

(Gando, 1965)
The scheme drawn up by the Berlin firm of Francis Kéré for Porto-Novo, the capital of Benin, takes inspiration from the ‘word tree,’ the western African tradition by which the community gathers under a tree to make collective decisions. Facing the
The Burkinabè architect Francis Kéré designed this permanent pavilion for the Tippet Rise Art Center in Fishtail, on the edge of Yellowstone National Park in Montana. The building joins a series of unique pieces that engage in dialogue with nature on
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
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
Four years after the exhibition ‘The Architect is Present,’ which showed the Spanish public the work of five architects marked by a deep social calling and a strong language of sustainability, the ICO Museum in Madrid has just inaugurated a show, aga
Francis Kéré is Burkinabè and Berliner. His work is deeply rooted in his home country, but he uses universal principles and elements that make it suitable for completely different contexts like that of his adoptive city. These primary elements were d
‘Francis Kéré. Primary Elements’ at Museo ICO
On view from 3 October to 20 January at the ICO Museum in Madrid, ‘Francis Kéré: Primary Elements’ expands the focus that ‘The Architect is Present’ (2014) gave to the exceptional Burkinabe based in Berlin. This year’s show covers his entire career s
The 3-minute video presents the exhibition curated by Luis Fernández-Galiano, which walks us through the trajectory of the Berlin-based Burkinabè by focusing on the essential nature of his architecture....
Madrid’s Museo ICO presents the exhibition: ‘Francis Kéré. Primary elements’ curated by Luis Fernández-Galiano and organized by the ICO Foundation. The exhibition showcases 27 projects and six artistic installations carried out in three different con
(Photo taken by Francis Kéré at the studio of Kanye West)
Francis Kéré Since 1997, the awards of the Prince Claus Foundation, based in the Netherlands, are presented annually to individuals or organizations whose cultural actions have a positive impact on culture and development, highlighting significant ac
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
Diébédo Francis Kéré appeared on our screen with the Aga Khan Award in 2004. I wrote about him in the newspaper El País in December of that year, and the Yearbook released shortly after (AV 111-112) covered prominently the now mythical school in Gand