Secondary School with passive ventilation system | Kéré Architecture

The Secondary school in Gando aims to strengthen the educational opportunities in Burkina Faso. After building the Primary school in 2001 and its extension in 2008, where already more than 700 children are educated, the Secondary school gives graduates access to higher education. Because of the extremely hot weather conditions, such as the Sahel in Burkina Faso, the focus of the design was to create an oasis where vegetation and a passive ventilation system are providing comfortable indoor spaces. The specially developed low-cost and low-tech climatic concept is kept as simple as possible to avoid extensive maintenance. The structure of the building complex is developed in the rural context of the traditional compounds in Burkina Faso. The round structures of the compounds are embedded in the countryside, sheltered towards the dusty and hot wind from the East but opened to the fresh breeze coming from the West. This traditional knowledge of using wind energy for natural ventilation was the role model to the project.