Kéré about building sustainable schools and orphanages with local materials and traditional techniques. Kéré, who was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2022, will be the guest of honor at the Institute’s 2024 Sidney N. Zubrow Memorial Lecture, at Reid Hall. 

“Gando primary school, built in 2001, was Kéré’s first construction after completing his studies. ‘At first, my community didn’t understand why I wanted to build with clay when there were glass buildings in Germany, so I had to convince them to use the local materials,’ Kéré has said. Men and women came together to build the school, merging traditional techniques such as clay floors, beaten by hand until they were ‘smooth as a baby’s bottom’ with more modern technology to seek better comfort.”

Read more here.