Francis Kéré on Serving His Community

John Hill

6. August 2020

Photo: Screenshot

In the lead up to the 27th World Congress of Architects in Rio de Janeiro in July 2021 — delayed one year from its original date due to COVID-19 — the International Union of Architects (UIA) features an interview with architect Francis Kéré, who will give a keynote at UIA2021RIO.

Born in Gando, Burkina Faso, educated in Berlin, and based in the German capital, Kéré is known best for his first building, a primary school in Gando that garnered him the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004. Kéré's two-part conversation with Brazilian architect Miguel Pinto Guimarães begins with the story behind this building and extends to the present day, with such projects as the Burkina Faso National Assembly & Memorial Park but also general concerns over the coronavirus pandemic and words about the crises born from inequality in parts of Africa and South American. How Kéré serves his community is at the heart of his architecture and the conversation.