An African winner of the Pritzker Prize 2022. This is a first. The largest prize for architecture was awarded on Tuesday, March 15, to Burkinabè Diébédo Francis Kéré. 56 years old, this architect now works all over the world. His agency is based in Berlin, but Diébédo Francis Kéré has never forgotten the African continent, and especially Burkina.
Mali, Togo, Benin, Kenya, Sudan, Mozambique, Diébédo Francis Kéré have built in the four corners of the African continent. This child from Gando, in central Burkina Faso, has come a long way since he learned carpentry with French Jesuits. From the age of 17, Diébédo Francis Kéré received a scholarship that allowed him to study in Germany where he would study architecture.
There he draws inspiration from pre-industrial techniques that he wants to adapt to the African context. It was in his hometown, Gando, that he built his first building in 2001: a school, built with the help of the locals.
Diébédo Francis Kéré uses local materials: earth, granite, wood, which today has given him the title of pioneer in sustainable architecture. But the developer explains that it is above all a Coué method: using what is in place is above all a necessity.
Among the architect’s current projects: the construction of the Beninese parish in Porto Novo, inspired by the palaver tree. Diébédo Francis Kéré also designed the future Burkinabè congregation, whose construction is on ice due to the country’s recent political upheavals.
► Also read: Francis Kéré, social architect
