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The Mud & Glass Review is a weekly publication on sustainable architecture, material intelligence, and the future of Africa's built environment.

We write for architects, developers, ecologists, policy makers, and anyone who believes that how we build is one of the most consequential decisions we make as a species. To examine the built environment honestly, as we celebrate it.

Published every Tuesday by Kolando Limited, Nairobi.

Africa-informed. Globally relevant. Free to read.

Read The Mud & Glass Review every Tuesday.

In-depth essays, building case studies, material guides, and critical thinking on sustainable architecture in Africa — delivered free to your inbox every week. Join a growing community of architects, developers, ecologists, and policy makers who believe that how we build defines the world we leave behind.

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What We Cover

Material Intelligence The origins, ecological footprint, and practical application of building materials in African contexts. What they cost. Where to source them. Why they matter beyond aesthetics.

Built Stories Profiles and case studies of notable sustainable buildings across Africa — who built them, with what, for whom, and what they reveal.

Systems & Policy Green building certification, land policy, climate finance, and the political economy of who gets to build sustainably — and who doesn't.

Voices from the Ground Conversations with community builders, vernacular craftspeople, and grassroots innovators whose knowledge of building with the land often exceeds anything in a formal curriculum.

The Long View Speculative, philosophical essays on what a genuinely regenerative built world could look like. The ideas that don't fit anywhere else — and that often matter most.

Published by Ruby Odhiambo, founder of Kolando Limited — a sustainable architecture and design studio based in Nairobi. Read more →

Work With Kolando

The Mud & Glass Review is a publication. Kolando Limited is the studio behind it — offering sustainable design consultation, material specification, green building certification guidance, and research services to developers, NGOs, and architects across East Africa.

If you are building something that should last — get in touch.