Building with Communities: Rural Schools That Integrate Local Techniques and Materials in Latin AmericaSave this picture!Jerusalén de Miñaro Primary School / Semillas. Image © Eleazar CuadrosIn an effort to foster a sense of belonging among its inhabitants, to value ancestral cultures, and to preserve identity, the Latin American region embraces an architecture rich in nuances and regional characteristics. The use of local materials and construction techniques, or the dialogue between modular and vernacular approaches, among other aspects, reflect the intention to promote the involvement of native communities, students and their families, Iindigenous peoples, and local builders in the design and construction processes of a wide variety of rural schools throughout Latin America.According to the World Bank report, "Indigenous Latin America in the Twenty-First Century", it is estimated that around 42 million people belonging to indigenous communities live in Latin America. Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, and Bolivia are among the countries with the largest Indigenous populations, together accounting for over 80% of the regional total. From an architectural perspective, maintaining a dialogue that understands and respects the cultural and spiritual particularities of Indigenous peoples enables projects that preserve their identity and reflect their cultural heritage. La Piedra School by Correa 3 Arquitectos in Chile, for example, is designed for the Mapuche community of Galvarino, incorporating elements such as the circle, the cardinal points, and orthogonality, along with the integration of the sun, moon, and earth, and a space dedicated to ceremonies with the sacred Canelo tree. Beyond fulfilling educational needs, the aim is to promote equality and a connection with nature and spirituality, reflected in the circular arrangement of the classrooms and the admission of the first ray of sunlight. In this way, the fundamental elements of their worldview are embedded in the project's conception. Save this picture!Continuing within the educational context, practices such as the Semillas association in the Peruvian jungle combine community engagement and participation with the implementation of bioclimatic strategies and the use of local resources, aiming to create an architecture that is connected to its natural environment and cultural history. Understanding the role of educational infrastructure as more than just school buildings, but as versatile and multifunctional spaces with a meaningful impact on community learning and development, collective collaboration practices seek to transmit concepts and knowledge about vernacular architecture while also meeting essential needs. The use of earth, wood, bamboo, brick, caña brava, and other materials reflects the diversity of construction methods and local identities found throughout Latin America’s varied geographies. Related Article Inhabited Landscapes: 20 Cultural and Community Centers in Rural Areas Save this picture!Below, discover a selection of six rural schools located in Mexico, Peru, and Brazil that have developed initiatives to involve local communities, along with their students and families, at different stages of the design and construction process. Lightweight structures, sloped roofs, flexible enclosures, and open-plan layouts are common elements shared among these six case studies, which demonstrate a broad range of community-driven responses and interventions suited to different conditions and environments. In fact, the use of wood and bamboo stands out in both interior and exterior spaces for its application in structures, furnishings, and finishes.Rural School in Oaxaca / Territorio EstudioSan Andrés Huayapam, MexicoSave this picture!After reflecting on the nature of contemporary educational spaces, the Rural School in Oaxaca uses recycled construction materials or materials sourced from within the local community in an effort to strengthen the bond between students, their environment, and the surrounding landscape. Additionally, the program becomes entirely educational by involving students in the regenerative processes taking place in the school’s open areas, such as a wetland for water treatment, a community garden, composting, and enclosures for sheep and chickens, all of which are part of the educational approach. In this way, the mostly local teaching staff aims to promote a closer social relationship between the local population and the school space.Save this picture!El Huabo Primary and Secondary School / SemillasPeruSave this picture!In the jungle of northern Peru, the primary and secondary school for the village of El Huabo was developed through a participatory design and construction process involving the community and students. Through a carpentry workshop, students built school furniture during “Education for Work” classes (a course in the national curriculum), while landscaping workshops were held to improve the school gardens in cooperation with the La Agencia Agraria de San Ignacio. Moreover, an educational coffee farm was established thanks to collaboration with the company Volcafe. All these actions enabled multiple educational projects to run in parallel with the school’s construction, resulting in what the project team calls a “living school,” where the beneficiaries are also the creators.Save this picture!Ecoara Waldorf School / Shieh Arquitetos AssociadosValinhos, BrazilSave this picture!The Waldorf Ecoara School is an associative school where parents play an active role. As a result, a construction activity was created to foster a sense of belonging within the group. The walls were built using the traditional taipa de mão technique, which involves weaving vertical and horizontal wooden slats into the main structure to form large panels that are then filled with compacted clay. This activity, carried out by both parents and children, was both playful and symbolic. In addition, specialists in rammed earth provided hands-on training for the Ecoara community and construction workers. The idea was to promote the use of this technique, largely forgotten in its traditional form and still rarely used in its modern variant, while incorporating appropriate technological controls for the material mix.Save this picture!Jerusalén de Miñaro Primary School / SemillasSan Martín de Pangoa, PeruSave this picture!In the district of Pangoa, the project proposes an integrated work methodology involving cooperation among various national and international institutions and the community’s participation in every phase. During the diagnostic and design stages, workshops were held with students, parents, and teachers to identify the community’s needs, daily dynamics, and aspirations for the future school. Construction was guided by master builders and local workers, enabling the transfer of knowledge through on-site experience as well as training workshops throughout the process. In this way, the project initiates processes that foster knowledge exchange, revalue local material and human resources, and promote flexible spaces aligned with new educational approaches.Save this picture!Grow your School / Lucila Aguilar ArquitectosTuzantán, Chiapas, MexicoSave this picture!Aiming to improve the conditions of a school in the Unión Mexicana community in Tuzantán, Chiapas, the project combined pre-existing elements with new additions. Community volunteer participation was fundamental, as many of the construction tasks were carried out by locals. Children also took part in the rehabilitation activities by painting a mural on one of the facades. The goal was to nurture the children’s potential while fostering a sense of unity among community members, who were actively involved from the planning phase through to construction.Save this picture!Children Village / Rosenbaum + Aleph ZeroFormoso do Araguaia, BrazilSave this picture!The Children Village project advances efforts toward transformation, cultural preservation, the promotion of local building techniques, Indigenous beauty and knowledge, and the construction of a sense of belonging, vital for the development of the children at the Canuanã School. Interactive spaces such as a TV room, reading areas, balconies, patios, and hammocks make up the complementary facilities co-designed with the students to enhance quality of life and strengthen their connection to the school. In addition to housing more children, the new “villages” aim to boost the children’s self-esteem through the use of local techniques, building a bridge between vernacular methods and a new model of sustainable living.Save this picture! This article is part of an ArchDaily curated series that focuses on built projects from our database grouped under specific themes related to cities, typologies, materials, or programs. Every month, we will highlight a collection of structures that find a common thread between previously uncommon contexts, unpacking the depths of influence on our built environments. As always, at ArchDaily, we highly appreciate the input of our readers. If you think we should mention specific ideas, please submit your suggestions. Image gallerySee allShow less About this authorAgustina IñiguezAuthor••• Cite: Iñiguez, Agustina. "Building with Communities: Rural Schools That Integrate Local Techniques and Materials in Latin America" [Construir con las comunidades: escuelas rurales que integran técnicas y materiales locales en Latinoamérica] 24 May 2025. ArchDaily. (Trans. Piñeiro, Antonia ) Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1030260/building-with-communities-rural-schools-that-integrate-local-techniques-and-materials-in-latin-america&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Recycled and reused construction materials turn Urko Sánchez Architects’ Waldorf campus in Nairobi into a teaching aid When designers at Urko Sánchez Architects received a commission to design a campus in Nairobi’s leafy Karen neighbourhood, the brief from the client, the Nairobi Waldorf School Trust, was direct and concise: design a school deep in the woods without harming the trees, while preserving the old, British colonial‑style structures that would house some classes and other amenities. The school’s lease on Miotoni Road, also in Karen, had run out and it had acquired a new 10‑year lease from a local landowner to gently develop a woodland site just south of its old premises. The old school buildings were to be demolished. The brief also stipulated that the architects use little to no concrete, avoid steel and masonry, and utilise other reversible building techniques that would allow the landowner to return the plot to its natural state once the school’s temporary lease elapsed. The budget was modest, at around US$250/m². Karen, a low‑density Nairobi suburb and once part of the coffee estate run by Danish author Karen Blixen in the 1910s and ’20s, is among the few areas in the city that have withstood the pressures of modern development. Here, buildings still mingle with indigenous trees. ‘The founders of Waldorf School were inclined towards a piece of property that brought nature to the students,’ says James Kioko, the school’s director. ‘We made it clear to the architects that we did not intend to interfere with the natural vegetation. We asked them, “what if you looked for a design that went around the trees?” They did.’ The result is a campus – one of two run by the Nairobi Waldorf School Trust in the city – spread across 20 rondavel‑style classrooms dotted around the lush groves. Patterned after local Maasai homesteads, they blend seamlessly into the forest, each a tranquil haven for young minds to grow within. As the 380 students – from kindergarten to Year 12 – sit down to learn, birdsong fills the air, and an occasional rustling of leaves and the rhythmic sound of raindrops tapping on the translucent rooftops add to the soothing white noise. Winding pathways lined with flowers connect the learning spaces, with every step being an adventure in nature. The site is a celebration of sustainable coexistence with nature. ‘Some saw a challenge but we saw an opportunity,’ says Jaime Velasco, Urko Sánchez’s country director for Kenya and lead architect on the Waldorf school project.  ‘In order to embed the classrooms in the forest, we needed to know what kind of trees grew where. What was the root system like? How much empty space was available for the desired building footprint?’ Numerous concepts were presented to the primary stakeholders, including the school board, management and parents. The administration also carried out a survey among the pupils as to the kind of school environment they would look forward to attending every day. ‘We engaged the older pupils logically while younger ones were given papers to sketch the look and feel of their new school,’ says Patrick Karanja, the pedagogical team chair in charge of academics and students’ welfare. And draw they did – from elaborate football pitches to swimming pools. The main takeaway, however, was that the pupils did not want traditional box classrooms, but more playful structures made from natural materials. ‘Visitors usually confuse the design of the classrooms for a luxury tourist campsite and ask, “where’s the school?”’ ‘We sketched on forest clearings then did a prototype, a mock‑up classroom which we brought to the planning meetings,’ says Velasco. ‘One area had a sizeable clearing and we knew right away that this was going to be the kindergarten, where small children could play with proper supervision.’  Taking the theme of the traditional courtyard, or boma, the classes began to ‘grow’ among the trees. Treated timber offcuts, salvaged from local suppliers as well as the old Miotoni Road school buildings, line the bottom quarter of each classroom’s facade, giving the impression of a structure fully grounded in the soil. The space between the double polycarbonate walls is filled with leftover soil excavated from the site and compost to create a ‘living wall’ where bugs and worms can find a home. Polycarbonate roofing invites the daylight in, and reduces the need for artificial lighting. In addition, several materials from dismantled classrooms from the previous school grounds were recycled to reduce waste, save on funds and add to the school’s sustainability lessons. For example, wooden floors and walls were repurposed as parapets, and old roofing tiles converted to path boundaries. To reduce congestion in the toilets, oil drums purchased at a local second‑hand market were strategically placed on the compound to serve as washing sinks while a shipping container from the old school currently serves as the library. Although a few trees had to give way for the playground, the logs were used to create the ‘forest’ screen of the multipurpose hall.  The school is representative of the broader work of Urko Sánchez, the Spanish founder of the eponymous architectural firm. Over the past decades, Sánchez has undertaken several projects on the African continent. Upon graduating in 1998, he volunteered on the first of these along the volatile Kenya‑Somalia border, before falling in love with Lamu Island on Kenya’s north‑eastern coast, one of the oldest civilisations in East Africa and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Sánchez’s first major project in Kenya was Lamu House, a boutique hotel in Lamu’s Old Town that encapsulates the peaceful and friendly nature of the Swahili coastline. Through his Mombasa office, Sánchez worked on other projects along the coast whose development is deeply rooted in local history and culture. His techniques tell the stories of Africa’s diverse communities, each structure a narrative of identity and resilience. He found joy in the intricate thatched roofs visible in almost every village on the continent, the vibrancy of whitewashed earthen walls, and the seamless integration of buildings into their natural surroundings. At the award‑winning Red Pepper House, another small private house in Lamu with a thatched roof, Sánchez had to balance local tradition with modern conveniences while taking care not to destroy the surrounding mangrove forest. Some of these techniques would go on to be replicated in the Nairobi school project. ‘Every project is unique,’ says Velasco, his rubber boots sloshing over wet leaves outside the kindergarten. ‘We are famous for Swahili architecture because our founder started the work in Lamu and the local context drew us to do that. In Nairobi, we were also faced with environmental issues and that is why the school came out like this.’ ‘The school has triggered serious conversations among the students on the need to protect Kenya’s environment’ The very design of the school is a source of pride not only to the learners but the local community too. Karanja tells the story of a child who brought his friends to the kindergarten classroom ‘just to see the tree popping out of the roof’ – an example of the very interaction with nature that the school was hoping for. ‘Visitors usually confuse the design of the classrooms for a luxury tourist campsite and ask, “where’s the school?”’ It has also triggered serious conversations among the students on the need to protect Kenya’s environment. While hiking local nature trails, they have seen firsthand the country’s dwindling forest cover. ‘They see the diminishing snow on Mount Kenya, the country’s highest peak, as a result of climate change,’ says Karanja. ‘Then they look at their school and understand why we need the trees. More trees mean more rain; more rain results in more snow cover.’ Kioko, the school director, reckons the school’s design does much more than just create a conducive learning environment – it lays the groundwork for nurturing thoughtful, adaptable and globally conscious students that are in tune with the Waldorf style of education. According to the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America, education ‘should address the whole child – their physical wellbeing, their social and emotional wellbeing, and their intellectual, cognitive and spiritual development’, with children being ‘encouraged to engage in imaginative play, hands‑on work, and outdoor and artistic activities’. Since the founding of the first Waldorf school in 1919, this pedagogical philosophy has taken original and often pioneering architectural forms around the world, with natural materials – especially wood – being preferred for early childhood settings. The school’s eco‑friendly elements, Kioko says, serve as live learning tools that encourage students to explore real‑world applications of science and technology. ‘If you look at the national goals of education in Kenya, we are not looking for academics,’ he says. ‘The country aims to bring out a child who will fit in the society. We need thinkers outside the box. We need collaborators. We need people who can critique things, not people who just recall what they were taught in class but who interact with the ecosystem and try to solve the challenges of the real world. That is our goal.’ For Urko Sánchez Architects and the Nairobi Waldorf School Trust community, architecture goes beyond creating structures, becoming a tool to foster connection between people, their culture and their land. At the Karen campus, this was a labour of love for nurturing the future generation and a tribute to the rich architectural heritage of the African continent.