Francis Diébédo Kéré
The people’s architect
Francis Diébédo Kéré (Burkina Faso, 1965) grew up in a village without drinking water or electricity, and was the first child in his community to learn to read. He was also the first African to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize for his sustainable buildings in his native country.
“I am hoping to change the paradigm, push people to dream and undergo risk. It is not because you are rich that you should waste material. It is not because you are poor that you should not try to create quality. Everyone deserves quality”, says Kéré, whose mission is to transform communities through architecture.
Kéré was born in Gando, a small village with a population of 3,000 located east of Burkina Faso without drinking water or electricity. At the age of seven he left his village to go to school in Tenkodogo. When he was 20, he was awarded a carpentry scholarship in Berlin, and several years later he graduated in Architecture.
“Francis Kéré is a pioneer of sustainable architecture in countries where resources are extremely scarce. As an architect at the service of communities, he improves the lives of many citizens in a region of the world that is sometimes forgotten”, said the jury of the Pritzker Prize, the most prestigious award in the field of architecture.
The poetic expression of light is consistent throughout Kéré’s works. Rays of sun filter into buildings, courtyards and intermediary spaces. His designs are [...]
--------
Read this article in full in IN PALMA 71. And if you like, subscribe to IN PALMA for 1 year and get the next 4 issues of the magazine delivered to your home.
