Studio Kéré Architecture has built the first campus in the Rift Valley for Lions startups.

Ekaterina Karpukhina

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The Lions campus is located on the shore of the largest desert lake in the world — Turkana. It will help young students and entrepreneurs to develop their skills in information technology and find a job in international companies.

The building offers tuition with accommodation for two hundred students. There are classrooms, workstations, as well as public spaces. Now young people can develop professionally without leaving their homeland. Thus, the project is trying to solve the urgent problem of youth unemployment faced by the region.

When designing the building, the architects were inspired by termite mounds, of which there are many in the Rift Valley. Tall towers rise above the ground and perform an important function — they push warm air up, contributing to natural cooling. While cold air enters the room through special openings from below.

Such a system allows the campus to work during periods of extreme heat and prevents damage to computer equipment by dust.

In addition, the building repeats the shape of the landscape — a slightly sloping roof follows the slope of the site, and the color of the facade fits perfectly into the environment. The campus also has several roof terraces overlooking Lake Turkana.

Photo: © Kere Architecture

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