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A new design for rural schools could revolutionize Kenya’s education system. British architects Jane Harrison and David Turnbill worked with Atopia Research ^[4] to design the WATERBANK school ^[5] in Nigare Nyiro, which harvests rainwater ^[6] and stores it in a reservoir on the school property. In addition to providing up to five liters a day per student, this ingenious system enables girls normally responsible for collecting water outside of the home to attend classes and receive an education.

Built with locally-sourced materials ^[7] and by the local community, the modest school for 200 students is encircled by a garden wall designed to keep out thirsty elephants. There are four classrooms designed to hold up to 60 students along with a theater, teacher’s rooms and a community workshop space. Most of the construction was facilitated from afar and on Skype, WAN reports ^[8].

The reservoir located in the center of the school courtyard stores water harvested from a catchment system installed ^[9] on the school’s 600 square meter roof. An integrated filtration system ensures that the water is clean and the design team predict that – weather depending – the reservoir could provide up to 350,000 liters of clean water each year. The initiative is produced by PITCHAfrica ^[5] founded in part by Harrison and Turnbull, who have similar projects in the works in the same region.

+ ATOPIA Research ^[4]

Via WAN ^[8]