In 1998, Seri Youlou, a farmer from Burkina Faso and Thomas Granier, a French mason, tried to build a Nubian vault in Burkina Faso during the PIAMET (a local exhibition of traditionnal arts). After a series of technical trials, a streamlined method was developed, “the Nubian Vault technical concept" , and adapted to the weather conditions and traditional know-how of the Sahel, while being easy to implement and ready to be adopted on a large scale. They created the Nubian Vault Association (AVN) in 2000 with the ambition to develop a market for adapted housing in West Africa while tackling issues such as housing, professional training, economics, environment and climate change.