No. As stated in the competition terms, the registration fee is a donation to the Balouo Salo humanitarian organization and is non-refundable under any circumstances. The fee is immediately allocated to charitable projects in Africa. This applies regardless of whether you withdraw, are disqualified, or are not selected as a winner.

Yes. PayPal is the primary and recommended payment method. If your country does not support PayPal, or your card is being declined, write to info@kairalooro.com to request an alternative method such as bank transfer or Stripe.

The deadlines are listed on the Calendar page and in the competition brief. No extensions are granted. All projects submitted after the final deadline will not be considered. We strongly recommend uploading your project well before the last day to avoid server overload.

Projects must be submitted exclusively through the Project Submission Form that the Team Leader receives in the registration confirmation email. This form ensures correct file storage and compliance with competition rules. Do not send your project by email.

After registration, the Team Leader will receive an email with instructions on how to create your Team ID. This ID must be used to rename your files and submitted through the Project Submission Form. Do not send your Team ID by email. Follow the guided procedure in the submission form carefully.

All submission materials must be presented exclusively in English. This applies to all texts, labels, titles, legends, and any written content included in the deliverables. Submissions in any other language will not be accepted.

The scale and level of detail are left to the participant's choice. There is no imposed scale or fixed list of required drawings. Each participant must make the best possible choices to represent their project in the clearest and most effective way.

A better representation allows the jury to fully understand the project and therefore to evaluate it on its actual merits. A weak, unclear, or insufficient representation risks compromising the evaluation, regardless of the quality of the architectural idea. The completeness and communicative effectiveness of the deliverables are therefore part of the participant's responsibility.

Files must be named exactly as specified in the brief and submission form. Use your Team ID. For example, if your Team ID is 123456, the A1 file should be named A1_123456. The same convention applies to all required files. Incorrectly named files will result in exclusion.

No. Including your Team ID or any identifying marks on the cover or A1 layouts will result in exclusion of the project. The Team ID should only be used to rename the files before submission. The evaluation is anonymous.

The additional materials are sent to the Team Leader's email after registration. Files are compressed in a RAR archive. You can extract them using free software like WinRAR (download here) or WinZip. Once extracted, you'll have access to all competition materials.

The Team ID is a unique alphanumeric code assigned to your team upon registration. It is sent to the Team Leader via email after payment is confirmed.

Important: The Team ID has only one purpose — it must be used to rename your submission files before uploading. It serves as the only link between your team and your project, ensuring the evaluation process remains 100% anonymous.All detailed instructions will be sent in the registration confirmation email. Read them carefully before submitting.

The project must be developed within a square lot of 50 × 50 metres, placed in any rural village in Southern Senegal, chosen by the participant. Urban centres and regional capitals are excluded. A "village" is defined as a settlement with no more than 10,000 inhabitants.

No urban planning or territorial framework is required. The project must focus exclusively on the architectural body. The lot must be square and measure 50 × 50 metres. Using a lot with different dimensions is grounds for exclusion.

No. Urban planning and territorial framing are not required. The project must focus exclusively on the architectural body.

The 50 × 50 m lot (2,500 m²) is a fixed constraint introduced to ensure a realistic, self-construction-compatible design that respects the rural context and budget. The project must be developed entirely within this square lot.

Within the lot, you are free to determine the position and dimensions of the architecture, the distribution of functions, the relationship between indoor and outdoor spaces, and whether to use one or more buildings. However, the overall intervention must be coherent with the maximum budget and the feasibility of a rural self-construction context. Any project with a cost considered to be over budget will not be considered, as the submitted budget will be deemed unrealistic.

No, building over the entire lot is not feasible. The maximum material cost is €150,000 (excluding labor and medical equipment). A project that covers the entire 2,500 m² lot would evidently exceed this budget by a large margin. So excluded.

If the declared budget is not consistent with the size of the intervention, the materials, and the construction solutions, the project will be considered not truthful and therefore disqualified. The budget must realistically demonstrate coherence with the design choices. The appropriateness of design decisions in relation to the budget is an integral part of the evaluation.

NO. The project may be developed entirely on the ground floor or, at the participant's choice, with the addition of one upper floor (1st floor). However, walkable roofs and additional upper floors are not permitted.

Remember that the design must be compatible with self-construction techniques and the rural context, where single-story houses are the norm. Elevations, stairs, or elevators would increase costs and complicate construction.

No material is prohibited. You may use any construction material, but their use must be compatible with the budget and construction feasibility. The choice and use of materials is a specific evaluation criterion.

The materials provided in the documentation are those most commonly used and easiest to find in rural areas. For materials not listed, you may use international average prices as a reference.

No. The design of electrical, hydraulic, or solar systems, as well as medical equipment, is not required for the competition submission. These designs concern a phase after the competition.

This is one of the least developed areas of Senegal. There are no water and sewage networks. Bathrooms are typically made through a hole in the ground, often located away from the house to prevent bacteria. You can position services inside or outside the building, but the design of the sewage system is not required.

The project must be conceived as a humanitarian intervention realizable through self-construction, with the direct involvement of the community. This means using sustainable construction techniques, optimizing resources, and ensuring that the design can be built by local people with simple technologies and locally available materials.

Elevations, complex structural systems, or high-cost solutions would be incompatible with this approach.

The architecture must integrate the minimum required functions (reception, emergency, consultation/diagnosis, maternity, childcare, observation/inpatient, health support services, administration/staff). Additional functions may be added at your discretion.

The organization, sizing, interconnection, and spatial distribution of these functions are left to the free interpretation of participants, according to their architectural vision, while ensuring healthcare efficiency, spatial quality, privacy, and personal well-being.

You are completely free to choose any spatial distribution for the architectural body. The shape may be regular or irregular, and the project can be designed as a single unified body or as a sum of multiple distinct bodies.

The organization of volumes, the relationship between them, and the overall composition are left to your architectural vision, as long as they respect the site constraints (50 × 50 m lot), the budget limit, and the functional requirements. There is no imposed geometry or layout.

The materials list provided in the documentation is indicative and non-exclusive. It includes some of the most common and easily available materials in rural areas, but it does not represent the totality of materials you may use. Any construction material is allowed, and you may use costs from any source.

You can refer to the prices in the provided list as a reference, but you are free to use costs for materials not included. For composite materials — such as rammed earth, which is a mix of various components (sand, earth, cement, etc.) — you must indicate the quantity of each element in the composition and calculate the total cost accordingly. This ensures transparency and coherence with the budget evaluation.

These elements, such as ambulance access, vehicle circulation, parking, perimeter walls or fences, and any other site-related feature, are left to the participant's choice. There is no obligation to include them, and no fixed list is imposed.

However, if you decide to include any of these elements, they must be consistent with the healthcare function of the center and, above all, they must be accounted for in the declared budget. Any built element contributes to the maximum material cost and must be coherent with the overall design and the rural self-construction context.

Yes. Planting trees and integrating greenery into the project is allowed. Trees, vegetation, and landscape elements can contribute to the well-being of patients and staff, to climate comfort (shade, ventilation, microclimate), and to the overall quality of the architectural proposal.

As with any other design choice, the use of greenery should be coherent with the site, the budget, and the rural context.

In line with its ethical code and international laws protecting vulnerable communities, the competition deliberately does not indicate a specific lot or site. This choice safeguards the privacy and dignity of rural communities in Southern Senegal, avoiding unwanted media attention and preventing any association of a specific community with a narrative of fragility.

Yes. The internship is offered to the entire winning team. The host architecture firm may request CVs, portfolios, and an interview to verify that team members meet the firm's standard requirements. Passing this selection phase is a necessary condition for starting the internship. Travel expenses are the responsibility of the winners. The internship must take place within one year from the publication of results.

Winners arepublished on the official Winners page. An international press release is distributed to our Global Media Partners, and winners are featured across social media, newsletters, the official competition book, and international exhibitions. The Team Leader of each winning teams is contacted via email.

No. Due to the high number of participants, it is not possible to provide individual feedback. The jury and committee select the winning projects as established by the rules. We encourage all participants to study the award-winning submissions and develop their self-critical skills for future editions.

Yes, the jury's decision is final, binding, and irrevocable. As stated in the competition terms (Section 6.1), there is no right of appeal. The jury members are internationally renowned architects who serve on a voluntary basis in support of the humanitarian mission. Their evaluation is based on the criteria published in the competition brief and is not subject to review or dispute.

Yes. All participants can request a Certificate of Participation within 6 months from the end of the competition. This certificate confirms your involvement in the competition and can be used for your portfolio or academic records.

The cash prize is awarded to the entire team as a single, one-time payment. The prize money is not divided per team member. It is the team's responsibility to manage the allocation of the prize internally. The payment is made to the Team Leader (or the designated representative) who will receive the full amount and distribute it according to the team's agreement.

No. Contacting any jury member, directly or indirectly, is strictly prohibited and will result in the immediate disqualification of the participant and their team. This rule protects the integrity and anonymity of the evaluation process. Any attempt to reach a jury member — whether by email, social media, or through third parties — constitutes a violation of the competition regulations (Section 6.2).

Any direct contact with the jury members — in any form and through any channel — is strictly prohibited and is considered a violation of the competition regulations. Participants must refrain from any attempt to influence, question, or communicate with the jury outside the official channels.

Likewise, any attack, offensive statement, or public accusation against the jury, the organizers, or the results of the competition is considered a violation of the regulations and of privacy regulations.

In such cases, KAIRA LOORO reserves the right to take all appropriate measures in the competent venues, in accordance with the regulations and applicable law.

100% of the registration fees are donated to the Balouo Salo humanitarian organization. These funds are used to build wells, schools, health centers, and water infrastructure in rural Senegal, directly improving the lives of tens of thousands of people. The competition is a fundraising event — every registration is a contribution to this mission.

Because the fee constitutes a completed donation at the time of payment. The funds are immediately allocated to humanitarian projects. This is stated in the competition terms (Section 4) and applies regardless of withdrawal, disqualification, or non-awarding.

KAIRA LOORO is a non-profit competition, and participation implies full acceptance of our Code of Ethics, which is publicly available on this website.

Any form of human rights violation, racist or discriminatory statement, violent behavior in any of its forms, and discrimination of any kind is strictly prohibited and will be prosecuted in accordance with the law and our Code of Ethics.

Any participant found in violation of these principles may be disqualified from the competition and excluded from any current or future initiative organized by KAIRA LOORO.

KAIRA LOORO invites some of the best architects in the world to take part in the competition as jury members, with a clear purpose: to demonstrate how architecture can improve the world and contribute to creating dignified living conditions for everyone, especially in the most vulnerable communities.

Their presence is not only a guarantee of the highest evaluation standards, but also a concrete act of solidarity: every juror contributes to the humanitarian cause of the project, donating their time, expertise, and prestige to support a shared mission of social and human development.

KAIRA LOORO is a non-profit competition, and all proceeds are donated to Balouo Salo, a humanitarian organization active in Senegal and beyond. Thanks to this commitment, KAIRA LOORO has changed the lives of thousands of people, supporting concrete projects in the fields of healthcare, education, water access, and community development.

To discover the projects realized and the impact on local communities, we invite you to visit www.balouosalo.com.