The Nubian Vault project promotes a millennia-old homebuilding concept that?s cutting costs and saving the climate Sometimes, it pays to stick with what works. In the case of the Nubian Vault Association (La Voûte Nubienne, or LVN), a nonprofit working to make housing more affordable in West African, it means resurrecting a millennia-old building technique that?s not only more affordable and accessible that current processes, but ultimately an economic driver for the entire community.
Founded by farmer Seri Youlou, of Burkina Faso, who helped resurrect and perfect the technique, and Frenchman Thomas Granier, in 2000, the program has helped homeowners in Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, and Ghana construct more than 1,800 homes with a classic building technique that, more than high-tech shelters and new housing solutions, seems custom-designed for the arid region. The organization?s A Roof, a Skill, a Market program, which helps promote Nubian vault construction and education across the Sahel region of Africa, just won a World Habitat Award earlier this month, and has made a $2.2 million economic impact in the region. As the name implies, the Nubian vault is a curving, vaulted roof structure, one that can be built from mud and bricks without the need for any additional supporting structures or material. The name refers to the ancient Kingdom of Nubia, located in the Nile Valley in Egypt and Sudan, a country name-checked in the Bible.

According to retired State Departmen...