Niger built a hospital that doesn't run its cooling on electricity. The General Hospital of Niger sits 7km outside Niamey, in a region where average temperatures hit 35°C and most of the land is Sahara. CADI, a Chinese design institute, built it with a Chinese and Nigerien government partnership, completed in 2016, 34,000 square meters. The walls use a local method called "Tyrol," made from river sand and white cement, chosen because importing standard wall materials into landlocked Niger costs too much. Wide pillars double as sunshades. Courtyards cool the inpatient wing through shaded microclimates. Perforated walls keep air moving. Air conditioning only runs where it has to, operating rooms, labs, pharmacies, nowhere else. This is a foreign design institute solving a Nigerien climate problem with a Nigerien construction method, because it was cheaper and it worked better. That is the part worth sitting with. We keep waiting for the "modern" solution to arrive from outside instead of asking what the ground already knows. Niamey, Niger. Architect: CADI (CITIC Architectural Design Institute). Completed 2016.