Bal Harbour

202 BAL HARBOUR "A '60s residential building in Dakar, Senegal, offered an architectural blank canvas for the designer to do interesting work. Africa was a big playground for foreign architects at that time, with few restrictions. They were inspired by the residential work Le Corbusier had done in Europe, and wanted to replicate that in these conditions." "In 2011, MASS Group opened the Umubano Primary School in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. The terraced playgrounds running off the hill add to its appeal as a pleasant place to learn. It's constructed of simple brickwork, with a double roof that brings light in from the top." "Mali has an incredible history of UNESCO-designated mosques constructed of mud dating back to the 14th century. The agency commissioned Francis Kéré to design this small museum and visitors' center at the Grand Mosque of Mopti to commemorate this heritage." "The Lycée Schorge Secondary School in Koudougou is one of Francis Kéré's public buildings constructed in Burkina Faso, his home country. Though he now works in Berlin, many of his projects are here, where he grew up in a tiny village as the son of a local king. This structure is completely built from local materials: The exterior is fashioned from bamboo sticks, which provide shade to the mud classrooms within. The little towers on the roof generate air flow to the interior, so it remains cool even though outside it can be 104 degrees." "Though Abidjan is Ivory Coast's main city, when it became independent the government decided to build a new capital from scratch in the center of the country. Yamoussoukro is still not finished, with roads that lead nowhere, and this is one of the strangest buildings there. The Vatican presented a copy of the original that is 100 times as big, a huge white elephant surrounded by people with absolutely nothing. It's a crazy symbol of power that is off-limits to the locals, used only for ceremonial proceedings." "The territory of Western Sahara has been in dispute for more than 40 years, with Morocco refusing to grant its independence in the face of numerous resolutions from the UN. Displaced persons built these huge refugee camps four decades ago and they're still there. It is a completely self- built and -governed mini country inside Algeria; many people have never been outside these camps. Just outside the habitation is the vast desert, with animals including camels." The Butaro Doctors' Sharehousing in Rwanda, 2012

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