‌Rural Senegal community center designs honored in 2026 Kaira Looro competition

The winners have been announced for the 2026 Kaira Looro competition. The competition, organized by non-profit organization Balouo Salo, called on participants to design a community center in rural Senegal “conceived to strengthen education, social inclusion, culture, and community development in one of the country’s most vulnerable regions.”

The brief called for a multifunctional civic space capable of housing educational, cultural, and social activities. Participants were also asked to prioritize self-construction techniques, local materials, and low-impact construction strategies adapted to rural environments in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The winning entries are as follows:

1ST PRIZE
Afroditi Ioannidou, Vladimir Gligorovski (Greece)

2ND PRIZE
Marta Kuczynska, Jakub Czak (Poland)

3RD PRIZE
Karol Eliana Cuellar Narváez, Jhuliana Giraldo, Juan Sebastian Piedrahita, Juan Santiago Uribe, Oscar Valencia (Colombia)

HONORABLE MENTION
Alexandre Fidèle (Mauritius)

HONORABLE MENTION
Ariane Baillargeon (Canada)