Architect, educator and social activist Diébédo Francis Kéré has been awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize for 2022.
The Pritzker Prize is awarded to a living architect or architects whose built work combines the qualities of talent, vision and commitment to the built environment. The prize is awarded each year and is referred to as the profession’s highest honour.
Kéré is the 51st laureate and the first African to win the prestigious award since its inception in 1979.
The Burkina Faso-born architect currently resides in Berlin and has a repertoire of built works spanning schools, housing, health facilities, civic buildings and public squares across eight countries in Africa.
His work has expanded to include structures in Denmark, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The 2022 jury describes his body of work as demonstrating the “power of materiality rooted in place,” making use of locally sourced materials that respond to the natural climate.
Gando Primary School.
Image: Erik-Jan Owerkerk
Kéré first garnered international respect for his work on a primary school in his home village of Gando, completed in 2001. Kéré used indigenous clay fortified with cement to form bricks with bioclimatic thermal mass, retaining cool air inside while allowing heat to escape through the brick ceiling.
Kéré was the first in his community to attend school. tThe overcrowded, dark and poorly ventilated classroom of Tenkodogo lead then seven-year-old to vow to one day make schools better for his community.
Today, Kéré said he strives to change the paradigm, making quality facilities available to all – not only the wealthy.
Gando Primary School
Image: Erik-Jan Owerkerk
“Everyone deserves quality, everyone deserves luxury, and everyone deserves comfort. We are interlinked and concerns in climate, democracy and scarcity are concerns for us all,” he said.
His work in primary and secondary schools has been heralded for its sensitivity to environment and locality-specific sustainability considerations.
“Francis Kéré, he has served as a singular beacon in architecture,” the jurors said in their citation. “He has shown us how architecture today can reflect and serve needs, including the aesthetic needs, of peoples throughout the world.”
For more information visit the Pritzker Architecture Prize website.
