Diébédo Francis Kéré

thumb|right|Diébédo Francis Kéré (2019) Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 10 April 1965) is a Burkinabé-German architect, recognized for creating innovative works that are often sustainable and collaborative in nature. In 2022, he became the first native African to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Educated at Technische Universität Berlin, he has lived in Berlin since 1985. Parallel to his studies, he established the Kéré Foundation (formerly Schulbausteine für Gando), and in 2005 he founded Kéré Architecture. His architectural practice has been recognized internationally with awards including the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2004) for his first building, the Gando Primary School in Burkina Faso, and the Global Holcim Award for Sustainable Construction (2012 Gold). Kéré has undertaken projects in various countries including Burkina Faso, Mali, Kenya, Uganda, Mozambique, Togo, Sudan, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the US, and the UK. In 2017 the Serpentine Galleries commissioned him to design the Serpentine Pavilion in London. He has held professorships at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Yale School of Architecture and the Swiss Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio. In 2017 he accepted the professorship for "Architectural Design and Participation" at the Technical University of Munich], and a guest professorship at Bauhaus University, Weimar, in 2021. Quotes Francis Kéré (Jun 5, 2014) Architect Diébédo Francis Kéré. A YouTube video from the DW News channel. I just came to Germany because I got a scholarship... to attend training as a development activist in carpentry... Imagine, there is no wood in Burkina Faso. ...There's not a lot of trees nor wood and carpentry is very primitive ...but ...coming to Germany was a chance to escape.., to move... to escape my environment to another environment where everything seemed to be available and possible! When I came to Berlin I didn't have my high school degree. ...I had to go again, back to school ...in an evening school in Berlin ...for 5 years ...from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM to be able to do my high school degree... to go to TU to study architecture. I built my... first project, a primary school in Gando.., my home village when I was still a student.., and I graduate 3 years later. ...[I]t was a sheer necessity that led me to build a school because when I leave my village there was no school and... instead of bringing presents to my village, I just wanted to give... education to my village. How to build in a region like Burkina Faso.., in a country which has a... colonial past... When I arrived home, explaining to my people that I am here to build a school together with them, and I already have the money.., everybody was... over the moon.., really happy, and then I explained... that we are going to use clay.., mud. ...[T]here was shock! ...The rejection was so big, nobody wanted to speak again with me... [I]t cost me a lot of energy and... discussions to convince them that this is the only way to... respond the best to the climate, and to our need. The problem... is how to explain drawings and engineering to people who are neither able to read or write. So what I do is to build a mockup... a model... Normally I jump on top of that structure so that my people understood that it is working. It won't crash. So that is the test... to check the engineering. This is a smart idea... just to use... the negative effect of the sun to ventilate inside the classroom. So if you have a structure, the metal shaped... roof, and inside-down, you have a massive skin... of clay... bricks. ...So the hot air inside the two elements is escaping from one side, and absorbing the inside air. It is very simple. Fresh air... coming... through the windows. It is very simple, but it really works! ...You need to have openings. ...[H]ot air is escaping, always on the top. ...If, for example.., with the Western world.., you heat your apartment and the guy... [above] is not heating his apartment, your energy is going through the ceiling and... heating... his apartment. ...I just use this principle, making openings in the ceiling... [to] let the hot air escape. So you create a natural ventilation. [I]f you build a school, this is not enough. ...[Y]ou need teachers. ...[W]e ...collaborate with the government. The government is sending teachers, and pay them. ...I have to ...provide infrastructure.., housing for them. ...[A]n educated person ...don't want to stay in the village. ...[W]e ...provide them with very comfortable housing, so to attract them. Even the adult need[s] education. We train the young people in the technique we apply to build the schools so they can earn money. They become professionals working in different building site[s]... from... Gando, to other cities... in Burkina Faso, to the neighboring countries... Ghana, Togo, Benin.., so something is happening... The Opera Village and Christoph Schlingensief.., he was a genius. ... He had a dream... to build an opera in Africa, and... our ways crossed... in South Africa. ...I am fighting to build schools... and somebody came with an idea to build an opera. You could imagine... my natural reaction... It's a provocation. It's not serious. ...I'm struggling to build schools to educate people. You come with an idea of an opera. An opera, even in the Western world is something... limited to the 2%... [H]e was... a great person.., a strong personality and... made these ideas so attractive, so we start... the project. ...Now 150 kids are attending primary education... in the Opera Village. ...We have infrastructure where... activities are... happening.., sometimes supported by the German Goethe-Institut... so that we make performances.., dancing.., a lot of activities... but... most important.., education is still happening. ...A nursery ...is part of it. Christoph... once happened to say... "a cry of a newborn is an opera." So... not... an opera like in Europe... Ref: Opera Village Burkina Faso @Kéré Architecture. Francis Kéré (Feb 11, 2021) Lecture by Francis Kéré with response by Amale Andraos. A Creative Commons video from the Columbia GSAPP YouTube channel. In the West we are spoiled. We don't know what we have... Here's the Xylem Pavilion in Montana at the site of Temple Rice Art Center. ...I wanted to go back to Burkina Faso and... learn from the tradition... to design the pavilion.., a gathering space where people can come.., meet and rest. ...[T]he Toguna was an inspiration for that... The taguna is... a landmark in the Dogon land.., the symbol of freedom, of peace... The Toguna... forced people to enter not standing.., taking away aggressivity.., by sitting you cannot be aggressive. Ref: Xylem @Kéré Architecture. [I]n Montana I was impressed.., coming from the Sahara, trees are... so important, so meaningful, the most important things in nature or in human life. ...There was an idea to use dead forest and give it new life. ...[W]e discovered that there is a lot of wood in Montana that is just used to burn or... for other purpose than construction. ...We got them and ...try to do like ...in Burkana, taking the skin off the wood with ...a very simple tool ...We went up to create bundles.., components that we... could build.., transport... and install. [A] connection to this vast monumental landscape.., that is what I tried to do with this design, not to mimick, but to build a... little space within this big landscape to attract people to rest. [I]t.., being part of the landscape... and also react beautifully to... nature. Another project that I was happy to do is at Coachella. ...Until that, I didn't know what is Coachella .., until that... I would say it is a Mexican drink... I have a daughter Josephine ...and she told me "...you're refusing to do a lot of things because ...you have no time ...but Coachella is cool!" You should do it. Ref: Sarbalé Ke @Kéré Architecture. Paul Tollett... decided to travel to... Burkina Faso even when it was a time of terrorism... [H]e traveled for the first time to Africa and... told me.., "I have this festival..., and we... want to promote architecture and art. Would you create... a structure that serves as orientation and a recreation place for our festival visitors?" [T]he inspiration here was the Baobab... landmark in the landscape, very big, very giant and in some you have openings, the trunks are hollow. ...I wanted to ...create big Baobab during the festival ...It is just an inspiration ...to make sketches ...mimicking ...how this Baobob is hollow ...create something that is giant, that can be seen from far.., capable of providing shade and a place for visitors... [T]he shadows... rising and inviting the visitor just to gather to sit and rest... [A]t night it was like a beacon... playing the role of orientation pieces... [T]hese giant Baobob... are named, together with the people from Coachella, Sarbalé Ke, a house of celebration or festival... Ref: Sarbalé Ke @Kéré Architecture. This structure... is simply plywood.., very thin steel and light and color. ...[C]olor for a festival ...is like a signal of celebration. ...You use this triangular element and you can create a shape like this... [I]n the U.S. there is no big difference between the people. We are [all] looking... for something that can inspire us.., benefiting from the shade and the canopy of this big Baobab. Hans Obrist wrote me a letter inviting me to submit a proposal for the Serpentine Pavilion. ...I never saw myself ...in the level of Serpentine Pavilions ...so I ignored the letter and I fly to Burkina Faso ...pushing my people to create structures. ...Hans ...called, saying why are you not reacting.., is really serious.., so I came back. ...I said, maybe I have to ...stay true to myself ...I wanted to create a canopy .., a big tree .., and I start to talk about community. ...[A]gain the inspiration is trees, but also the historic pattern of the brickwork... at the Kensington Gardens for the Serpentine Galleries inspired me ... Serpentine Pavilion @Kéré Architecture. [W]e couldn't build with brick... to build in London is very expensive, but to build in the Kensington Gardens is... much more complicated. ...We wanted to use wood to build this big tree ...[W]e made many many components ...[I]t's a gathering space for the community ...I saw people talking to each other to get people ...connected. ...That was ...again, a reason to say, if I learn from my culture, from ...tradition, I can create something in the West that may be seen as a contribution to architecture... I wanted it to be light and blue... my favorite color. In my culture blue is so important for a young man.., the first date... is to dress blue. If you wear blue, you go to... your lover... everyone will see you walking through the landscape, and then someone is dating this girl ...I wanted to dress this pavilion with... my favorite color. thumb|Communal mosque maintenance in Mali, Africa I was born in the traditional compound in Burkina Faso, in a village called Gando. I grew up in a place seeing architecture as... big.., from corporation, from government... far out of reach. ...I got a scholarship to go to Germany. ...I wanted to make things better, and learning from my tradition how people come together to do communal work like here... they repair a mosque in Mali. ...I wanted to build a school in my home village. I get the community together and... we have rocks. Let's collect these rocks and create the foundation, so we save money. Let's use clay to build walls, but... clay in my country is seen as poor people construction material. So they reject it, and they said... a school is something from France... European. We want it to be made out of concrete and glass. ...But ...to convince them I ...discovered ...this ...low cost technology ...compact clay brick .., clay that has been mixed with water and ... a percentage of cement ...and then my people were saying, "Wow, this is technology. This is something new!" [W]e went to build the first school... from mud from Gando... clay, and then we use rebars to make the roof's top because I have not a lot of money, and rebars was everywhere available... so I could use it to make the roof structure, and... a massive ceiling out of the same bricks... over rebars.., a light hanging roof. Ref: Gando Primary School @Kéré Architecture. I did very simple drawings because... people didn't know about architecture.., something related to big corporation... Here you made very simple drawings to explain... how it worked... [T]he building, the school... is still like at the beginning.., the same, so people are proud... because normally school... government building, no one take care of them... I build this school the way it is not breaking apart and it is... successful. How we did it? How I could get... the community to participate? ...To make a big vault ...out of clay bricks, and then I climb... in the middle showing my people, "Don't worry, It will work," explaining... what is technology.., engineering... [T]his way we could... build... a vault.., and roof structure out of rebars, and the roof skin out of metal sheet. Inside the vault... openings allow the hot air to circulate.., Venturi system. ...The heaviest air ...remain on the ground while the hot air is light and escaping. Together with the... lamellar windows we created cross ventilation, and so we create cool places for the teachers and kids. Léo is a clinic... I started to build six years ago, and this... never had enough money... It is a health care center... We used clay... and... this project is... meaningful because in Burkina Faso health care center[s] are connected to debt and dirt, so... you go to the hospital when you have no alternative.., and mostly it is too late... and also you go sometime... and you go back home sick. ...But ...it was great to be able to create a structure like this out of clay ...and while people are getting fixed inside, the kids are playing outside... in a place where normally people don't go... Ref: Léo Surgical Clinic and Health Centre Our structure was so successful that many doctors [were] volunteering to... work there from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and so this doctor who has now become my friend... asked me to design doctor housing because there was no hotel in the area. ...I went again to be inspired by tradition: how we build housing in Burkina... either cylindric or a box.., and from that we create a... little compound... Here the idea was to try and build a small house... mimicking the size of the housing of the local people, with the idea that people can... copy this way of building to improve their homes. ...It looked very simple ...inside, very very simple, but it is luxury in Burkina Faso. ...Where you have a shower and a toilet in my country is, even today a big big luxury. I could achieve this even using... clay bricks.., seen as poor people['s] construction material. Another project... is Lycee Schorge... and Burkina Institute of Technology. ...This client came to tell me... we want to give something back... to create a high school in honor of his brother... [H]is nickname was Schorge... and later they wanted to create a BIT in the image of MIT. ...Things are growing fast in Burkina Faso. ...[P]eople come to city... to settle around structures. ...[I]n twenty years time this will be a city centre. Ref: Lycée Schorge @Kéré Architecture. I wanted to create a compound-like structure that will create a courtyard to protect the student... from the element[s] and... to increase... ventilation systems on adding a... wind tower, and I wanted to use this time laterite.., a construction material in Burkina Faso, but also neglected more and more because people think it is for poor people. ...To get them to be accepted we cut them with a machine. With the cutting they become regular, and with this it has become a modern construction material. [Y]ou will see kids standing and watching what is happening. ...[S]ometime when we... build it is like a big theater.., a big performance. ...The community come to watch. [W]e wanted to add Eucalyptus wood. Eucalyptus wood is special.., if you cut it... you have more finger[s] growing out, and they are so straight that people... use them for scaffolding.., or to burn, and I decided to... introduce them to architecture to create structure.., visière... a skin to protect buildings. [W]e decided to get women from the community to be part of the work. ...The community is participating. ...[Y]ou have women sanding the wood, almost like a meditation, but... they also earn money... [I]n this way... the project... become[s] part of the community. It is creating an identity. People know how the building was made, and they have been part of the building, but they also earn money... to feed their family. In the back side we have seatings. You can sit... on the wood that we had been using to create a sort of brise soleil. [T]he technology for the BIT, because it's a... technology center, I wanted to use clay in a different way, to pour clay like you would do with concrete. ...We end up coming to an agreement to create the form... and with this... create one classroom at a time. ...So the more students are coming, we keep pouring more classrooms. ...[I]t is open to the east, and to the south it's protected with sun-shading wood element[s]. ...[T]he ventilation elements ...[are] different... [from] the high school ...crossing the buildings. Inside you have a very open courtyard where...the students can be. [The structure] is very warm, very welcoming and inspiring. ...After class you will see the student[s] playing with the other younger students from the high school. [A]t night you have light, and light is so important. ...One of the reasons I have realized why I'm doing the work... is to bring knowledge to my people. First I started with Gando and then I came to be able to do many many projects in many places... Burkina Faso is still my focus... I realize... that education is like light... what you can see in the night. Hope... because what I have been seeing... during my work.., facing this discussion about who is the best partner for Africa. Who can better help Africa? ...I don't know. Today some voices are saying China has an advantage... in the competition. ...Here, dear community from Columbia.., when I did my first lecture in your place, let's say I was working with simply my relatives from my village, brothers and sisters and cousins. Nowadays I have this big structure working with me (very big group of people) and if you add the women.., I have more than 300 or 400 people sometime... working and earning money. ...Your keeping these young people from the risk to take a boat and go... to Europe, the West, to America, and... you know what's happening with populism. ...[P]eople just use ...other people ...to oppose. ...People are looking ...for opportunity to live a simple and better life. Look at what I'm doing... with my work. Here we're trying to create a water basin. ...People just dig and we construct... This is in the site of the BIT and the high school. ...With this you can store water ...to grow trees, the same like we're building, step by step, classes, and you see these tree[s] are creating shadow for my people. Maybe with my architecture I am contributing to bring my people to the position to not see things like big and for corporation... This is... what motivated me to do what I am doing. You see these young people. Those kids are now in the BIT learning... New York has been built with people, and... in my work I want my people to be inspired to build their own future, and I want people like you... to see that I'm considering what I'm doing... as important as the same way New York has been built. You may laugh, but... a little school in Gando is, in the eyes of my community, maybe the same... [as] how they build a high rise in New York... very inspiring. Giving Me Penny (Apr 3, 2024) - Interview with the Architect Diébédo Francis Kéré. A YouTube video from the Bauwelt channel. I learned this in Germany, to learn how to use... technology.., modern knowledge and adapting them to the need of the people. ...[T]his was only possible because I was working with the people. So learning... old techniques from my people, training to make them a little better.., to make them last longer.., to connect traditional knowledge to modern knowledge. [S]ometimes I feel like a bridge... between your culture and my own culture, between your culture of science and mine, which is on the very beginning... [of] development... I am teaching my people to be able to build this project... When we started... 15 people and... at a certain time... more than 50... belonged to my staff... showing them how to do what I'm doing. ...It sounds so "teacher" ...no, no, no ...I was trying to find solution[s] with them... [T]hey're so full of creativity... of talent, but... today we are doing projects... and my people get paid! My people can earn money from their work..! I am proud to see that. We just started very naive. Everybody was laughing. Now we have a school. It's working. We have teacher houses which are being called fridge of Gando... where it is cool like fridge. I left my village to go to the city and attend education. ...[W]hen I came on holiday, home, all the women... in my village... here they put their last penny, and they open all the time this... to give my their last penny. ...I will never forget this ...[O]ne day I asked my mother, "Why all the women in the village are loving me... that much that they give me money?" and my mother said... "Yes, ...they love you, of course, but... they're giving you credit so you can help them one day." ...That is why this women's center is so important for me. ...It is ... for the women in my village.., to whom my own mother belong, my own sisters. Everybody will be concerned about this project... [T]his project will impact the life of 3,000 women.., and these... will have an impact on... 12,000... because their family will benefit. ...We will give them ...adult education ...They will have their microcredit system trying to improve their economical situation. Trying also to train them to have a better position in the family. ...[I]n Africa, women's rights? ...[I]n countries where people are poor, the people suffering ...are the women, and this is also in Gando, and that's what I'm going to change. ...€70,000 euro ...can change life of more than 12,000 people ...This is my latest project for my village. ...[T]he roofs will be made ...with Eucalyptus ...by myself and my people, and the women will help build the house like they used to do. ...[I]t will be a big step for my people, for the women! ...[W]e will use a clay floor ...and we will raise the building ...to have natural ventilation coming from the ground ...and the air will circulate through the roof, through the ventilation system through openings in the ceiling ...and solar panels ...to have electricity ...My people are great and the women are great! Without women there is no Africa. A Conversation with 2024 Crystal Awardee Francis Kéré (Mar 15, 2022) | Davos 2024 | World Economic Forum. A Creative Commons video from the World Economic Forum YouTube channel. [F]rom Gando to Davos is a very very long way, but it's a way that I enjoyed... very much, and it's a way where you realize your privilege. ...To look back and see that I have been one of the very few... to attend education... and to learn how to build and to come back and be able to work together with the community to create... a building. An effort that I have always seen as a matter of heart. ...In my place every member of the community has to contribute... to the growth of the community, and I have been very far away in the world that was not known to my people. Germany is so far away. "What is he doing there?" So especially your mom will be attacked.., saying "Get him back. He should come and help to work in the field. His father was stupid enough to let him go; the first son, and not to contribute... doing agriculture." I feel very very privileged. I created the school as a student... because... 3 years after I start to study architecture in Berlin I suddenly feel I know a lot... I will go back and work with the community. ...[T]he school has been selected as one of the 21 most influential buildings in the world since the Second World War. Ref: Gando Primary School @Kéré Architecture. I left... my family when I was 7, so... I was thinking... what can I do to keep the kids home, by their community, by their families, but... to attend education. Education is so highly needed, and so... after I got the scholarship and I started to study architecture, I grew the idea... solve this... creating the school.., but the school should be within the reality of the people: the social context, the economical context and the cultural context. ...[P]eople used to work together. If it come[s] to building, you need the entire community, and that['s] what I've done. I can see the work of an architect as those of a sociologist. ...You're trying to shape people['s] life. ...It is in a house where you share intimacy. This is where we rest.., where we spend most of our time. ...[W]e work in buildings. ...[T]he role of an architect is caring. Shortly said, [it] is caring for humanity... [C]aring means to think about solutions where you could create comfort, for people to really stay.., spend their time, and fulfill their dreams. Now you hear a big word, "sustainability"... Honestly.., I was just doing my work, and then... good people realized... there is more than just words around what he is doing. There is a depth, and that saved me. I didn't need... to really use the word properly, but to build, and to build with the people and to use the resources I believe will open a future to my community... [N]owadays construction is over-complicated regulation, and even... how... you apply material. Everything is so complex, and you cannot innovate anymore... [W[hat I do is to try every time I have a chance to build in the West and to gather with professionals to make sure we will be able to come out with quality. So first I have a big vision, and I try to put as much... insight in... knowing that if they try to decompose it, to take away elements, ...at the end of the day a core will remain that is quality.., but... I'm trying to use the opportunity that in other places in the world construction can still be innovative, and there I push ...it as a chance to innovate, and then bring this back to Germany. [T]he Kéré Foundation... was born out of sheer necessity... I was a student. I had a big heart for my community. I wanted to give them a school. ...I could design, but where to get the money? ...I met every political party ..."Oh, I have an idea to build a school in Africa." [Answer:} "Oh wow, in Africa. You're so naive. It's so corrupt! ...You think you could do something?"I didn't give up. ...Running, running, running, trying to explain why there is a need for me to build a school, and then there is a rejection. "Why you and not the government, and you're a student, why should you do that? Why you don't wait?" I had been facing all of that, and one day I stopped. ...I honestly started to push my colleague[s] to smoke less or drink less coffee, but fund my project, and so... people start to put money in the box that I designed for the school.., a mock-up of the school... used as a box to collect money...Suddenly someone said, "Oh, it's illegal to collect money like this in Germany! ...You need a structure," and so we created the foundation Schulbausteine für Gando... which means, construction bricks for the school in Gando... I got $50,000 U.S. dollars... to build a school. So the Kéré Foundation is a nonprofit structure that I founded as a student to be able to do my work... Later on the school was so successful.., but with the growing success of my architecture there was still a struggle to get the money, and friends... started six years ago to say.., "Francis, it's important that you connect... the name of your foundation with the success of your architecture. ...Why you don't call it Kéré Foundation?" and so we call it Kéré Foundation. ...There's still a struggle, but I have... client[s] that are really looking forward to support this structure... to share my work... to my fellow Africans... [and] to the world. Young people are looking for opportunities. They try... to go somewhere else. They don't leave because they want to leave. They leave because their life conditions.. are bad. ...[W]ith my modest workshop ...20 years now.., I have more than 500 young people in Burkina Faso that really earn money, and... make a living, and they will never take the road through the Sahara to come to the West... If we develop community.., make them stronger, enabling the youth... to build a better future for generations to come, we will heal our places and contribute to peace in the world. ...[T]his is what I can say through my modest work, and not more. Quotes about Kéré Francis Kéré (Jun 5, 2014) Architect Diébédo Francis Kéré. A YouTube video from the DW News channel. Diébédo Francis Kéré left his homeland over 20 years ago, and he's been on the move ever since. He has architectural projects all over the world, but those closes to his heart are in his homeland, Burkina Faso. Kéré works with simple materials, designing elegant efficient buildings using resources available locally, and he develops new ideas, like... [the] double roof that allows the air to circulate and cost efficiently cool the school. Kéré's biggest project is the Opera Village in Burkina Faso, a dream of the late artist, Christoph Schlingensief, whose widow Aino Laberenz is still working with Kéré. Ref: Opera Village Burkina Faso @Kéré Architecture. His school, created from mud bricks, has won him global fame. Ref: Gando Primary School @Kéré Architecture. His office studio in Berlin is a multicultural laboratory, and his second home. Kéré doesn't just want to copy architectural styles in Europe, but to observe and learn, wherever he happens to be. Kéré developed his own recipe for making bricks, 8 buckets of cement added to 92 buckets of clay. This mixture makes his building resistant to rain and termites. He learned to work with clay at an old brick work factory in Germany. He's determined that despite a minimum of resources and adverse conditions, he'll find a unique aesthetic for Africa. That's a promise he's made to his country. Diébédo Francis Kéré Receives the 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize (Mar 15, 2022) Diébédo Francis Kéré Source @PritzkerPrize.com "Francis Kéré is pioneering architecture—sustainable to the earth and its inhabitants—in lands of extreme scarcity. He is equally architect and servant, improving upon the lives and experiences of countless citizens in a region... that is at times forgotten... Through buildings that demonstrate beauty, modesty, boldness and invention, and by the integrity of his architecture and geste, Kéré gracefully upholds the mission of this Prize." Tom Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation. Francis Kéré empowers and transforms communities through the process of architecture. Through his commitment to social justice and engagement, and intelligent use of local materials to connect and respond to the natural climate, he works in marginalized countries... where architecture and infrastructure are absent. Building contemporary school institutions, health facilities, professional housing, civic buildings and public spaces, oftentimes in lands where resources are fragile and fellowship is vital, the expression of his works exceeds the value of a building itself. Startup Lions Campus... uses local quarry stone and stacked towers for passive cooling to minimize the air conditioning... Burkina Institute of Technology... is composed of cooling clay walls... were cast in-situ to accelerate the... Overhanging eucalyptus... were repurposed to line the angled corrugated metal roofs, which protect the building during the country’s brief rainy reason, and rainwater is collected underground to irrigate mango plantations on the premises. A facade... of eucalyptus wood surrounds the elliptical building, creating flexible outdoor spaces that emit light... Ref: Startup Lions Campus @Kéré Architecture. A poetic expression of light is consistent throughout Kéré’s works. Rays of sun filter into buildings, courtyards and intermediary spaces, overcoming harsh midday conditions to offer places of serenity or gathering. The concrete roof of Gando Primary School Library was poured around a grid of traditional clay pots, that... left openings allowing heat to escape while circular beams of natural light could... illuminate the interiors. Ref: Gando Primary School Library @Kéré Architecture. Kéré’s designs are laced with symbolism and his works... are influenced by his upbringing and experiences in Gando. The West African tradition of communing under a sacred tree to exchange ideas, narrate stories, celebrate and assemble, is recurrent throughout. Many of Kéré's... works are... in Africa.., including the Republic of Benin, Burkino Faso, Mali, Togo, Kenya, Mozambique... and Sudan. Pavilions and installations and have been created in Denmark, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. Kéré established Kéré Foundation in 1998 to serve the inhabitants of Gando... and Kéré Architecture in 2005 in Berlin... Kéré is the 51st Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize, and is a dual citizen of Burkina Faso and Germany. Jury Citation: 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize (Mar 15, 2022) Jury Citation Source @PritzkerPrize.com His cultural sensitivity not only delivers social and environmental justice, but guides his entire process, in the awareness that it is the path towards the legitimacy of a building in a community. He knows, from within, that architecture is not about the object but the objective; not the product, but the process. ....His buildings, for and with communities, are ...of those communities—in their making.., materials.., programs and ...unique characters. He has drawn from his European architectural formation and work, combining them with the traditions, needs and customs of his country. He was determined to bring resources in education from one of the leading Technical Universities in the world back to his native land and to have those resources elevate the indigenous know-how, culture and society of his region. Kéré understood that an apparently simple goal, namely, to make it possible for children to attend school comfortably, had to be at the heart of his architectural project. For too many people in developing countries, the problem is extreme heat, rather than cold.In response he developed an ad-hoc, highly performative and expressive architectural vocabulary: double roofs, thermal mass, wind towers, indirect lighting, cross ventilation and shade chambers... [which] have... acquired the status of built dignity. In the Serpentine pavilion... he successfully translated into a universal visual language... a long-forgotten essential symbol of primordial architecture worldwide: the tree. Serpentine Pavilion @Kéré Architecture. His simultaneously local and global perspective goes... beyond aesthetics and good intentions, allowing him to integrate the traditional with the contemporary. Francis Kéré’s work... reminds us of the necessary struggle to change unsustainable patterns of production and consumption... He raises fundamental questions of the meaning of permanence and durability... [H]is development of a contemporary humanism merges a deep respect for history, tradition, precision, written and unwritten rules. He has shown us how architecture... can reflect and serve needs, including the aesthetic... of peoples throughout the world. He has shown us how locality becomes a universal possibility. In a world in crisis, amidst changing values and generations, he reminds us of what has been, and will... continue to be a cornerstone of architectural practice: a sense of community and narrative... which he... recount[s] with compassion and pride. ...[H]e provides a narrative in which architecture can become a source of continued and lasting happiness and joy. For the gifts he has created through his work, gifts that go beyond the realm of the architecture discipline, Francis Kéré is named the 2022 Pritzker Prize Laureate. See also Africa Architecture Germany External links For the first time in its history, architecture's top award goes to a Black architect @Kuow.org Kéré Architecture Kéré Foundation Sustainable construction: climate, democracy and scarcity are concerns for us all: Diébédo Francis Kéré wins "Nobel Prize" for Architecture. 2022 Laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize @HolcimFoundation.org Diébédo Francis Kéré Receives the 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize @PritzkerPrize.com Primary School (in Burkina Fasa) 2004 Aga Khan Award for Architecture @AKDN Editoriale Domus, Italy Francis Kéré in Mali Francis Kéré. See Africa Interview with Diébédo Francis Kéré YouTube videos Pritzker Prize Architect | Francis Kéré: Africa Must Stop Copying the West What makes the most famous African architect Diébédo Francis Kéré extraordinary? @Superstarchitect channel Category:1965 births Category:20th-century English architects