Not just a competition.
A vision to change the world through architecture.
Kaira Looro
The architecture competition that became a global movement.
It began in 2016 with a question: what if the world's most visionary architects and the brightest young talents joined forces, not simply to design buildings, but to save lives?
That question became Kaira Looro. In the Mandinka language, it means "architecture for peace". What started as an idea in a small Senegalese village has grown into one of the most prestigious and influential architecture competitions on the planet, a global stage where, in over a decade of competitions,, over 25,000 participants from 138 countries have submitted their work across multiple extraordinary editions.
What makes Kaira Looro unlike any other competition is its jury. One of the most extraordinary ever assembled for an architecture award, chaired by Kengo Kuma and composed of the most influential and visionary architects of our time, such as Sir David Adjaye, Benedetta Tagliabue, Alberto Campo Baeza, Amanda Levete, Manuel Aires Mateus, Mario Cucinella, Giancarlo Mazzanti and many others. Pritzker Prize laureates, Aga Khan Award winners, RIBA Stirling Prize recipients, architects whose work has shaped the skylines and the cultures of our era.
They are not here for a recognition. They are here because they share a goal that goes far beyond design. To prove that architecture can be a force for peace, for health, for human dignity. To sit at the same table, these giants of the profession, and ask a single question of every project: will this change lives?
Today, Kaira Looro is more than a competition. It is a movement of visionary architects, humanitarian workers, and young talents united by a conviction that architecture can be a force for equity and change. To be part of this, whether as a juror, a partner, or a participant, is not an obligation. It is an honor.
The Mission
Three reasons. One purpose.
Support humanitarian aid. The registration fee is not an expense. It is a 100% donation, entirely devolved to build wells, schools, and health centers in the world's most disadvantaged rural areas, translating architecture into a movement of solidarity that changes the planet.
Give opportunity to the world's best young talents. A jury of extraordinary prestige. Internships at Kengo Kuma, EMBT, Adjaye Associates. Global visibility across the world's most influential architecture magazines, a launchpad for professional growth that no other competition offers.
Build awareness of architecture's role in the world. Every edition is tangible proof that quality architecture is not a privilege, it is the right of every individual, a fundamental tool for social justice, health, and human dignity.
How It Works
Simple. Transparent. Meaningful.
From registration to impact, every step is designed to be seamless and purposeful.
Register & Donate. Your fee is immediately donated to charity. You join a global community united by purpose.
Design & Submit. Create a project for a real challenge. It is evaluated anonymously by the most visionary architects on the planet.
Impact. Winners are celebrated globally. Internships begin. The funds you contributed build real infrastructure for people who need it most.
Impact
Numbers that tell a story.
Our Team
A network of experts united for humanity.
Kaira Looro is a fundraising event created by Balouo Salo, the humanitarian organization founded by Raoul Vecchio, architect, human rights activist, and social influencer, together with Jali Diabate, cultural mediator, musician, and griot of the Mandinka tradition. Their mission began in a small village in southern Senegal, a place where no other help arrives. It was there, far from the spotlight, that they started building the first projects and, with them, an international and multidisciplinary team that fuses every expertise to create highly innovative, sustainable solutions founded on self-sufficiency and self-determination.
From the very first editions of Kaira Looro, experts and academics such as Sebastiano D'Urso, Maria Grazia Nicolosi, Dario Distefano, and other dedicated professionals have contributed their experience and passion to ensure quality and rigor in every aspect of the competition, from evaluation to scientific integrity, from communication to community engagement.
Today, Kaira Looro is far more than a competition. It is a network of people united by the desire to make a difference, a multidisciplinary team that combines expertise and heart to create something unique. Every person involved shares the same conviction: that architecture, when placed in the right hands, can restore dignity and transform lives.
Balouo Salo
"A bridge to life."
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Balouo Salo is the reason Kaira Looro exists. A charitable organization based in Italy and operating in some of the most vulnerable areas on the planet, with a focus on a rural region of southern Senegal where no other help arrives. Its work is guided by unshakable principles: humanism, equity, and social justice, because excellence is not a privilege . It is the right of every human being, regardless of where they were born.
Every project is designed and built with the community, by the community, for the community, a radical commitment to self-sufficiency and self-determination that rejects dependency and empowers people to become the authors of their own future. Using local materials and local labor, Balouo Salo has brought clean water to thousands, built schools that educate children, health centers that save lives. All project are funded just by private donations, including the registration fees of Kaira Looro participants.
The goal is not simply charity. It is freedom. Every well, every classroom, every clinic is a step toward a better future. This is what Kaira Looro funds. This is why it matters.
Discover Balouo Salo