NIB

Wettbewerb 2026 – Kaira Looro Architecture Competition – Community Center in rural areas of Sub-Saharan Africa

nibissawe Bissine, in Senegal's southern Casamance region, sits between Gambia and Guinea-Bissau. The 1982 Casamance conflict displaced its population; resettlement only began around 2020, with a peace deal signed in February 2025. Water, infrastructure, and schools remain scarce, and landmines block farmland. The "nibissawe" project—named after the baobab, sacred to the Diola—creates a triangular, distorted impluvium-house community center around the tree, housing a library, learning spaces, and workshops. Materials: laterite, compressed earth blocks, bamboo, thatch, recycled tile flooring—locally understandable, replicable construction.