How schools are being built for extreme heat — without aircon

TimesLIVE

16-07-2025

When prize-winning architect Francis Kere 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, Kere returned to his home village to build a light and airy school where children could learn in comfort despite temperatures that can hit 45°C.
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 around Africa.
Kere, who won architecture's highest honour, 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 the Thomson Reuters Foundation. 'So I wanted to build a school that would be comfortable and inspiring for children.'
Studies from Brazil to Vietnam show heat significantly affects learning. In a report last year, the World Bank warned climate change was threatening educational attainment, creating an 'economic time bomb'.
Experts say classrooms should be no hotter than 26°C.
In Gando, villagers were initially shocked when Kere announced he would build the school from clay, but the material is a natural temperature regulator, absorbing heat during the day and releasing it at night.
Concrete and plate glass may look contemporary, but Kere said they make buildings hot, necessitating air conditioners.
This creates a vicious circle. Energy-intensive air conditioners, which expel hot air outdoors, contribute to global warming, which then fuels demand for more air conditioning.
Instead, Kere uses passive cooling techniques.