The Waldorf School Nairobi, designed by the internationally recognized firm Urko Sánchez Architects, has been honored as one of twenty winners of the prestigious 2025 Holcim Foundation Awards for Sustainable Construction. The project received recognition in the Middle East and Africa region for its innovative approach to educational architecture that prioritizes environmental sensitivity, community participation, and cultural authenticity. Nestled within a densely forested site in Kenya's capital, the school exemplifies how contemporary architecture can harmonize with natural ecosystems while serving the pedagogical needs of alternative education models. The award acknowledges the project's success in addressing the Holcim Foundation's core goals of Uplifting Places, Healthy Planet, Thriving Communities, and Viable Economics through design solutions that are holistic, transformational, and transferable to other contexts.

Esther Karanja of Urko Sánchez Architects explains that the design process began with a fundamental commitment to preserving the existing forest ecosystem. The school was conceived as a small village for children hidden within the woods, with classrooms carefully positioned in natural clearings to minimize disruption to native tree species. The construction employs experimental techniques including living walls filled with soil excavated directly from the site and forest debris like fallen leaves. This approach not only reduces material costs and transportation impacts but also creates a cyclical system where the walls gradually drain and require periodic refilling, engaging the school community in the building's ongoing maintenance. The structures are clad in timber bark offcuts up to a certain height, making them visually recede into the forest floor before transitioning to translucent walls that dissolve the boundary between interior and exterior spaces.

Community involvement was central to both the construction process and the long-term vision for the school. Working under a tight deadline, the firm collaborated with a contractor while creating opportunities for students to observe and participate in safe, age-appropriate tasks. The most significant community contribution came from parents who manually filled the cavity walls with soil, transforming a construction phase into a collective ritual. Karanja notes that this participatory model extends beyond initial construction: "The idea is that whenever the soil levels in the living wall are low enough, the parents and students participate in a sort of communal exercise of refilling it. That way, the school is kind of alive, and they're collaboratively taking part in the architecture of the school." In a remarkable demonstration of this knowledge transfer, third-grade students later built their own prototype structure—a bus waiting shed—applying lessons they had absorbed by watching the construction process.

The spatial organization draws directly from Kenyan vernacular traditions, particularly Maasai-inspired typologies. The Maasai's nomadic culture organizes homesteads communally around a central core, a concept the architects translated into a series of courtyard spaces surrounded by peripheral classroom units. Individual classroom forms reference traditional Maasai houses, which feature an oval layout wrapping inward to create both communal areas and more private spaces. The architects abstracted this into a contemporary educational setting where the larger oval becomes the main learning space and the smaller interior area functions as a teacher's room. This approach demonstrates how indigenous spatial knowledge can inform modern architecture without resorting to superficial stylistic references, instead focusing on how cultural patterns of gathering and inhabitation can enhance functionality and meaning.

The design responds directly to Waldorf education's emphasis on sensory experience, imaginative learning, and constant contact with nature. Translucent walls ensure students maintain visual connection with the forest from inside classrooms, eliminating the traditional barrier between indoor and outdoor learning environments. The living walls themselves become teaching tools, fostering biodiversity and sensory engagement as children observe natural cycles firsthand. Karanja explains that the team prioritized forest preservation over rigid design intentions, even modifying roof shapes to accommodate existing branches. This flexibility reflects a core Waldorf principle that children learn best when immersed in natural contexts, where the boundary between structured education and environmental exploration remains fluid and permeable.

The project's success stems from Urko Sánchez Architects' deep experience in East Africa, with principal Urko Sánchez having worked on the continent for twenty-five years, beginning in Lamu where he developed an appreciation for tacit local knowledge and high-level craftsmanship. Country director Jaime Velasco's hands-on approach, sketching directly on site and maintaining flexible dialogue with contractors, enabled real-time problem-solving and design adaptation. The team—including designers Kelvin Dunu, Linda Muki, and Nicholas Simimici—embraces an experimental methodology where failure and iteration are valued as learning opportunities. This philosophy extends to their work in Somaliland, where they abstracted the simple concept of tree shade into a contemporary canopy system using local materials, demonstrating how traditional solutions to climate challenges can be transformed through architectural innovation while remaining affordable and culturally resonant.

The broader significance of the Waldorf School Nairobi lies in its demonstration that sustainable architecture in the Global South must begin with respect for existing knowledge systems rather than imported solutions. Karanja emphasizes that communities have been solving their own environmental and spatial challenges for generations, and architects succeed when they listen and adapt rather than impose. The project reveals two critical lessons: the value of tacit knowledge in creating climate-responsive design, and the possibility of creating beautiful, meaningful architecture without massive capital investment. By finding the intersection between local expertise and contemporary technical knowledge, architects can develop solutions that are simultaneously affordable, culturally appropriate, and environmentally responsible. The Holcim Award recognition validates this approach, proving that architecture serving both people and planet can emerge from genuine collaboration and deep contextual understanding rather than top-down intervention.