© The Japan Art Association / The Sankei Shimbun

At the recently renovated Richelieu site of the National Library of France (BnF), on 12 September, the Japanese Imperial House and the Japan Art Association named the winners of the Praemium Imperiale, an accolade awarded every year to five figures from different disciplines (painting, sculpture, music, theater/film, architecture). Along with the hyper-realist canvases of Vija Celmins, the committed installations of Olafur Eliasson, the legendary trumpet solos of Wynton Marsalis, and the experimental stagings of Robert Wilson, this ‘Nobel of the arts’ this time celebrates the contemporary architecture of Diébédo Francis Kéré, who despite a now global presence continues to ground his practice in the humble spirit of serving people – especially in his native Africa – in the most economical and efficient way possible.[+]