Diébédo Francis Kéré is a Burkinabé architect. Born in Gando, Burkino Faso in 1965 he was the first child in Gando to be sent to school. Subsequently, he studied at the Technical University of Berlin where he now lives. In 1985 he started Kéré Architecture. Wanting to help the children in his village he orchestrated the setting up of its first school. He is the latest laureate of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. He is the first black architect and the first African to be so recognized. To see other Pritzker Prize Laureates click here.
Here is an extract of the jury citation: “What is the role of architecture in contexts of extreme scarcity? What is the right approach to the practice when working against all odds? Should it be modest and risk succumbing to adverse circumstances? Or is modesty the only way to be pertinent and achieve results? Should it be ambitious in order to inspire change? Or does ambition run the risk of being out of place and of resulting in architecture of mere wishful thinking? Francis Kéré has found brilliant, inspiring and game-changing ways to answer these questions over the last decades. 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.”
Primary School
2001, Gando, Burkina Faso
Gando Teachers Housing
2003, Gando, Burkina Faso
Gando School Library
2007, Gando, Burkina Faso
Primary School Extension
2007, Gamdo, Burkina Faso
Secondary School
2007, Dano, Burkina Faso
Centre for Earch Architecutre
2010, Mopti, Mali
Gando Secondary School
2013, Gando, Burkika Faso
Surgical Clinic and Health Centre
2014, Leo, Burkina Faso
Lycee Schorge
2017, Koudougou, Birkina Faso
Serpentine Pavilion
2017, London, UK
Benga Riverside School
2018, Tete, Mozambique
Sarbale Ke Pavilion
Coachella, Indio, California
Xylem Pavilion
2019, Tippet Rise Art Centre, Montana
Startup Lions Campus
2021, Turkana County, Kenya
Village Opera
2010, Laongo, Burkina Faso
Should you wish to learn more about Kéré listen to this video where he talks about his philosophy.
