Francis Kéré commences a third century for our monographs, and there are good reasons for this. The most evident refer to his leading role in a new generation of architects determined to build a better world working for those in need, for whom the Bu
In the beginning was the tree. If Gottfried Semper had extended his archaeological and ethnographic explorations to the African Savannah, he would there have found confirmation of many of his theses, and he would have modified others to enrich his na
With a population of 3000 inhabitants, Gando is a small village in the southern plains of burkina faso. It is located 200 kilometers from Ouagadougou, the country´s capital. In 1998, Francis Kéré launched a project to build a school in his native vil
The teachers’ houses were designed to attract teachers out to the countryside, as well as to promote the use of earth as a sustainable and durable building material. The houses were realized as a series of adaptable modules, each of size comparable t
Two years after the opening of the primary school in Gando, demand continued to increase, which encouraged to add an extension for more than 120 students. The extension was designed following the same principles that inspired the first school. The wa
Following the strategies applied at the Primary School in Gando, the main aim of the project was to design a sustainable school that would adapt to the extreme conditions of Burkina Faso. Its construction was carried out with the help of workers who
Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence, the National Park of Mali, located in Bamako, the capital, reopened. Several new accesses were built, aside from a restaurant and a sports center. Clad in locally sourced stone, the
Located where the Niger and Bani rivers meet, Mopti is Mali’s fourth largest city and its main commercial port. After the restoration of the Great Mosque of Mopti, commonly known as the Mosque of Komoguel, The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) turned
Two years before his death, artist, filmmaker, and playwright Christoph Schlingensief managed to embark Kéré on his dream of building an opera house in the heart of Africa. While traveling through Burkina Faso in search of the adequate site, the coun
The construction of a health center as part of the Opera Village project followed the aim of improving basic health assistance for the local population. The CSPS, acronym for Centre de Santè et de Promotion Sociale, is fit out with the necessary inst
Within the education complex of Gando, the library is located between the two volumes that make up the school and its extension, so a covered courtyard is generated between them. Resorting to the same technique used in the other two pieces that const
The Songtaaba Women’s Association is made up of approximately 300 members from the village of Gando and the surrounding province of Boulgou. The association provides a venue for the local women to form a strong social and economic union, in order to
Developed to establish an exchange between local craftsmen, builders, architects, students, and visitors, Atelier Gando was initiated under the organization of Francis Kéré with the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio in Switzerland. The Atelier w
The success of the primary school in Gando and its positive impact on the community encouraged to build a secondary school to offer opportunities to those students who wanted to continue their studies. Inspired in the distribution of the surrounding
Health is a luxury in Africa, especially for the rural population, which lives so far from the few hospitals and healthcare centers of quality that exist in the countryside, such facilities tending to concentrate in capitals and large cities.
Situated in the rural countryside of Boulkiemdé province, the Noomdo Orphanage lies approximately 2 kilometers outside Koudougou, and is home to more than fifty children between the ages of six and seventeen. Mimicking the nearby residential compound
Located on the outskirts of Koudougou, the third most populated city of Burkina Faso, the new Lycée Schorge building draws inspiration from traditional settlements in this part of West Africa, offering reinterpretations of vernacular building materia
Located in the Kenyan village of Kogelo, where Barack Obama’s father was born, the Mama Sarah Obama Legacy Campus will be an educational enclave for a thousand students and preschool-age children in danger of being marginalized. The project presents
Located at the point where the Revuboe and Zambezi rivers converge, the project aims to create a new type of neighborhood to address the increasing demand for housing in Tete, Mozambique. The community will be able to test a new planning method that
In a semi-desert landscape between the Nile and Atbara rivers, the remains of the city of the Kushites in Meroe – a powerful dynasty that reigned from the 8th century BC to the 4th century AD – were declared a UNESCO Heritage Site in 2011. Located ab
After 31 years of dictatorial rule, the people of Burkina Faso rose up and ousted their former president following a violent revolt in 2014. In protest of the old regime, the former National Assembly was attacked and destroyed by the citizens. Aside
Located in the center of Berlin, Tempelhof Airport closed its doors to passengers in 2008 during the migratory crisis to offer emergency shelter to the more than 8,000 refugees escaping war in the Middle East and other global conflicts. The construct
With a focus towards exploring the experiential qualities of architecture, the ‘Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined’ exhibition enlisted architects such as Kengo Kuma, Álvaro Siza, and Eduardo Souto de Moura to produce site-specific installations
As part of the exhibition ‘Africa: Architecture, Culture and Identity’ at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, the installation recreates the sensation of being under the shade of a big tree. This powerful symbol, present in both Nordic and African my
Located inside the iconic Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome in the Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, the Camper Pop-up Shop pioneers a new form of retail shopping by combining the best attributes from in-store and online shopping through a mix of virtual
Inspired by Philadelphia’s rich textile tradition, this installation shows how one single material can produce an extraordinary structure with the power to unite the community. This installation, in the Perelman atrium of the Philadelphia Museum of A
Every year the Serpentine Gallery in London chooses an international architect to build a temporary pavilion in Kensington Gardens. The pavilion of 2017, designed by Francis Kéré, is conceived as a microcosm: a community structure that fuses cultural
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