Fass School – Toshiko Mori
The Fass School and Teachers’ Residence is the first institution in a remote region of over 110 villages to provide secular education alongside Quranic instruction. Designed in collaboration with the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation and Le Korsa, the school serves up to 300 children aged 5–10, embracing the spirit of the one-room schoolhouse where Josef Albers once taught.
Organized around an oval central courtyard, the layout fosters openness, adaptability, and community. Constructed with local materials—whitewashed mud brick, bamboo, and steel—and traditional methods, the school features a striking inverted thatch roof that promotes natural ventilation and collects rainwater, channeling it into an existing aquifer.
Rooted in vernacular wisdom yet forward-looking in design, the school is a model of sustainable, climate-responsive architecture that supports both education and local resilience.
