a+u Architecture and Urbanism 22:05_620

a+u’s May issue features Francis Kéré, a Berlin-based architect originally from the West African nation of Burkina Faso. His earliest work, Gando Primary School, succeeded not only in providing a comfortable learning facility for the village where he was born and raised, but also demonstrated that the design process must embrace the cultural and material roots of a place and its people. As the Gando project expanded in scope to include other social amenities like a secondary school, library, and housing for teachers, Kéré’s architecture became a tool of community building and empowerment. This architecture of humanism relies on the metaphor of the palaver tree, under which a community gathers and knowledge is formed and transmitted. Kéré enriches local, basic materials and traditional know-how with thoughtful and forward-looking technological and…

Everyone deserves beauty and quality of design. Being rich is no reason to waste resources and being poor is no reason to be denied architecture of quality. Growing up, I used to continue designing the buildings I spent time in. In my mind I would continue a line, drawn when sunlight cast a shadow through the opening in a roof or wall. I wondered about improving the temperature conditions in the hot classrooms where I was receiving my primary-school education. These reveries taught me that the empty space outside a built structure inspires creativity. Anyone can continue the line of a form and complete their own picture. This power to inspire has carried me to this exciting point in my career, which I now look back on with a+u, and it…

Born in the West African country of Burkina Faso, Francis Kéré came to Germany on a scholarship at the age of 20, and after he had learned the language and graduated from high school, began studying architecture at the Technical University of Berlin in 1995. He started building a primary school in his home village of Gando even before he had completed his studies, from plans that emerged from a seminar project. Kéré received the internationally renowned Aga Khan Award for this first building shortly after, in 2004, thereby attracting worldwide attention. After completing his degree, he founded his office in Berlin in 2005. Since then, he has had a unique career with numerous projects, first in Africa and then on other continents. He has been honored with many awards,…

Built to expand the sparse network of schools in the province of Boulgou, in the east of Burkina Faso, Gando Primary School addresses 2 characteristic problems of many educational buildings in the area: poor lighting and ventilation. Kéré created a design that resolves these issues directly, within the parameters set by cost, climate, resource availability, and construction feasibility. Because clay is abundantly available in the region and traditionally used in house building, a clay-cement hybrid material worked well for creating structurally robust earth blocks. These blocks are not only easy to produce, they also provide thermal protection against the hot climate. Despite their durability, however, the walls must be protected from damaging rains by an overhanging roof. In Burkina Faso, corrugated metal roofs are a popular solution, although they absorb the direct…

Gando Teachers’ Housing addresses the challenge of attracting qualified teachers to join the staff at Gando Primary School (pp. 12–19), completed 3 years prior. The provision of quality housing, for both teachers and their families, aims to draw skilled educators away from cities toward more remote, rural areas of the country. The houses comprise a series of adaptable modules, comparable in size to the surrounding vernacular typology, which can be combined in various ways into larger composites, depending on evolving needs. Six units form a wide arc to the south of the school complex in a curvilinear layout, reminiscent of a traditional Burkinabè compound. The project promotes sustainable building by using sustainable materials and adapting traditional construction methods in innovative ways. Adobe walls, customarily used in the region, stand on cement and…

Two years after the completion of Gando Primary School (pp. 12–19), an overwhelming increase in school enrollment prompted the planning of an addition. Gando Primary School Extension features 4 new classrooms and a sunken seating area in the middle, where students can enjoy a shaded area for rest and play between classes. Together, the 2 buildings form an L shape, defining an important gathering space in Gando. The building benefits from the lessons learned and skills acquired by community members in the construction of Gando Primary School. Built with the same materials and following similar construction techniques, the addition features notable upgrades, such as its vaulted ceiling. The brick vaults improve the inner spatial quality of the classrooms, not only visually but also in terms of thermal comfort, by allowing hot…