FOREST-SCHOOL reimagines the school as landscape, community, and living ecological system. Initiated by Prof. Dr. Silvia Benedito in collaboration with the NGO KAFO, students from Harvard University and TU Graz developed spatial proposals for a learning environment in Guinea-Bissau that connects environmental education, local knowledge, and climate-responsive architecture. The exhibition at the Architekturgalerie München presents visions situated between forest, climate resilience, and collective learning.

The FOREST-SCHOOL is situated in the Oio Region in northern Guinea-Bissau, along the Sahel frontier of West Africa — a territory increasingly affected by drought, desertification, and ecological degradation. The initiative connects seven villages (tabancas) — Ionfarim, Cabaceira, Demba-so, Baite, Colombato, Manecunda, and Damicunda — and addresses the educational and environmental needs of rural communities whose livelihoods remain deeply intertwined with the surrounding landscape.

Guinea-Bissau lies within the transitional zone between the Sahara Desert to the north and the humid savannahs and forests to the south. As the Sahel continues to expand, climatic conditions, ecosystems, and traditional ways of living are undergoing profound transformation. In regions such as Oio, questions of education, ecological resilience, and social development are inseparable.

The FOREST-SCHOOL therefore understands education not simply as a building, but as a spatial, cultural, and ecological practice. At the center of the project is the Djalikunda Community Forest — a site of biodiversity, food security, cultural memory, and spiritual significance. The forest becomes classroom, laboratory, and collective space at once.

The initiative began in 2021 through a collaboration between the NGO KAFO and Prof. Silvia Benedito at Harvard University. Through a series of engagement sessions with local communities, the idea emerged for a school for children between six and twelve years old that would integrate environmental education with local knowledge, cultural practices, and sustainable resource management. The process is developed collectively together with the participating villages, parents’ committees, and local stakeholders.

KAFO is one of the largest peasant federations in Guinea-Bissau and sub-Saharan Africa, representing more than 25,000 members. For over two decades, the organization has worked on rural development, food sovereignty, education, and ecological resilience across the region.

Building on the initial research and design proposals developed by Harvard students under the direction of Silvia Benedito, the project was later continued at the Institute for Architecture and Landscape at TU Graz. Under the title HABITAT, students investigated the FOREST-SCHOOL as an architectural and territorial framework that rethinks the relationship between human and more-than-human environments.

HABITAT is understood not only as a place of dwelling, but as a system of interdependencies between climate, vegetation, materials, water, community, and knowledge. The projects explore local construction methods, living materials, climatic adaptation, and forms of collective stewardship. Architecture is approached as part of an ecological cycle — embedded within natural processes and social practices of care.

The exhibition at the Architekturgalerie München presents the outcomes of this international collaboration through drawings, models, spatial investigations, and speculative scenarios for a school that connects learning, landscape, and community while opening new perspectives on climate-responsive architecture and collective educational spaces.