Francis Kéré, the African architect conquering the world with his sustainable buildings

Holding dual Burkinabe and German nationality, he is the only African to have won the Pritzker Prize (2022), the most prestigious award in architecture.

The latest building from his Berlin office, the Goethe-Institut, a German cultural center located in the Senegalese capital, embodies his architectural principles: simple and local materials, a reappropriation of knowledge from African architecture, and an aesthetic and functional design.

"If you give me sand, mud and bamboo, I can guarantee I will create a project for you. If you add steel, OK, I will go even further," he assured AFP after the building's inauguration in mid-April.

For decades, Mr. Kéré built on the African continent before expanding to Europe and elsewhere, applying bioclimatic principles that take into account climatic conditions and available local resources.

Traditional materials

Despite new large-scale projects now being carried out as far away as Las Vegas (USA) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), the African architect intends to remain faithful to his principles regarding traditional materials.

Originally from the village of Gando, in the Burkinabe province of Boulgou, Francis Kéré went to Germany thanks to a carpentry scholarship, before settling there to study architecture.

His first project was the Gando primary school, built to address the lack of school infrastructure in his community. He used local red clay and cement to make bricks that provided thermal insulation, while also protecting the structure from rain with a raised roof that overhangs the building rather than resting on it and retaining heat.

More than 20 years later, many of these principles are applied to the Goethe-Institut, an ultramodern $4 million (€3,4 million) building cooled largely by natural and passive ventilation.

The bricks are made of red clay from West Africa, arranged according to a system of perforated walls which, in addition to being aesthetic, promotes cross ventilation.

In a courtyard stands a large baobab tree, a symbol of Senegal and West Africa. Known for its massive trunk, the baobab is what is called a "talking tree" where communities traditionally gather to talk.

"All the functions of the building will revolve around this baobab tree," explains the architect.

He regrets that many people still believe that glass and concrete are the only usable materials for building in urban areas and consider other solutions, such as clay, to be reserved only "for the poorest".

However, with the support of policymakers and designers, bioclimatic techniques could easily be integrated into the urban fabric, he argues.

Projects in Burkina Faso, Benin and Brazil

For him, the world needs to rethink "the way we build our cities, and reduce our energy consumption; a well-designed earth building can contribute significantly to this."

His firm, Kéré Architecture, is leading several large-scale projects in Africa, such as the future building of the National Assembly of Benin, whose shape is inspired by the palaver tree.

In his native country, he completed last year the construction of a mausoleum dedicated to Thomas Sankara (1949-1987), former leader of Burkina Faso and figure of pan-Africanism.

Ruled by a junta since 2022, Burkina Faso is battling jihadist groups. The violence has been "devastating," laments Mr. Kéré – it has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 2015.

This has not slowed his work in the country - he built 11 schools there last year - but he regrets no longer being able to bring his European students there safely.

On the other side of the world, his firm is behind the design of the future art museum in downtown Las Vegas. A project that, according to the architect, has propelled him into "a completely different world," but which will nevertheless utilize locally available resources.

In Brazil, he designed the "Biblioteca dos Saberes", a library and cultural center that will serve as a "temple of knowledge".

"I am very surprised to see who is calling me to carry out projects," he rejoices. "The only thing I fear - and I am working to ensure that it does not happen - would be to move away from Africa, because it is here that I started my career and it is here that I feel I am most needed."