Kaira Looro are two words in Mandinga language, the main culture in Tanaf. The greetings of welcome or farewell, are not simple greetings of “good morning” or “good evening”, but they are real good wishes and prayers for the peace of others. Often people greet each other “Alma kaira siyaa laa”, or that “God will give you peace.”
Kaira Looro, that in Mandingo language means “Architecture for Peace”, is not just architecture, but it also represents the link to a culture, a spirituality and research of interiority. The challenge is to celebrate this cult philosophy by designing a sustainable and culturally-driven architecture, for a place with a lack of materials and with low technology.

 

To design a place of worship means creating a new landmark, but also giving substance to a culture of a community, being lightweight and graceful to understand its spirituality.
This competition has to show and describe the theme thanks to an impressive design also being integrated and able to become a symbol for all the country. Carefully included into the landscape, it will represent the conjunction between earthly and divine.
The project has to respect the following parameters:
- maximum imprint on the ground is fixed at 350mq; maximum height is 30m. Please consider that existing buildings don’t exceed 6m high.
- even if a low cost and sustainable approach is highly recommended, proper innovative solutions, also including high-tech, are welcome.
- it is important to have a keen eye for timing and construction conditions, remind always that it’s difficult to find specialized workers on place.
- natural and local materials are highly recommended.
- please consider that when in operation, the structure should minimize the consumption of water.
- it would be better if the structure is able to celebrate different kind of worship (Muslim, Christian, Orthodox, Animism) as any potential sanitary or environmental emergency.
All the necessary documentation, such as photos of the location of intervention, video, drawings (cad) can be found on the website also before registering for the competition. All the uploaded documents can only be used to attend the Kaira Looro Competition.

From 1980 to 2005, the region of Casamance, in the far South of Senegal, has been marked by war with more the 20.000 displaced people and 5.000 human casualties. Since 1965, the same region, had to face devastating drought that is still affecting the Sahel, producing high temperature and reduction of the rain water. The name of the region comes from the river Casamance, that flows through three regions: Ziguinchor, Kolda and Sedhiou.
The site of intervention is located in the village of Tanaf, inside the region of Sedhiou, at the boundary with Guinea-Bissau and so it is a crucial frontier for the entire region. Tanaf is also overlooking a valley called Tanaf Bolong. Here, the sides of the riverbed are almost flat. Rise fields and other cultivations used to fill the valley before the climate change. Today, because of the drought and the salt intrusion, everything has been destroyed: tides from the Atlantic Ocean run through the Casamance river and reach the valley; the water has a salt concentration which is five times than the ocean’s one; the groundwater is also infected. All of these problems affect 80.000 people of 350 villages and communities who live in the valley.
In front of Tanaf, on the other side of valley, it is situated the village of Baghere, where many of the most renowned Griot in Sedhiou have their place. Here it an important religious holiday is celebrate that attracts people from all over the country. The Griot is a mandinga socially-emblematic figure. He is the one who keep the knowledge by a community to orally pass on to future generations, also playing the Kora and singing.
Tanaf is the main village of the river basin on the Tanaf Bolong Valley. It is the one with the largest population (almost 4.000) and deepest supply of resources (market, school, hospital). Inside the village there is a Mosque and a Christian church which are in bad structural conditions. The soil is characterized by a red laterite stone, full of iron, and a sequence of sandbanks and clay banks. There are several laterite’s quarries and the forest of Balmadou which provides the territory with many different tree species such as the Baobab, Palms and Mango.
The site of intervention (see the section “Download” on the website) is today waiting to host a mosque. Nevertheless, it is possible to find a different site to place the project, provided that design requirements are observed.

All the awarded proposals will be transmitted to architectural magazines and websites, will be hosted in international exhibitions.

The aim of the competition is to create a holy architecture which should become a symbol for the territory and help communities to overcome difficulties. The winning project will be given to the Non Profit International Organization Balouo Salo and then will be donated to Tanaf community to build it. The Balouo Salo OINP reserves the right to adopt the proposal as a charity project and to engage the awarded team during the construction. This competition is also promoted as a financial contribution to the humanitarian project carried out by the OINP Balouo Salo. All the application fees will be donated to “A Bridge for Life” (www.balouosalo.com).

The Kaira Looro logo features the name flanked by three simple traits that have a double interpretation. The three sections on the left of the logo represent both the tides changing trajectory before Kaira Looro that the purpose of Balouo Salo project to restore health, nutrition and wealth.