“At the intersection of utopia and pragmatism we create contemporary architecture that feeds the imagination with an afro-futurist vision”; This is the first sentence that greets us in the presentation of Kéré Architects’ website. Elsewhere on the same site, we read: “Kéré Architecture was founded in 2005. Its practice is informed by a dual focus on design excellence and social commitment”. And then: “Renowned for its restrained elegance of structure, pioneering use of material and an inclination towards building in regions unchartered by much of contemporary architecture, the studio has been the recipient of numerous awards”. The latest of these is the most prestigious in architecture, the Pritzker Prize, awarded to its founder, the architect Diébédo Francis Kéré.
About this architect born in Burkina Faso, Africa, the press says: “Kéré, the first black architect to ever obtain this award, works mostly in areas charged with constraints and adversity, using local materials and building contemporary facilities whose value exceeds the structure itself, serving and stabilizing the future of entire communities”. (Archdaily).
Or, “At the age of seven, Mr Kéré found himself crammed into an extremely hot classroom with more than 100 other students. As the first child in his community to have attended school, this experience (…) was his earliest inspiration to improve the educational lives of Burkina Faso’s children, using architecture. Years later and after studies in Germany, the dream became a reality, with Mr Kéré designing a primary school in his home village of Gando as his first building in 2001”. (BBC NEWS).
Or, “Kéré has completed numerous schools and health centres throughout Africa, in the Republic of Benin, Togo, Kenya, Mozambique, Mali, Sudan and his native Burkina Faso”, and “Along with work on community buildings, Kéré has also designed the parliament building for his home country (…) and a new parliament for neighbouring Benin”. (Dezeen).
The jury that awarded him the Pritzker Prize itself states that the architect Kéré, “developed an ad-hoc, highly performative and expressive architectural vocabulary: double roofs, thermal mass, wind towers, indirect lighting, cross ventilation and shade chambers (instead of conventional windows, doors and columns) have not only become his core strategies, but have actually acquired the status of built dignity”; So, “he reminds us of what has been, and will undoubtedly continue to be a cornerstone of architectural practice: a sense of community and narrative quality (…) in which architecture can become a source of continued and lasting happiness and joy”; and it concludes “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”.
Sources: Kéré Architecture, Pritzker Prize, BBC NEWS, Archdaily, Dezeen. Images: Kéré Architects.
