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Image © Kéré Architecture
A new polytechnic training campus has been created in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, which stands out in the extensive lowland region with three terracotta-colored ventilation towers that were inspired by termite colonies in the growing East African technology center.
Image © Kéré Architecture
The new Startup Lions campus sits on the shores of Lake Turkana and will provide education and training to young Kenyans, the largest demographic group expected to double the country’s population growth by 2050.
Image © Startup Lions
Kéré Architecture is responsible for the campus plan, which provides living and workplaces for 200 students in the ICT facility. Outdoor classrooms shaded by a pergola grove and the profile of three large cooling towers that mitigate the valley’s extreme heat and harmful desert sands and facilitate learning in a collaborative program.
Image © Kéré Architecture
The German-based company has recently been very active in African development projects and sponsored an educational mandate that was first implemented in the form of a primary school founder Francis Kéré for his home village in Burkina Faso while he was still at the Technical University of Berlin. Kéré is also working on plans for the Benin Parliament Building, which will open in 2023 and which will include distinctive local source material, in this case palaver trees, similar to the BIT and Startup Lions projects.
Image © Startup Lions
From Francis Kéré: “We envisioned an educational facility that would blend in with the impressive natural landscape that surrounds it and reflect the ingenious structures that were being built at the nearby ends. It is a special honor for me and my team to be able to shape this incredible educational institution, and I look forward to seeing it grow and, most importantly, its students to be successful. “
