Francis Kéré: Get to Know the 2022 Pritzker Winner's Built Work

Written by Hana Abdel & Paula Pintos
Published on March 15, 2022

Diébédo Francis Kéré founded his architecture practice Kéré Architecture, in Berlin, Germany in 2005, after a journey in which he started advocating for the building of quality educational architecture in his home country of Burkina Faso. Deprived of proper classrooms and learning conditions as a child, and having faced the same reality as the majority of children in his country, his first works aimed at bringing tangible solutions to the issues faced by the community.

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Combining his determination to provide the region with good architecture, and the long tradition of collaborative work with the use of local materials and resources, the Gando Primary School (2001, Gando, Burkina Faso,) became the first materialization of his ideology that remained firm for the rest of his career. As a result of the project’s success, Kéré was recognized with the Aga Khan Award in 2004. This was followed by the official establishment of his practice and a series of projects through the African continent, including schools, medical facilities, and community and cultural spaces.

This year, Kéré has been awarded the prestigious 2022 Pritzker Prize. Although based in Germany, he is regularly moving back and forth to and from Burkina Faso and Africa to Europe. His works also include pavilions and installations in Germany, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Francis Kéré has been involved in the academic field as well, as a visiting professor at Harvard University Graduate School of Design and Yale School of Architecture, and as a professor at the Technische Universität München, among others. He has previously received other recognitions such as the tCité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine’s Global Award for Sustainable Architecture in 2009, the Global Holcim Awards Gold in 2021 and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation Medal in Architecture this past year (2021).

The practice’s vast architecture production features an array of projects in which local tradition brings a constant exploration to innovative ways of building. Local materials, participatory work, and a strong social commitment are seen in each project, from small temporary installations to educational and civic buildings.