In his work, his goal is to “create comfort even for the poor”. A pioneer in sustainable construction at the service of populations, the architect Francis Kéré received the Pritzker Prize on Tuesday, thus becoming the first African to receive the highest honor in the profession.
“I am totally convinced that everyone deserves quality, whether you are rich or poor”, he reacted, in his offices in Berlin where he shares his life with Burkina Faso. In Africa, “we have a lot of young people looking for opportunities, and seeing one of them win the Pritzker Prize can be a great opening and a great inspiration to become an architect”.
Creations “in marginalized countries”
Born in 1965 in Burkina Faso, Francis Kéré therefore received the “Nobel” for architecture, a prize awarded every year since 1979 and which has already crowned the biggest names in this art, such as Renzo Piano or Jean Nouvel. He is known for his involvement in projects useful to the population, such as schools or health establishments, in several African countries, such as Burkina Faso, Benin, Mali, Togo, Kenya and Mozambique. “Through his commitment to social justice and the intelligent use of local materials to adapt and respond to the natural climate, he works in marginalized countries, where constraints and difficulties are many and where architecture and infrastructures are absent, ”welcomed the organizers of the Pritzker Prize, awarded by the Hyatt Foundation.
The architect, who also has German nationality, has also been commissioned for pavilions and installations in Europe and the United States. In 2004, he had already received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Among his flagship achievements is the primary school in Gando, the Burkinabé village where he was born. The Pritzker Prize jury sees in it the “basis of its ideology: to build a source with and for a community in order to meet an essential need and correct social inequalities”. The school is designed to withstand the heat and limited resources. Its success led to its extension, the construction of teachers’ quarters and a new library. Always with the same guideline, sober buildings in warm tones, sand or ocher, which fit into the landscape and where light is crucial.
Many projects in West Africa
Other achievements include the renovation of the National Park of Mali in Bamako, or more recently a campus for a network of start-ups in Kenya. Other emblematic sites are still planned according to the Kéré Architecture website, such as a memorial for the revolutionary and former Burkinabe statesman Thomas Sankara or a new National Assembly in Ouagadougou, after the fire of 2014 during the revolt people who ousted former President Blaise Compaoré from power.