Prestigious architecture award for the Burtinle District Hospital in Somalia

Somalia is one of the poorest countries in the world: social inequality, extreme poverty, ongoing conflicts and recurring extreme weather events caused by climate change have been exacerbating the situation for people in the country for years. According to estimates, around 7 million people were dependent on humanitarian aid in 2024, with almost four million people living as internally displaced persons (IDPs), one of the highest numbers in the world. Persistent droughts, combined with recurring natural disasters such as monsoon-like rains, are the main reason why crop yields fail and almost half of the population is threatened by hunger.

These are climatic conditions that require adapted, sustainable construction. This has been achieved in exemplary fashion in a hospital supported by KfW Development Bank - and the architectural firm APC (Architectural Pioneering Consultants, Zurich and Dar es Salaam) has won the prestigious ‘Building of the Year Award’ in the Healthcare Infrastructure category. The prize is awarded by ArchDaily, an association that runs a website with news from the world of architecture. ArchDaily organises the annual competition for different categories, the winners of which are chosen by the 60,000 architects who are members of the website.

The district hospital in Burtinle is located in the dry and hot Somali-Ethiopian border region - with temperatures regularly exceeding 35 degrees Celsius. At this location, the supply of water and electricity is constantly interrupted, and operating budgets and maintenance capacities are tight. APC rose to these challenges and combined a simple design based on local traditions with innovative ventilation and cooling concepts using wind towers and an underground cooling system.

How is the hospital complex designed? A group of four buildings surround a shaded central courtyard with a garden. The impenetrable perimeter wall, which separates itself from the surrounding desert landscape, draws a clear line between ‘outside’ and ‘inside’. The deep verandas, the central water basin and the tree planting allow families to get together in privacy while religiously observing the separation of men and women.

The design adopted the centuries-old principle of the windbreak - a natural form of air conditioning that requires no additional energy source other than the wind. An electrically powered central air conditioning system was out of the question due to the cost and limited availability of electricity, as well as the lack of maintenance options. Instead, two wind towers capture the airflow and direct it downwards and underground, where it is cleaned of dust and sand residues, cooled by the adjacent soil, humidified by recycled rainwater and then channelled into the interior spaces through ducts in the ground. To minimise the rise in temperature caused by the strong solar radiation, all the buildings are finished in white lime. The roofs are double-skinned and insulated. The window openings and doors only face north and south and are shaded by the veranda overhang or fixed sun protection boxes. Locally available materials were used: coarse clay plaster and lime paint are typical Somali surfaces. Dr Achim Jaup, responsible for the project at KfW, commented on the award: ‘The feedback from Burtinle about the hospital - from staff and patients - has been consistently positive. Burtinle can serve as a model for other public buildings in the region.’