The school library combines regional mud-building techniques with new approaches that improve their efficiency and durability. It was erected in just four months through a collaborative design-build workshop involving villagers and international participants, contributing to a knowledge base to help solve the problem of low-cost rural housing. Comprising a reading room, a multipurpose teaching/meetings space, and a verandah, its main materials are soil excavated from the site and locally collected wood. The monolithic rammed-earth walls regulate indoor humidity and temperature and reduce environmental pollution. Wooden windows produced on site serve as formwork for the walls and as shelving. Timber trusses support a corrugated-iron roof. The cypress doors and bamboo verandah enclosure were made by local craftsmen using traditional techniques.
Source: Aga Khan Trust for Culture
