Francis Kéré. Radically Simple (extract) by Marcelo Della Giustina

FOREWORD

PROJECTS IN BURKINA FASO

BUILDING IS A SOCIAL ACT Andres Lepik

Secondary School Dano

RADICALLY SIMPLE Ayça Beygo

Opera Village Remdoogo Laongo

Centre de Santé et de Promotion Sociale Laongo

BURKINA FASO, GANDO PROJECTS

PROJECTS IN MALI, KENYA, MOZAMBIQUE, SUDAN

Surgical Clinic and Health Center Léo

Site Plan PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPLEX: Primary School

Lycée Schorge Secondary School Koudougou

Teacher’s Housing

School Extension

School Library

Secondary School

Songtaaba Women’s Center

Atelier Gando

THE STORY OF THE ARCHITECT FROM GANDO Peter Herrle

Center for Architecture Mopti, Mali

116

National Park Bamako, Mali

120

Obama Legacy Campus Kogelo, Kenya

126

Benga Riverside Residential Community 130 Tete, Mozambique Protective Shelter for the Royal Baths 134 Meroë, Sudan

Noomdo Orphanage Koudougou

104

Parliament House Ouagadougou

108

A MAN OF THE PEOPLE Lesley Lokko

138

WORLDWIDE PROJECTS

EXHIBITIONS AND INSTALLATIONS

Harbor Development Zhoushan

146

Pavilion Beijing

148

Taylor Barracks Mannheim

150

Oxford Kaserne Münster

152

Camper Pop-up Store Weil am Rhein

154

Camper Shop Barcelona

157

THE ARCHITECT AS CULTURE BROKER 172 Kerstin Pinther

Permanent Exhibition at the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum 162 Geneva Sensing Spaces Pavilion at the Royal Academy of Arts, London

164

Canopy Installation at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek

165

Place for Gathering Installation at the 1st Chicago Architecture Biennial

166

Courtyard Village Installation at the Palazzo Litta, Milan

167

Colorscape Installation at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia

168

APPENDIX Materials

182

Facts and Figures: Burkina Faso

186

Facts and Figures: Cities and Villages 188 Life Events

190

192

Kéré Architecture Profile

200

Acknowledgments

202

Bibliography

204

Credits

208

Francis Kéré. Radically Simple 170 Exhibition at the Architekturmuseum der TU München

→ Vernacular village compound in Gando, aerial view, Burkina Faso, 2016

World map showing the projects of Kéré Architecture, as of 2016

Humlebæk Louisiana Canopy THE UNITED KINGDOM

London Sensing Spaces Pavilion Weil am Rhein Camper Pop-up Store

Barcelona Camper Shop

Mopti Center for Architecture

Berlin Tempelhof Hangar 1 Performance Hall

DENMARK

GERMANY

Geneva Permanent exhibition at the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum

Munich Exhibition: Francis Kéré. Radically Simple

Münster Mannheim Oxford-Kaserne Taylor Barracks Beijing Pavilion

ITALY SPAIN

THE PEOPLE‘S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

Milan Courtyard Village

Zhoushan Harbor Development

Bamako National Park

Laongo Opera Village Centre de Santé et de Promotion Sociale

Léo Surgical Clinic and Health Center Staff Housing

MALI e

BURKINA FASO

Primary School Teacher’s Housing School Extension School Library Secondary School Songtaaba Women‘s Center Atelier Gando

Meroë Meroë Royal Baths Protective Shelter

KENYA Ouagadougou Parliament House Dano Secondary School

Gando Primary School Complex:

SUDAN

Koudougou Lycée Schorge Secondary School Noomdo Orphanage

Kogelo (Kenya) Obama Legacy Campus Alego (Kenya) Sauti Kuu Sport and Education Center

MOZAMBIQUE Tete Benga Riverside Residential Community

Dapaong (Togo) DAZ Training Center

Chicago Place for Gathering

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Philadelphia Colorscape

In loving memory of my brother, Moumini Kéré, whose faithful companionship and support helped make these projects possible. Diébédo Francis Kéré, September 2016

FOREWORD ANDRES LEPIK AND AYÇA BEYGO

The architect Francis Kéré is a man of exceptional talent. Born in the heart of Africa, he studied in Germany and quickly gained an international reputation from the strength of a number of buildings executed in his homeland of Burkina Faso. Anyone who has heard his fascinating life story at one of his lectures could determine that Kéré's creative approach cannot be accounted for solely as a result of his background or education. He has earned himself a place in contemporary architecture that is quite distinctive, and yet he already serves as an example for a new generation of architects. His buildings unite social relevance and personal involvement with innovative design approaches and the highest aesthetic standards. They are “radically simple.” Radical because they give pride of place to human values like responsibility and respect that have long been pushed aside in architectural practice. At the same time, the buildings are simple; they are a direct reaction to the conditions of their local environments and as a result, open the way for social change. After the AFRITECTURE exhibition, in which Kéré was presented at the Architekturmuseum der TU München back in 2013, we are pleased that he has now agreed to let us mount the largest solo exhibition of his oeuvre to date—which has grown considerably in the intervening period. The mounting and preparation of the exhibition has been made entirely possible thanks to his personal support and the whole-hearted commitment of his team.

We are most grateful for his intensive personal involvement in the process. Not least for arranging two journeys in early 2016 that helped us gain direct insight into the effectiveness of his concepts. We were also able to take photographs and film footage of his recently completed buildings. The exhibition Francis Kéré. Radically Simple and its accompanying catalogue provide both a provisional appraisal of the last fifteen years of his work and a preview of some of his upcoming projects. We hope that this exhibition will bring us one step closer to the day when Kéré's constructions take shape in Germany bringing with them the space for his ideas to take effect, as well.

BUILDING IS A ANDRES LEPIK

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Carrying stones at the school extension construction, 2008

The extraordinary career of architect Francis Kéré began in 2001 with the completion of the primary school in Gando. It was a first work of unusual significance, that modest mud-brick building, its reddish earth coloring fitting organically into its natural surroundings, and its raised roof structure making a ringing architectural statement. Very few architects in the past have ever managed to lay the groundwork for such lasting international success with their very first work. So how was it that this school in a not very accessible region of Sub-Saharan Africa attracted such attention? In the first instance, it was the 2004 Aga Khan Award for Architecture that brought both building and architect such high-level recognition. But other factors also had to be involved before Kéré came to fame as an outstanding practitioner of socially engaged contemporary architecture. A crucial reason is the close connection between his architecture and his own life, which endows him with particular credibility. Why Gando? Francis Kéré was born in that tiny savanna village. He left it as a child to acquire schooling and higher education that was not available to his peers. Various turns of events led him to Germany, where, in Berlin, he studied and completed his diploma project in architecture. Spanning a great distance a career was developing that, on the one hand, increasingly took him away from his homeland but, on the other, only acquired its real meaning when he returned. Even before completing his studies, he capitalized on his growing educational advantages to design and build a school in

his birthplace, thus handing the chance for an education directly back to his family and his village. From a European viewpoint this decision to use his education to directly benefit his family can be seen as a special indication of solidarity and an assumption of personal responsibility. Burkina Faso is a very poorly developed country, with an extremely low average income and a high rate of illiteracy (almost two-thirds of the population cannot read and write).1 But in the social context of the strong family ties that obtain in rural Africa it is taken for granted that any family member achieving professional and financial success has a duty to help out relatives. What makes Francis Kéré exceptional is that he was still studying when he spotted the opportunity to provide lasting benefit to his home village, not only through monetary remittances, but also by building a school. He has thereby transformed his family’s expectation of support into a construction project that can exert its beneficent influence across several generations. The Aga Khan Award not only brought high-level recognition, its associated prize money was also very important to Kéré’s subsequent success. Soon after the primary school was completed it was clear that enrolment was running well ahead of the capacity of its three classrooms. But Kéré was soon able to respond to the growing demand by using his prize money to establish teachers’ housing and then a school extension in Gando. With these projects he could also improve his practice. Not many other graduates of a German university

A SOCIAL ACT have had the chance to plan an extension to their debut work immediately after its completion. Other prizes (and prize money) followed, providing him with the opportunity to plan and execute more buildings. 2 Project Gando, which evolved step by step from the Gando primary school, is a growing collection of buildings that serve the community, education and training in particular. From the teacher's housing, via the school extension, the library, and the women’s center, and on to the secondary school, there exists all within about a kilometer radius a complex of buildings, completed or under construction, which has exerted a profound influence beyond Gando itself. For the success Kéré has enjoyed as a result of these buildings, the prizes they have won, and the international press attention that has followed, has been reflected in a high level of acceptance from teachers, pupils, and the community, and indeed from the government of Burkina Faso.

hiffffffffff SMALL SCALE, BIG CHANGE Project Gando is central to Kéré’s work and closely interwoven with his biography. To understand the buildings erected there, one must see them through two pairs of eyes at once: on the one hand, the eyes of one rooted in the culture and social structures of Kéré’s native Burkina Faso, and, on the other, those of someone who can translate everything he has learned about ecological building at the Technische Uni-

versität of Berlin back into the context of his homeland. So, seen in the light of rural Burkina Faso’s still active tradition of mud building,3 Kéré’s projects are not new interpretations of the vernacular.4 Rather, they represent an original creation, synthesizing the two approaches into a third way. But how did Kéré progress from these projects in his homeland to international celebrity? The majority of his work is geographically located beyond the purview of European and US colleagues, and is physically accessible to very few people, local users excepted. This was surely one of the reasons why it was some time after the bestowal of the Aga Khan Award that the wider public via the architectural press knew his work. An important element in his reputation in German-speaking countries was the Opera Village project, which he developed from 2008 for the film, theater and opera director Christoph Schlingensief. It was through this project that the director’s wide circle of friends and admirers became aware of the architect from Burkina Faso, who had already been running his own office in Berlin for a number of years. The Opera Village was a major challenge for Kéré in terms of his future career, because it required him to reconcile the utopian ideas of the German director with the practical conditions and necessities of his own home country. Now he was architect to a project that involved him in a relationship of duty, not simply to his own village community or to his country’s society, but to Schlingensief’s large circle of influential German supporters

and sponsors that counted former Federal President Horst Köhler among its patrons. Today, six years after the laying of the foundation stone, the only elements of the ambitious Opera Village concept completed and in daily use are the elementary school housing units, school, housing units, and and the medical center. However, considering local needs, this may be seen as the best possible outcome for this fundamentally eccentric project, and in the difficult process of implementation and communication it has been Kéré who succeeded in prioritizing exactly those elements most truly relevant to their cultural and social context. In its present form, the project represents a victory of sustainable social architecture over a theatrical fantasy imported to the accompaniment of major media hype. The twelve containers full of histrionic technology standing, still unopened, by the empty construction site could serve as a warning that a more profound engagement with the real needs of people in Burkina Faso is a lot more complicated than the eccentric German director imagined. A second wave of public attention to Kéré and his work followed in 2010 in the United States. Before he took part in the exhibition Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement (October 3, 2010 – January 3, 2011) at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, his name was still largely unknown in North America.5 In 2011, though, he received the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee’s Marcus Prize and then gave a lecture at the Harvard Graduate

School of Design, where a year later he was awarded a teaching position.6 But United States interest was still limited to his work as a socially engaged architect in Africa: publications, lectures, and teaching activity notwithstanding, he has received no building commission in the United States since 2010, only an invitation to present an exhibition on his work and an installation in the Philadelphia Museum of Art in 2016.7

hiffffffffff THE SOCIAL TURN The rapidly growing interest in Kéré’s work since 2009 in various countries and continents (not least in Africa)8 has another cause that is not rooted in the work itself. Since the economic crisis of 2008 architecture can be seen to have been radically repositioning itself: taking a “social turn.”9 Practical and theoretical works by socially engaged architects like Anna Heringer, Urban-Think Tank, Teddy Cruz, Alejandro Aravena, Tamassociati, Tomà Berlanda, and many others have lately been more and more discussed in exhibitions and publications; among these Kéré’s work occupies a central position. In contrast to many other architects, he forges links between the different worlds of industrial states and developing countries by means of his own life history. Many architects from the US or Europe have worked on socially motivated architectural projects in Africa, but they have always been suspected of embodying a kind of neo-colonial attitude if, for projects in

developing countries, they suggested using mud bricks or similar simple materials that they were not using in their own countries. But in Kéré’s case such decisions are credible because he simultaneously personifies both approaches: the world of highly developed architecture, including industrial materials and technologies, and also the traditions and circumstances of his homeland. In recent years, increasing interest in the newer architecture in Africa and the exhibitions in Europe associated with it has further boosted Kéré’s reputation. But it is noticeable that it is still only his work in Africa—or his exhibition contributions—that attract recognition and support. All the same, he is a German architect as well, a man who has studied in Germany and has his office in Berlin. He has applied his knowledge in his home country and gained great practical experience working there, and elsewhere in Africa; perhaps it is time now to draw on that experience and apply it in his second home country. The two competitions he has won, in Mannheim and Münster, could be the start of a new chapter in his oeuvre.

Small Scale, Big Change:

Containers holding the

New Architectures of Social Engagement. Exhibition catalogue,

Opera Village Project, conceptual sketch for

stage design and equipment at the Opera Village construction

The Musem of Modern Art, New York, 2010

the site plan, Burkina Faso, initiated in 2009

site, Laongo, Burkina Faso, 2016

Central Intelligence Agency, World Fact Book: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/theworld-factbook/geos/uv.html.

Such as the Zumtobel Group Award 2007, the LafargeHolcim Award 2011 (regional) and 2012 (global), and the Schelling Architecture Award 2014.

A fundamental work on vernacular building in Burkina Faso is Jean-Paul Bourdier and Trinh T. Minh-Ha, African Spaces: Designs for Living in Upper Volta (New York and London, 1985).

Pierre Frey’s view (in, for example, Learning from Vernacular: Towards a New Vernacular Architecture (Tours, 2010)) in ranking Architects like Anna Heringer, Alejandro Aravena, and Caren Smuts as neo-vernacular is deceptive, because the creative reshaping of traditional elements by present-day architects is to be seen as a deliberate change.

Until then there had been only two publications on his work (pp. 194-196).

Kéré's further commitment at the Graduate School of Design lasted until 2015.

See Inga Saffron’s article: http://articles.philly.com/ 2016-05-28/entertainment/73391822_1_perelmanbuilding-high-school-dropouts-collab-gallery.

In 2014 Francis Kéré was invited as a keynote speaker to the XXV International Union of Architects World Congress in Durban, where at the end he received a standing ovation from thousands of listeners.

See Andres Lepik, “Keine Ethik ohne Ästhetik,“ in Neue Zürcher Zeitung, July 30, 2016, pp. 44–5. (online: http://www.nzz.ch/feuilleton/architektur-und-gesellschaft/gesellschaftlich-relevante-architektur-mehr-ethik-und-mehr-aesthetik-ld.108225).

RADICALLY AYÇA BEYGO

FOM BE TI MAM BE I AM, BECAUSE YOU ARE 1

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Installation view of Colorscape, the welcoming feature for the monographic exhibition The Architecture of Francis Kéré: Building for Community, presented at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, United States of America, 2016

It has been slightly more than a decade since Francis Kéré’s projects as well as the story of his life have started to be published in magazines, books, and exhibition catalogues. In the very first article, which appeared in Detail magazine in 2003 and was written by Kéré himself, his face was not yet a familiar one and he had only a short biographical note on the page. In 2003, the architecture student at Technische Universität Berlin had already built the primary school in Gando, a remote rural village in Burkina Faso that does not exist on Google Earth. The following year the school was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Today, the number of publications on his work exceeds one hundred and seventy and the number of the exhibitions twenty. Always on the move, speaking Mooré, French, German, and English daily, working like a German and feeling like a Burkinabe, a community leader in the village, a carpenter in his youth, an Aga Khan prizewinner, and global architect, Diébédo Francis Kéré encompasses myriad attributes in his personality and life. It is thus crucial to consider his architectural language keeping in mind the composition of these different elements. He is one of the first architects to realize that African knowledge in building is as essential as Western knowledge. The blend of local skills, community effort, economic solidarity, and European input is the essence of his hybrid architectural language and global imagination, and has helped to give him his innovative identity. It is im-

portant to consider that rather than simply importing or imposing Western technology and architecture, it is adaptation, transformation, and collective interpretation that are successively reflected in his buildings. 2 The Gando Project, in particular, could be characterized as rebellious in nature. Independent of the operative clutch of money, materials, land, and authority, it was sponsored by Schulbausteine für Gando3 and built using money raised by Kéré and others after the program’s establishment, thereby creating an autonomous system to develop local materials and construction systems with the community, free from the reproduced Western models. The first, most extensive retrospective exhibition of Francis Kéré is a complex task to try and accomplish. The popular and overused concepts related to his architecture, such as community, sustainability, vernacular, humanitarian, social change et cetera, made it even more difficult to try and bring a new perspective to his work as well as trying to provide a good and neutral narrative. Despite the risk, there was a chance to be a mediator, to transmit the information without exalting, exaggerating, or changing it. Traveling and filming through Burkina Faso was a temporal and spatial detachment, a dream-like period and a learning experience. It was the only way to gain a true understanding of the principles of reciprocity and solidarity, and the importance of extended family as well as community as the building blocks of the society and centuries-old rituals, which still shape its

LY SIMPLE culture. It was essential to reconsider what indeed “participatory practice” means. The African ideal contributing (paying back) to the society from which a person is raised in must be understood as a fundamental value in this context. Radically Simple is a narrative of Diébédo Francis Kéré’s life story told through projects. Gando, where everything starts in this story, is the birth, childhood, family, community, and village. Gando is the reason, it is the question of what, when, why, and how he built and it is the answer. What follows then is the worldwide recognition, awards, the expansion in Africa, encounters with people like Schlingensief, exhibitions in distinguished museums and projects in the rest of the world. The exhibition in Architekturmuseum der TU München is structured to represent the transformation of the architect and the architecture. The entry to the exhibition space through the forest is an experimental threshold to leave one world and enter the next one, a necessity for the transformation at first place. The visitors are invited to travel to Gando and other places in Burkina Faso, experience the African projects in detail, and then the European projects respectively. They will recognize the transformation of the space as the life of the architect and the projects change. The architect, who practices all over the world, comes home at the end of the exhibition celebrating his return with an urban project in Ouagadougou, in his homeland.

hiffffffffff

FRANCIS KÉRÉ AND HIS EXHIBITIONS Architecture on display is essential for the distinctive endurance and permanence of the work in the cultural imagination, as well as helping to generate a discourse.4 However, the underrepresentation of the contemporary architectural production in Africa and the shortage of exhibitions and monographs were, until recently, a commonly accepted fundamental issue. When Okwui Enwezor included architecture in two exhibitions, first The Short Century: Independence and Liberation Movements in Africa, 1945–1994 at the Museum Villa Stuck in Munich (2001) and Documenta 11 in Kassel (2002), it was the first of its kind. It was the foresighted approach of the curator to question the role of architecture in the context of modernity, modernization, and nation building in the former case and the architectural responses to different typologies and shifting ideas of reinventing the city in Africa in the latter.5 Rem Koolhaas started working in Lagos in the late nineteen-nineties to explore and understand the dysfunctional city but never published a book about the research.6 Instead, a documentary—Lagos Wide and Close: An Interactive Journey into an Exploding City—was released on DVD in 2004, which then became available online. 7 Nevertheless, since 2013 we have been experiencing a shift in this “status quo” thanks to an intense series of African exhibitions in Europe, in the United States, and even in Africa. This awakening interest in African culture, art, and architecture was the long awaited

reaction for alternative narratives, which are free of stereotypes and misinterpretations about the world’s second largest and probably the most unknown and marginalized continent. Another interesting outcome is that despite the temporality of the exhibitions by nature, professionally prepared catalogues, which consist of academic articles and a detailed documentation of the displayed works, remain, meet the deficiency, generate new literature, and provide the discourse on contemporary Africa. Starting with AFRITECTURE in the Architekturmuseum der TU München in 2013, a series of important exhibitions on African culture, art, and architecture launched on different parts of the world within three years: Africa: Big Chance Big Change at the Milan Triennale (2014), which focused on the urban and architectural transformation and displayed an immense amount of new data and projects8; first Africa Is Now exhibition held at Design Indaba Expo in Johannesburg, bringing together the work of sixty-six designers and innovators from twenty-five African countries (2014) ;9 the Young Architects in Africa exhibition in the Architecture Biennale in Venice following the competition presented by the Architecture Studio;10 the Venice Art Biennale 2015 where twenty-one African Artists were introduced;11 Architecture of Independence: African Modernism held by Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein and the Graham Foundation in Chicago which documented more than eighty buildings in Kenya, Ivory Coast, Zambia, Ghana, and Senegal (2015);12 the Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary

Design, again held by the Vitra Design Museum, focused on contemporary African design; the Africa: Architecture, Culture and Identity exhibition in the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaek, Denmark (2015), focused on Sub-Saharan Africa to emphasize Africa’s diversity and its complex culture in regard to artists, designers, authors, and architects;13 and, lastly, Creative Africa in the Philadelphia Museum of Art presented art and design from Africa (2016).14 The great potential for architectural exhibitions started influencing the way for Francis Kéré slightly before the intense period in which there were African architecture exhibitions. Or one can consider it the other way around: the great potential of this authentic architect from Burkina Faso awakened curiosity, helped to bring recognition as concerns the lack of resources, and encouraged consideration of other architectures and geographies. The required context for expanding the notion of Kéré’s earth buildings, which stand at the far corners of Burkina Faso, began to be articulated through the creative intellection of accelerating exhibitions from 2008 onwards. The following couple of years Kéré displayed his works in Ouagadougou, Venice, Berlin, and Rotterdam on different platforms. Kéré’s fresh but established international recognition was affirmed in 2010 in the Museum of Modern Art in New York in the Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement exhibition (October 3, 2010 – January 3, 2011).15 Projects adapting site-specific ecological and socially

sustainable solutions were presented with large-scale photographs or renderings, sketches, or other design documentation and models. The Primary School in Gando, had already gained the attention of the wider public through the aforementioned exhibitions and in various publications since 2004, was explored in depth together with ten additional projects from different offices that included, among others, Elemental, Urban-Think Tank, Teddy Cruz, and Anna Heringer. The show had a strong impact16 and led the way for Kéré to the subsequent exhibitions and installations held on different international platforms. Held by the international institution for communicating architectural culture and urban design at the Aedes Forum from July 13 – August 30, 2012, the exhibition Machen! featured six prizewinning projects of the Holcim Awards 2011/2012.17 The awarded projects were considered new approaches to sustainability addressing the term in a much wider context and taking it as a key design principle. From prefabricated concrete timber houses to urban swimming pools, projects varied in function and material and were displayed together with the original competition panels, models, and 1:1 prototypes. Francis Kéré, as the winner of two gold awards from 2011 and 2012, represented the “clay modern” and demonstrated how adobe can be further developed using contemporary technologies with his recent project by then, a secondary school in Gando. His fifth school in Burkina Faso, along with the other projects, illustrated his

strong permanence and the will to experiment and progress. As the next step, it was time to speak the language, perform more expressive as the “solo architect.” The same year, arc en reve centre d’architecture in Bordeaux held an exhibition on Francis Kéré's work titled Bridging the Gap (December 3, 2012 – May 19, 2013).18 Eleven projects, as well as the construction materials and techniques were displayed in six slightly separated rooms in a dark and arched stone antrepo building. In addition to the Gando complex and Opera Village from Burkina Faso projects and the National Park and Architecture Center from Mali, the exhibition included the contexts under which these projects were created, specifically the building process and the materials. Thus, architectural drawings and models were supported by films, which told stories of Burkina Faso, building with community and local materials. Samples of local construction materials and simple tools were also displayed to touch. A roof construction mock-up was hung from the ceiling. Large photographs from the projects and wall projections filled the surfaces and altogether created a very intensive atmosphere of dispersed objects. Kéré did not need anything else but his ever-increasing buildings in his motherland Africa to underline his authenticity. The statement of this productive architect was already intact and clearly put forth as a “bridge over the gap,” which reclaimed the knowledge of vernacular architecture and rediscovered the possibilities to build “The African.”

Installation view of

Installation view of Louisiana Canopy, on

Place for Gathering, prepared for the 1st Chicago Architecture

the occasion of the exhibition Africa: Architecture, Culture,

Biennial in the Chicago Cultural Center,

and Identity presented in the Louisiana Museum

Installation view of Courtyard Village

Exhibition view Bridging the Gap, arc en rêve

Chicago, United States of America, 2015

of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Denmark, 2015

presented at Palazzo Litta, Milan, Italy, 2016

centre d’architecture, Bourdeaux, 2012–2013

The challenge of curating a contemporary African architecture exhibition was clearly explained by Andres Lepik in 2013, the curator of the AFRITECTURE: Building Social Change exhibition, which was held in Architekturmuseum der TU München (September 13, 2013 – February 2, 2014).19 Although a few African architects have already gained a reputation in the Western world, extensive research and discussion of contemporary Africa on a global scale was still missing. Rapidly urbanizing African cities has always taken the lead. 20 However, new radical approaches, which bear environmental, social, and economic sustainability aspects, were already contributing to the emerging contemporary architecture in Africa. They needed to be presented in a comparative context that reveals their multiplicity, diversity, and disobedient character. In the AFRITECTURE twenty-nine projects from ten Sub-Saharan countries were displayed. They were planned either by African or by European and North American architects and adopted these essential sacred features: direct support from the local communities and social engagement, utilizing local materials, and introducing vernacular building traditions and ecological solutions. The aforementioned development in Africa focused on public buildings such as schools, kindergartens, health clinics, sport centers, libraries, women’s centers et cetera. As being a very loyal proponent of the mentioned aspects, Francis Kéré took part in the exhibition with his Gando School and Wom-

en’s Community Center projects among the architects such as the Caravatti brothers, Nina Maritz, Baerbel Mueller, Peter Rich, CS Studio, Luyanda Mphalwa, Kunlé Adeyemi, and Laurent Séchaud. The bold setting of the exhibition, which left the impression of simplicity and temporariness due to the cheap and recycled material choice, was demanding: drawings, texts, models, photos, and films installed on a linear setup that compelled the visitor to walk without shoes on a printed platform and interact with either stickers, post-its or an opinion automat. The encounter of the viewer with the ambitious socially committed projects was essential for a new understanding of the contemporary architecture in Africa. 21 The short but efficient period between 2008 and 2014 full of productivity and many exhibitions brought Kéré the recognition among the well-known contemporary architectural practices. He was one of the seven architects, 22 who were invited to participate in the Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined exhibition in the main galleries of the Royal Academy of Arts in London from January 25 – April 6, 2014. Already confident with the well constituted architectural notion and well aware of the potentials of exhibitions, Kéré moved in London one step further from being a practicing architect to a performing architect/artist for an installation: “Exhibitions provide an excellent opportunity to test new materials in an environment free from building regulations, commercial requirements, climatic restrictions, and the constraints of the

construction industry. It is a chance to be truly creative.” 23 The curatorial concept was defined as “architectural interventions that radically transform the dominant character of the classically planned and detailed interiors.” The installations were planned to address the sensibilities of the visitor and the visitors were expected to interact with and participate in this experience. 24 Kéré’s aim was to create a sense of flowing from a vast space through a narrow opening, an inspiration taken from the doorways to the RA galleries, which appear very small compared to the scale of the rooms. The tunnel allowed people to experience the space from both outside and within, but also invited interaction by adding straws of different colors and lengths25 With one simple structure Kéré touched many aspects in his very first installation: the plastic honeycomb material which is readily available in London and used for different functions in a building was utilized in another context, the architecture became the exhibition object itself but also the space of a new kind, and finally its continuous transformation through participation referred to the building with community process in Africa. The second installation of Kéré took place in another important extensive exhibition Africa: Architecture, Culture and Identity held in the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art from June 25 – October 25, 2015. Inspired directly by his home village, the installation represented a shaded gathering space. The canopy, which consisted of an overhanging ceiling and a seating area underneath,

Visitor interacting with the installation for Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2014

was built of debarked willow branches and logs found locally in Scandinavia. 26 Despite the abstraction of the wood, its transformation into the created architectural space and the programmed day lighting system replicating the sun's movements, it still connoted very strongly something natural, indigenous, and rural. It aimed at gathering, reflecting, and encountering the visitor in an intimate setting. The features brought from Gando were applied in a museum space in Denmark. Something that Kéré has always done is to bring that which is useful from one culture into another, mix them and create a hybrid product. The same year Kéré participated in two more exhibitions: one of his projects was displayed in Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design, Vitra Design Museum together with David Adjaye and Kunlé Adeyemi;27 and his very first installation in the US28 at the 1st Chicago Architecture Biennial where he created another Place for Gathering with locally sourced wood. 29 2016 has started with an intense series of exhibitions for Kéré. He was invited to transform the inner courtyard of the Baroque-style Palazzo Litta into a space available for a series of events and talks—A Matter of Perception: Tradition and Technology—during Milan Design Week 2016 in April. The stone and wood pavilion, which was covered by an over-hanging roof of bamboo and encircled by wild native Italian grass, invited people to encounter and gather.30 His second presence in the US was strong enough to present him to the

new world because it was his second largest exhibition thematizing his practice, not as a structured retrospective show but in an installation format. The Architecture of Francis Kéré: Building for Community exhibition, began in March 2016 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, displayed the building materials like wood, pots, brick, and stone, 1:1 models of some parts of his installations, prototype chairs, and videos of his projects. The striking feature of this installation is the Colorscape, a welcoming interactive installation created from the locally sourced lightweight cord of interwoven strands. They were wrapped around steel components and hung from the ceiling in the atrium space before entering the main gallery. The rectilinear geometry of the steel components and the unexpected playful and informal space created underneath represents the parallels between Philadelphia and Gando.31 His most recent but certainly not last participation in an exhibition was the 15th International Architecture Biennale in Venice. A public viewing platform where visitors watched a film projection represented the new design for the Ouagadougou Parliament House already prepared by Kéré.32 All these exhibitions illustrate the multilayered essence of Kéré. First of all, his natural transformation from a pragmatic architect teaching on site how to construct a building to the architect creating an artistic space with no practical applications provides clues about the new aspects of his profession. Second, the features he brings

from African culture which are reflected in the use of the materials, the creation of space, and the participative process with the users are very well integrated into his contemporary designs. The combination of different elements brings out a unique hybrid language, which is already identifiable. Keeping in mind that Francis Kéré does not have an “associates” at the end of his name, and that his architecture is not aligned with the typical commercial paradigms of construction in the industrialized world, it is crucial to reconsider the record number of exhibitions realized in less than ten years. The radical approach formulated by Kéré, finds its audience and appreciation in the Western world, and encourages one to continually search for other solutions. Kéré traveled to Europe, and returned to Burkina Faso for a human cause. An inspiring declaration from Giancarlo de Carlo from 1969 states, “The courageous exploration of architecture, an architecture where all barriers between builders and users are abolished, an architecture, which has a true structure of concrete alternatives and stands on the side of the people,”33 and this perfectly corresponds to and embodies the buildings of Francis Kéré.

A phrase from the Mooré language of the Mossi peo-

16 It was presented in a revised form and titled as “Think

29 J. Grima, S,Herda, A. Bagnato, I. Sunwoo. The State

ple, the largest ethnic group in Burkina Faso. See the

Global, Build Social!” in DAM, Frankfurt am Main

of the Art of the Architecture, Chicago Architecture

map on page 87.

and AzW, Architekturzentrum Vienna, from which it

M. H.Contal and J. Revedin, “Diébédo Francis Kéré,” in:

changed again into a touring exhibition with the same

Sustainable Design II (Actes Sud, 2012), pp. 56–58. 3

Schulbausteine für Gando e.V. was founded as a fundraising instrument for the primary school project in Gando, during Kéré’s studies at the Technische Universität Berlin in 1998. Today it is called the Kéré Foundation. http://www.fuergando.de.

T. Arrhenius et al., Place and Displacement Exhibiting Architecture (Germany, 2014), pp. 8–9.

“Architecture That Can Truly Be Owned by the People,

title at thirty-five Goethe Institutes worldwide 17 MACHEN!, Die Deutschen Gewinner der Holcim Awards, Ruby Press, 2012. 18 Diébédo Francis Kéré, [Bridging the Gap], Exh. cat. Arc en Rêve Centre d’Architecture (Bordeaux, 2013). 19 A. Lepik, ed. AFRITECTURE: Building Social Change (Munich, 2013), p. 11. 20 See Afropolis: Stadt, Medien, Kunst, Exh. cat. K. Pinther, L. Förster, C. Hanussek, eds. (Cologne, 2010).

Architecture. 31 http://www.kere-architecture.com /projects/ colorscape-philadelphia-usa/. 32 http://www.kere-architecture.com/projects/pursuit-new-ouagadougou/. 33 G. De Carlo, “Architecture’s Public” (1969) in: Architecture and Participation, P. Blundell Jones, D. Petrescu and J. Till, eds. (London, 2005), p. 4. Giancarlo de Carlo was one of the influential initiators of the

Okwui Enwezor in Conversation with Andres Lepik,”

21 Architecture curator Andres Lepik discusses the

critical discourse against modernism’s universal

in: A. Lepik, ed. AFRITECTURE: Building Social Change

manifold issues raised by his exhibition in Mu-

claims, and he founded Team X together with Jacob

(Munich, 2013), pp. 601–61.

nich in uncube no.17, Construct Africa, p. 8, http://

Bakema, Georges Candilis, Aldo van Eyck, Alison and

Interview by Bregtje van der Haak, “Architect Rem

www.uncubemagazine.com/sixcms/detail.php?id=

Peter Smithson, and others.

Koolhaas Interviewed about Lagos,” (2014).

11665397&articleid=art-1386870921975-34bd1e8f-

https://vimeo.com/97503875.

bc61-473d-975e-a30b354fd7c9#!/page8 22 The other architects that participated in the exhi-

http://lagos.submarinechannel.com/.

B. Albrecht, Africa Big Chance Big Change, Exh. cat.

bition were Kengo Kuma, Grafton Architects, Li Xi-

(Bologna, 2014).

aodong, Pezo von Ellrichshausen, Eduardo Souto de

Biennial Guide Book (Chicago, 2016), p. 46. 30 From the notes of the project description of the Kéré

http://www.designindaba.com/sites/default/files/ node/project/17589/ain-catalogue-pages.pdf.

10 AS Architecture Studio, Young Architects in Africa, Exh. cat. (2014). 11 http://www.okayafrica.com/culture-2/venicebiennale-2015-african-artists/. 12 http://www.design-museum.de/en/exhibitions/ detailseiten/african-modernism.html. 13 M. J.Holm and M. M.Kallehauge, eds. AFRICA – Architecture, Culture and Identity, Exh. cat. (Denmark, 2105).

Moura, and Álvaro Siza. 23 Interview with Kate Goodwin, in: Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined, P.Ursprung, K. Goodwin (London, 2014), p. 149. 24 Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined, online exhibition guide, http://royal-academy-production-asset. s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/18ce0a83-6aa7-4c31aba5-bfddc248e8f1/Sensing%20Spaces%20 education%20guide.pdf. 25 Interview with Kate Goodwin (see note 23), pp.147, 149.

14 http://www.philamuseum.org/exhibitions/838.html.

26 Ibid., p.160.

15 A. Lepik, Small Scale, Big Change: New Architectures

27 http://www.design-museum.de/en/exhibitions/de-

of Social Engagement, The Museum of Modern Art (New York, 2015).

tailseiten/making-africa.html. 28 See A. Lepik’s article about his presence in the US on page 16.

BURKINA

GAN

PROJ

A FASO,

NDO

JECTS

←

Songtaaba Women’s Center under construction among the village compounds in Gando landscape, Burkina Faso, 2016

❻

❼ Gando Project site plan, as of 2016. PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPLEX: ① Primary School ② Teacher’s Housing ③ School Extension ④ School Library ⑤ ⑥ ⑦

Secondary School Songtaaba Women’s Center Atelier Gando

❷ ❺

❶ ❹

❸

2001

PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPLEX: PRIMARY SCHOOL

Site:

Gando, Burkina Faso

Status:

completed 2001

Size:

520 m²

Client:

Gando Village Community / Kéré Foundation (Schulbausteine für Gando e.V.)

Awards:

Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2004 / Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2009

View of the Primary School, 2012 View of the project from the school’s library forecourt. Film frame from Aziz/Petra, directed by Daniel Schwartz and exhibited in Francis Kéré. Radically Simple, 2016

←

A view from school’s interior, 2016

Outdoor space at the west end of the primary school protected by the extended roof, 2016

Tenkodogo is a city that is located 200 kilometers from the capital Ouagadougou and close to the Ghana and Togo border in Burkina Faso. The only asphalt road that crosses the city separates into a very narrow dirt road to the west. The huge baobab tree at this spot is the reference point for the newcomer who wishes to find Gando, the village where architect Francis Kéré comes from. Today, 3,000 inhabitants live in this place, still without electricity, indoor plumbing, or paved streets. The bumpy dirt road goes along the plain reddish landscape of savanna for thirteen kilometers, among the baobabs, mango trees, and loosely set village compounds on the agricultural land, until it reaches a denser ensemble of trees. An unexpected sign in this secluded landscape, points out a specific place which is also clear from the floating roofs and walls hidden among the trees. There is no entrance here; the Primary School Complex of Gando pulls the visitors directly into the large courtyard. The courtyard covered with mango trees is surrounded by four buildings that Kéré built separately within fifteen years: the primary school on the north, library and school extension on the west, and the teachers’ housing on the south. A pre-existing school building from 1984 standing in the middle of the courtyard is also actively used due to the high number of students. The story of the primary school in Gando is closely connected to the life story of

Francis Kéré. It goes back to the 1970s in Burkina Faso, when there were no schools in Gando. Suffering from poverty, insufficient infrastructure, and a lack of educational facilities, more than ninety percent of the population was illiterate.1 When it came time for early education, Kéré had to move to a relative’s home in order to attend school in Tenkodogo. The overcrowded classrooms designed as enclosed boxes and the difficulties of learning under the extreme climatic conditions of the country are vivid memories of the architect, who mentions it quite often.2 After getting a carpenter scholarship from Carl Duisberg Centrum and moving to Germany in 1985, then finishing high school and attending the Technical University of Berlin to become an architect, Kéré remained concerned about the problems of “his people” in Burkina Faso.3 When he was in his third term at the university, he was asked to help rebuild his village’s school, the only school and one that was built in 1984 and in danger of collapsing.4 The non-profit organization Schulbausteine für Gando5 was born in 1998 in order to be able to raise funds for the construction of a new school in Gando.6 After communicating with the villagers, integrating their input and ensuring local support, he realized the school in the village in 2001.7 The project won him the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004 for the “elegant architectonic clarity, achieved with most humble means and materials, and for its transformative value.”8

Side view of the primary school. Frame from Aziz/Petra film, directed by Daniel Schwartz and

The Primary School in Gando represents a multiple of social, cultural, economic, and ecological aspects, not only as an architectural product, but also as an autonomous learning, training, and production process. This serves to help with the empowerment and development of the community, which were concerns introduced for the first time in Burkina Faso by a local architect. Using the human potential and pre-existing resources, getting the most out of them, he initiated a self-sufficient mechanism for the long run. Simple, but well-considered solutions offer options for future generations in a village with long-standing education issues.

hiffffffffff LOCALLY AVAILABLE MATERIAL Clay is the traditional material that is used to build the organically formed village compounds in Burkina Faso. However, it is considered a temporary material and associated with poorness by the local population. Due to the scarcity of wood in the country, baking clay bricks is not common in Burkina Faso. When used raw, it is washed away under the heavy rains. The obligatory task of repairing the walls requires time and effort for the local population who therefore appreciate the durable imported Western materials. Kéré took clay, a locally available and free material that has been used for hundreds of years, as the main building material. However, after doing research about all the phases

of brick production in Germany, Kéré found his unique way of modifying the material in order to provide long-term and climatically high quality walls.9 He modified the material by adding a small quantity of cement (ca. 8–10%) to obtain stable and uniform bricks, and convinced the village community to use this “primitive” material.10 For more efficiency, he introduced a simple machine to form the bricks in a mold and then press them with the help of two people.11 Eventually, the compressed bricks were covered with plastic so that they dried slowly, reducing cracks.

hiffffffffff THE COMMUNITY BUILDS From the very beginning, Kéré involved the village community in the design decisions and the construction process. From bringing the stones for the foundation to stamping and beating the clay ground foundation, the local population offered labor to the best of their capabilities. With the support of the government agency LOCOMAT,12 the professional workers employed on site instructed the community in the construction techniques so that they could build their projects without help.13 This participative aspect strengthened the solidarity among the community, enabled them to have a sense of ownership of the school they contributed to building, and ensured its social and economic sustainability.14

hiffffffffff

ARCHITECTURE The rectilinear building is comprised of three identical detached rectangular blocks of seven-by-nine-meter classrooms placed under a single roof. The patios separating the classrooms provide covered gathering spaces outdoors. The classroom blocks were made of clay bricks connected by earth mortar, and they stand on a raised foundation. The façades that are oriented to the north/south direction have vertical, narrow openings covered by hinged metal louvers. These elements let the filtered and warm light in. Vertical brick piers projecting from the walls support the reinforced concrete ring beam that rests on top of the walls. The ceilings of the classrooms are made of the same clay bricks supported by steel bars and concrete beams. These spaces gain abundant air circulation with a basic principle of physics: cool air is pulled in through the windows and the hot air inside is released through the ten centimeter gaps on both ends of the ceiling. Another strong element of climatic concern is the slightly curved and inclined roof that projects beyond the walls below, protecting them from direct sunlight and rain. The corrugated metal roof lies over a space frame that separates it from the ceiling and lets the air circulate between two layers. Kéré, being aware of the transportation and heavy machinery costs, devised a process to enable the cutting, bending, welding, and assembling of the sixteen millimeter steel bars to obtain the triangular girders

PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPLEX: PRIMARY SCHOOL

exhibited in Francis Kéré. Radically Simple, 2016

Longitudinal and transversal section

of the space frame on site by the local craftsmen. The metal roof was as well bent into the curved shape directly on the supporting truss.15 Kéré does not hesitate to combine materials, to search for new forms, to try the unpracticed, and to redefine ideas from Europe for Africa. His bold acts and his architecture suited to human need brought motivation and hope for the education of children to Gando, where the number of students has sharply increased over the years. The single primary school building started growing, was transformed into a campus with teachers’ housing, a school extension, a library and kitchen around the same courtyard, and a sports field behind. This impetus gave way to another project as well; a secondary school complex, with a women’s community center and an atelier located only 500 meters from the primary school area, which is still under construction. Today, the number of the students in Gando is 844, where there were only 120 in 2001.

The gross national income per capita in Burkina Faso in 2015 was $660.

The Sudano-Sahelian climate has a dry season of seven to eight months with the temperatures reaching 41° and a rainy season of four to five months with heavy rains.

“Grundschule/Primary School, Gando,” in: Moderators of Change, ed., A. Lepik (2011), p. 41.

F. Kéré, on the Architecture of Necessity in: Arch + 211/212 (Summer 2013), p. 2.

Today called the Kéré Foundation. The organization promotes development projects in the fields of education, health, and agriculture in Gando. http://www. fuergando.de/.

Because there was a growing demand for children to attend school, the desicion was made to add more classroom space with the new school in addition to repairing the old school.

For the details of how Gando School was born, see the article of Peter Herrle on 64–68.

G. Trangoš, “Respected. Responsible. Rooted,” in: Earthworks, issue 21 (2014) p. 54.

J. Kunsmann, “Ein Dorf bauen,” in: Baumeister, June 13 (2013), p. 18.

10 A. Mathur et al., “Diébédo Francis Kéré — To Have Water,” in: Design in the Terrain of Water (Philadelphia 2014). 11 A. Lepik (ed.), “Primary School,” in: Small Scale Big

Change (2010), p. 34 12 An agency of the Ministry of Infrastructure, Housing and Transportation created to promote the use of local materials in improved techniques. 13 L. and K. Feireiss, “Schulbausteine für Gando e.V. / Diébédo Francis Kéré,” in: Architecture of Change:

View of the roof structure built of triangular girders Rebar girders of the roof structure

Sustainability and Humanity in the Built Environment (Berlin 2008), p. 250. 14 G. Trangoš, see note 8, p. 54. 15 F. Varanda, “On Site Report Primary School Gando, The Aga Khan Award for Architecture” (2004).

PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPLEX: PRIMARY SCHOOL

Plan

2004

PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPLEX: TEACHER ’S HOUSING

Site:

Gando, Burkina Faso

Status:

completed 2004

Size:

1,250 m²

Client:

Village Community of Gando, Kéré Foundation (formerly Schulbausteine für Gando e.V.) with the financial support of Hevert Pharmaceuticals (Germany)

View of the houses. Film frame from Aziz/ Petra, directed by Daniel Schwartz and exhibited in Francis Kéré. Radically Simple, 2016

Garden of one of the units used by teachers. Film frame from Aziz/ Petra, directed by Daniel Schwartz and exhibited in Francis Kéré. Radically Simple, 2016

←

An outside view of the housing blocks. Film frame from Aziz/Petra, directed by Daniel Schwartz and exhibited in Francis Kéré. Radically Simple, 2016.

According to Francis Kéré, a building is an educational instrument not only with its function, but also with the way of living it provides and the vision of the society it offers through the architecture.1 The development of the rural areas can only be fulfilled when the “educators” can find better opportunities for accommodation in the village and help the change. The second building project of the Gando campus, a series of housing blocks for teachers, which began after the Primary School was completed, is located at the southern border of the courtyard. Four units, which are placed radially on the north-south axis, are each assembled into six residential apartments that vary in size according to the size of the teacher’s family. Each unit is comprised of two—one long and one short—adjacent, vaulted longitudinal compartments. The apartments are based on a module as large as a traditional round hut and combined in a various ways. 2 Each apartment is set in its own walled garden, which also contains the lavatory and shower spaces at the back. The two entrances for each apartment are located on the blind, long side and at the back of the compartments. The façades with openings, covered either with a lamella shutter or perforated with bricks, are oriented to the north, toward the courtyard of the school complex. Kéré applied the similar climatic principles in the houses as he did in the primary school but went a little further in experimenting with new techniques and forms. The walls

are made of forty centimeter handmade and sun-dried blocks, and stand on foundations of granite stones and concrete, which prevent moisture from rising. The sharp ends of the walls, which contact water, are rendered with a cement plaster. The rest of the walls have a clay plaster top. The whole housing unit is covered with eight barrel vaults that also define each compartment. The vaults, supported by a tie beam at the top of the walls, form permanent shuttering to a topping of reinforced in-situ concrete.3 The roofs of each compartment are built in two different heights. The sickle shaped openings at the intersection points help ventilation and day lighting.4 Corrugated metal roofs, which rest slightly detachedly from the vaults, enable air circulation. Roof projections protect the walls against the weathering. The top ends of the walls conduct the rainwater into the channels, which run along the façades and on the ground and collect it in a water tank. The second project of Kéré in Gando was also built with the active participation and the solidarity of the village community. The inhabitants took an active part in the development of the construction techniques with the local materials, which would later enable them to adapt the houses according to their own wishes.5 “The communal labor doesn’t just help save money, it also strengthens their awareness that what we’re making has value.”6 AB

Elevations and Sections

M. H.Contal and J.Revedin, “Diébédo Francis Kéré,” in: Sustainable Design II, Actes Sud, 2012, p. 60.

“Teachers Housing,” in: a+u, 514 (2013), p. 133.

a+u, ibid. p. 133.

F. Kéré (2003), “Teachers’ Houses for Gando,” in: Detail, 12 (2003), p. 1419.

Schulbausteine für Gando, project descriptions, p. 14.

From a speech given by Francis Kéré in Berlin in December 2010. Transcription by Lara Stöhlmacher,

Plan

An aerial view of the series of housing blocks for teachers. Film frame from Aziz/Petra, directed by Daniel Schwartz and exhibited in Francis Kéré. Radically Simple, 2016

PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPLEX: TEACHER’S HOUSING

in: Arch + Features (Summer 2013), p. 8.

2008

PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPLEX: SCHOOL EXTENSION

Site:

Gando, Burkina Faso

Status:

completed 2008

Size:

560 m²

Client:

Kéré Foundation (Schulbausteine für Gando e.V.) / Hevert Arzneimittel GmbH und Co. Kg. / Gando Village Community

Awards:

BSI Swiss Architectural Award 2010 / Zumtobel Group Award for Sustainability and Humanity in the Built Environment / Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2009

Main façade of the school extension looking at east, 2016

←

View of the school extension, 2016

After the small Primary School campus gradually started to develop with the emerging buildings and other amenities, becoming an object of pride and identification for the Gando community, it had a triggering effect on the families who wanted to send their children to the school. The primary school that was conceived for 120 students did not provide sufficient space after two years, when the number of the students reached to 260. A new school building was needed.1 The third building of the Gando Primary School campus is the school extension, which marks the west side of the courtyard. Francis Kéré employed the similar concepts of form, material, and climatic considerations in the new building. However, having gained experience from the first building, he managed to improve his design with the different uses of the same material to create more efficient architectural elements. The rectilinear building is comprised of two identical rectangular volumes placed under a single roof. Between the two volumes is a typical Kéré element, the patio, which serves as a gathering place for the students. The building accommodates four classrooms whose walls, similar to the primary school, was also built with handmade compressed and stabilized clay bricks. Today, three of the four rooms are used as classrooms, whereas the fourth hosts the administrative area. The basic difference between the first school and the extension is the single vault that covers the volumes. It was built with the same earth

bricks, but as a perforated surface with slits placed all along the width of the vault at regular intervals, to admit light and allow the overheated air to escape. The cavities integrated in the vault work as a buffer with the enclosed air within, helping to reduce the temperature in the classrooms. The overhanging corrugated metal roof extends widely over the walls to protect the façades from the sun and the rain. It is raised on the vault by a rebar truss, the same structural element used in the primary school. The roof absorbs the direct sunlight, lets the air circulate, and guides the hot air out of the building.2 The concrete beam ring, which runs along the walls, supports this roof together with the vertical brick piers flanking the façade openings. Each opening has a wide window ledge placed between two piers that offer resting areas for the students. Many more people from the surrounding village communities who wanted to be a part of this collaborative process realized the construction of the building. The school became a collective product, supported, owned, and maintained by all. Gando’s unique solidarity was included in the documentary In Comparison (2014) of Harun Farocki, which shows the big contrast between the production processes of bricks from different parts of the world. Francis Kéré mentions how he is inspired by trees to design his spaces in a school: a big tree expands with its branches and leaves to offer protection from the sun and rain, allows wind blow, gathers the children and provides comfortable open space to spend

time.3 The way the school buildings are owned and used by the students in Gando shows how architecture causes a chain reaction in behavior and in education of an underserved society.

http://www.kere-architecture.com/projects/ school-extension-gando/.

“Primary School Extension in Gando,” a+u 514 (2013), p. 131.

J. Kunsmann, “Ein Dorf bauen,” Baumeister, June 13 (2013), p. 16.

View from the courtyard of the school extension, next to the library construction, 2016 Front view with the classroom block and the patio, 2016

PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPLEX: SCHOOL EXTENSION

Interior view from the school extension. Film frame from Aziz/Petra, directed by Daniel Schwartz and exhibited in Francis KĂŠrĂŠ. Radically Simple, 2016 Roof ventilation diagram sketch

PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPLEX: SCHOOL EXTENSION

Sections

Plan

2010

â&#x20AC;&#x201C;

PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPLEX: SCHOOL LIBRARY

Site:

Gando, Burkina Faso

Status:

under construction

Size:

500 m²

Client:

Kéré Foundation (Schulbausteine für Gando e.V.) / Hevert Arzneimittel GmbH und Co. KG. / Gando Village Community

Side view of the library, under construction, 2016 Patio under the extended roof, under construction, 2016 Natural light from the interior view of the library, 2016

←

View from the extended roof of the library, 2016.

To improve the quality of life and initiate reading and learning, and support the children who cannot afford their own books, a library was introduced in the Gando Primary School Complex in 2010. Placed at the corner, between the first school building and the extension on the west, to which it is adjacent, the library is the enclosing element for the courtyard, helping to protect it from dust and wind. Francis Kéré improved his design approach with the search for a new architectonic language and with new interpretations of local materials. The first innovation was introduced by the elliptical plan, which refers to the vernacular clay architecture in the region and deviates from the rectilinear plans of the schools. The ellipse was rotated in relation to the linear axis of the school extension to create outdoor space on both sides. The inner space has a simple open plan divided into two by a curved wall. The second innovative approach was employed in the perforated ceiling, an essential design element that is identified with the schools of Kéré. The unused clay pots that were originally produced for storage of fruit, grain, and water, and used by women at the market, were given a new function by the architect.1 With the help of the village community, these pots were brought to the site and cut at both the top and the bottom; they were then cast into the concrete ceiling to create holes for natural light and ventilation. 2 The balanced and soft play of light and shade inside transforms the space

into a comfortable environment for reading. The rectangular corrugated metal roof is raised high on the truss and rests on a concrete beam frame. As one of Kéré’s essential climate responsive elements in Gando, the roof extends beyond the façade to create separate shaded areas and helps the air circulation in the space below. Due to its scarcity and problems with termites, wood is not preferred as a construction material in Burkina Faso. However, fast growing eucalyptus trees are not valued because they dry out the soil and provide little shade.3 Thus the third new element, eucalyptus wood, was introduced for the first time by Kéré and used as a façade screen. The poles were arranged to be used as a second skin to the building, to create a cantilevered and transitional space, enclosed and shaded.4 The screen was planned to run all along the façade aligned with the roof geometry. It stands on an oblique angle to the ground, which gives an organic look to the whole volume of the building. The Gando School Library is currently under construction and the eucalyptus façade is not installed yet. The library building offers new approaches at utilizing and interpreting undervalued and unused materials in a new architectural expression with a new function. It is the final complementary element of the Gando Primary School Campus, but represents further development and knowledge transition. After this campus, Kéré continued to expand on site with other buildings: a secondary school campus, a women’s

Aerial view of the library before the construction of the roof. The rounded Rounded clay pots cut at the top and bottom

Clay pots positioned on the ceiling construction

clay pots were cast into the concrete slab to

parts are cast into the concrete ceiling

before the application of the concrete

create holes for natural light and ventilation, 2014

community center, and a training center for architecture to contribute to the education, social, and cultural life of Gando. AB

Section

M. J. Holm and M. M. Kallehauge (eds.), AFRICA – Architecture, Culture and Identity, exh. cat., Denmark (2015), p. 191.

“School Library, Gando,” in: a+u, 514 (2013), p. 129.

a+u, ibid., p. 219.

G. Trangoš, “Respected. Responsible. Rooted,” in: Earthworks, issue 21 (2014), p. 58; J. A. Flannery and K. M. Smith, “Gando School and Library,” in: EcoLibrary Design (2014), p. 46.

PRIMARY SCHOOL COMPLEX: SCHOOL LIBRARY

Plan

2011

â&#x20AC;&#x201C;

SECONDARY SCHOOL

Site:

Gando, Burkina Faso

Status:

under construction since May, 2011

Size:

4,800 m² (all complexes)

Client:

Kéré Foundation (Schulbausteine für Gando e.V.) / Hevert Arzneimittel GmbH und Co.KG, Frank Elstner

Awards:

2011 Regional Holcim Award Gold Africa Middle East, 2012 Global Holcim Award Gold

Transverse section.

View of the secondary school, under construction, 2016 Vaulted ceiling in a classroom, 2016 Side view, 2016

After the accomplishment of the Gando Primary School Campus, its positive impact on the education and the village community paved the way for a secondary school campus for a larger community development in Gando. The campus was planned to include twelve classrooms divided over five building blocks, an auditorium, a library, service buildings, and sports fields.1 Today, two of the building blocks have been completed thus far, and when finished will accommodate 1,000 students.2 The site is located about 200 meters north of the Primary School campus. The layout, inspired by the vernacular compounds of Gando (and Burkina Faso) is comprised of buildings assembled around a central courtyard. The ensemble is set back on the hill in the east, and is oriented towards the west to benefit from the cool breezes. A leveled freestanding wall around the campus protects it from the desert sand blows, except on the west side, where the main entrance is located.3 The two completed blocks lay at the east end before the hill and are set perpendicular to each other. The linear layout of the detached rectangular blocks, two in the shorter and three in the longer building, under one metal roof, each reveal the same design principle Kéré applied in the Primary School Campus. The aspects of the community participation and local manpower, passive ventilation methods enabled by using elements like narrow façade openings, perforated ceilings and overhanging metal roofs are all maintained in this project as well. However,

as already observed in the progress of Kéré’s previous projects, the architect experiments with new materials, elements, and methods that give each project a slight difference than earlier ones. The plastic quality of the dynamic façade of the Secondary School is a new feature introduced by Kéré. By changing the construction method for faster production, the architect could obtain the molding-like look on the façades. He treated clay as concrete by pouring a mixture of clay, sand gravel, and cement into a formwork on site.4 The walls were laid on a reinforced concrete ring plinth and were also reinforced by vertical concrete bars from the inside and set at regular intervals. In order to provide a shaded surface, the façade was designed as a series of concave arcs, where the shutters are laid in. A second reinforced concrete ring beam rests on top of the walls as the complementary element. The multi-vaulted perforated ceiling was built of clay bricks, which were supported by concrete beams and plastered with lime.5 The school used the same roof design as the Primary School: the wide corrugated metal roof is elevated on rebar trusses to enable air circulation in the spaces in between. Another significant difference proposed by Kéré for the Secondary School is the innovative air-cooling system, which starts outside with the plantation. The fresh air, removed of dust first by passing through the grass planted in front of the building, is drawn inside via underground ducts.6 The ducts pass under the clay pots, which

←

Site plan, axonometric drawing

Eucalyptus tree logs used to create a shading screen on outside gathering spaces, 2014

J. Kunsmann, “Clay-Bound Utopia,” in: Domus, 962 (2012), p. 37.

Schulbausteine für Gando, Project descriptions, p. 34.

Ibid., p. 34.

Kunsmann, see note 1, p. 38.

Francis Kéré, on Architecture of Necessity. Arch + Features in: Arch + Think Global Build Social, 211/212, Summer 2013, p. 9.

Kunsmann (2012), ibid, p. 44

Francis Kéré (2013), ibid., p. 10

Kunsmann (2012), ibid, p. 45

Plan

SECONDARY SCHOOL

are installed in the banks of earth and filled with rainwater, and drip from the bottom. The dripping water also cools down the incoming air, which enters the classroom through the ventilation slots.7 Another supportive element for ventilation is the ground water, which is pumped up by a wind turbine and conducted through underground channels around the buildings. As it evaporates upon contact with the air in the ducts, it lowers the temperature of the air by a few degrees and helps to cool and ventilate the building. These ancient forms of natural air conditioning are simple, sustainable, and do not require any specialized maintenance.8 The final complementary element that is introduced for creating shaded zones outside is the eucalyptus tree. Already integrated into the design, but not applied yet in the façade of the library in the Gando Primary School Campus, this material is also used in the Secondary School to create a shading screen for the gathering spaces outside (implemented only partially). Since the project is still under construction, these innovative elements and methods have not been implemented yet. However, when the Secondary School Campus is completed it will certainly be another strong impetus for the culture and education of the Gando communities with its entire topographical and climatic design approaches.

2011

â&#x20AC;&#x201C;

SONGTAABA WOMEN’S CENTER

Site:

Gando, Burkina Faso

Status:

under construction since 2011

Size:

350 m²

Client:

Songtaaba Women’s Association, Kéré Foundation (Schulbausteine für Gando e.V.)

People gathering at the Women’s Center courtyard next to the construction, including Francis Kéré, 2016 Clay pots being embedded in the wall construction for storage purposes, 2013

←

Kitchen of the vernacular compound next to Songtaaba Women’s Center under construction, 2016

Prototype for the pots storage area built of clay, 2009

To improve women’s education and help their economic independence, the women of Gando established the cooperative project Songtaaba in 1999. The cooperative operated a microfinance system that gave the women the opportunity to start small business initiatives. These activities necessitated a meeting and storage space for the women’s cooperative. Thus the Women’s Association directly commissioned Francis Kéré in 2010 with the Songtaaba Women’s Center complex. The construction of the Women’s Center in Gando started to be supported by the BMZ (The German Ministry of Development) in 2011.1 The project was designed by Kéré on a site that is about 500 meters away from the Gando Primary School Campus, next to the traditional village compounds. The main construction system of the building, different than the previous projects, uses reinforced concrete frames. The building is still under construction, however the frame and the metal overhanging roof has been completed. The plan is comprised of two spaces, which are physically separated and reveal different formal expressions. The rectangular area on the west is reserved for education purposes including a classroom, a meeting room, an office, a kitchen, and sanitary areas, while the curved area will contain the storage. 2 Although the building has only one story, it gives the impression of a double story building due to its height. It is raised high above the ground and stands on high feet; it serves as a storage facility for grain, and also protects the crop

against animals and water damage, as well as bringing fresh air through the ventilation slots on the ground inside. Kéré introduces a new design aspect for the façade: the clay pots will be embedded in the façade of the storage area and the rest of the walls will be completed by clay. The concrete frame will support the clay walls, which are made in the traditional style, mixed with straw and other materials, and built up by hand without casts. The locals are already familiar with this method because clay is the main construction material in traditional village settlements. The raised, wide metal roof, a common element for all projects, will help the air circulation and the screen made of eucalyptus poles will provide shaded outdoor spaces. The target group of the project is a community of up to 300 women from the village of Gando and the surrounding area of the province Boulgou in Burkina Faso.3 The multifunctional center will offer a lot of opportunities for improving the quality of life for women in a sustainable way by providing a platform for adult education on health, nutritional matters, agricultural and household production, and storage for crops they harvest in the fields to later sell in the market.4 AB 1

Schulbausteine für Gando, project descriptions, p. 41.

Kéré Architecture project description.

Ibid.

Schulbausteine für Gando, ibid, p. 41.

SONGTAABA WOMENâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S CENTER

Section

Plan

2013

â&#x20AC;&#x201C;

ATELIER GANDO

Site:

Gando, Burkina Faso

Status:

under construction since January 2013

Size:

570 m²

Client:

Kéré Foundation (Schulbausteine für Gando e.V.)

Section

Interior view of the atelier, under construction, 2016 Clay wall detail, 2016

←

Aerial view of the Atelier, located among clusters

The most recent project of Francis Kéré in Gando was initiated by the architect together with the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio in Switzerland. As a part of the design studio he ran, the students developed details in a workshop for an “Atelier” in Gando.The Atelier Gando, still under construction, was developed as a center for sustainable construction technologies and research for indigenous building methods and their contemporary uses. The students then traveled to Burkina Faso, had a basic introduction to clay construction, where they were trained by Francis Kéré with assistance from his local building team in traditional and modern building techniques that Kéré uses in his projects. They then worked with locals to build the foundations and walls. The building will provide workshop space, temporary lodging for students and workers, and storage for tools and materials, with the aim of supporting Burkinabés and offering architectural training for international students.1 The project site is located adjacent to the Songtaaba Women’s Center project in Gando, among the clusters of rural compounds in the village. Inspired by the vernacular clay huts in the region, the plan consists of three connected circular spaces with different sizes. What Kéré introduces as new features in this project is the application of the local material in a different architectonic expression and its size: creating bigger spaces using the available resources. When finished it will be the tallest clay structure in the area. 2 It is

possible today to see the clay brick walls of the first completed circular block. AB

Kéré Architecture project description, Atelier Gando.

J. M. McKnight, “Bringing It All Back Home,” in: Architectural Record (June 2014), p. 108.

Rendering image of the atelier, 2016

ATELIER GANDO

Plan

PRO J E

BURK

CTS IN

K INA

2007

SECONDARY SCHOOL

Site:

Dano, Burkina Faso

Status:

completed 2007

Size:

510 m²

Client:

Dreyer Stiftung

Awards:

Global Award for Sustainable Architecture, 6th Edition of the International Sustainable Architecture Prize, special mention / Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2009 / BSI Swiss Architectural Award 2010

Inverted vaults of the ceiling in the classroom, 2009 The central communal open space between

←←

the classrooms, 2009

An aerial view of Lycée

Roof structure under

Schorge Secondary School just after its

construction

completion, Koudougou, Burkina Faso, 2016

←

View of the L-shaped school complex from the yard, 2009

In 2006 the Dreyer Foundation in Munich, which had devoted itself to development assistance in Burkina Faso since 2001, commissioned Francis Kéré to design a secondary school in Dano. As with the Gando Primary School, the fundamental aim of the new building project at Dano was to develop an architecture that was appropriate to the region, that was both economically and climatically sustainable, and that used local materials. The L-shaped complex is divided into four modules of about sixty square meters and consists of three classrooms, a computer room, and office space, linked together by a roof structure spanning all these spaces. In the outside space between them there is a roofed schoolyard with an oval sitting area sunk into its floor, providing a central communal space for the pupils. The buildings stand on a raised granite plinth that protects the structure from erosion in heavy rain. All the walls are thirty centimeters thick, load-bearing, and made of block work in a bright shade of dark ochre. The blocks were made from the laterite strata that occur in this iron-rich region. Laterite is the result of the long weathering of rocks and is often found in the tropics.1 Using simple hand tools the moist material was cut out of the strata, dressed to the size of bricks and air-dried. These bricks were then built up using a small amount of mortar, so that the natural red color of the laterite would become a creative element of the façade.2 With climatic conditioning in mind, the buildings were oriented east–west, reducing the

amount of direct sunlight falling on the wall surfaces. For both construction and climatic reasons Kéré covered the main structure of the building with a corrugated iron roof with ventilation space underneath and a considerable overhang that shades the walls and gives protection from rain. The roof’s elegant, undulating curves are not simply aesthetic, they are also functional: they control the draining away of water during rainfall, and the curved corrugated iron protrusions provide shade for the window embrasures even when the sun is high. The metal roof is supported on a filigree framework made in modules of three-meter spans. The longitudinally oriented curved beams are made of steel reinforcing bars fourteen and sixteen millimeters thick, and fitted and welded in situ.3 Below this structure is a suspended ceiling of hollow cement blocks, plastered and formed into a succession of inverted barrel vaults. Between the vaults are air vents that provide constant air circulation and enable the space to be ventilated naturally. The rooms themselves also have windowless openings with folding slatted panels of colored metal that can be opened to provide targeted ventilation.4 In this scheme too, Kéré was sensitive to on-site difficulties and problems: the extreme climatic conditions and the region’s scarcity of resources, for example.5 Out of his creative wealth of ideas a succession of innovative construction details developed, and ultimately it was possible to complete the school in 2007—the design and building process having taken no more than a year.

Transversal and logitudinal section

For him, the greatest success, alongside recognition of the project via a multiplicity of architectural prizes, like the 2009 Global Award for Sustainable Architecture, was the joint effort that the creation of the school triggered. The whole project was carried out with the cooperation of all the people of the village, while in the process its younger members were trained thanks to Kéré’s foundation Schulbausteine für Gando.6 VZ

Plan

For more details see the material section on page 184.

McKnight, J.M. “Dano, Burkina Faso, Diébédo Francis Kéré. Schools of the 21st Century.” Architectural Record, no. 1 (January 2011), pp. 118–19.

“High School, Dano, Burkina Faso,” Digest of African Architecture (2008), pp. 11–13. Bossi, L. “School in Dano, Burkina Faso.” Domus 927 (July – August, 2009), pp. 66–69.

Dumiak, M. “Too Cool For School.” Green Source Magazine of Sustainable Design (May – June, 2010), pp. 65–67.

See the Kéré Foundation website: http://www.fuergando.de.

Exploded diagram sketch by Francis Kéré with roof and ceiling ventilation system

SECONDARY SCHOOL

2010

â&#x20AC;&#x201C;

OPERA VILLAGE REMDOOGO

Site:

Laongo, Burkina Faso

Status:

planning begun 2009; foundation stone laid February 8, 2010; under construction

Size:

14,230 m²

Client:

Festspielhaus Afrika gGmbH

(partly complete)

Housing units in the Opera Village, 2016 An example of the housing units in the complex, 2014.

←

Opera Village aerial view, 2016

The partly completed Opera Village Remdoogo—“festival” in English—had its foundation stone laid in February 2010 and at the time of writing is still only partially completed. It has a site area of some five hectares, which makes it one of Francis Kéré’s biggest projects. The location is unusual: out in the savannah of Burkina Faso, some thirty kilometers northeast of the capital Ouagadougou. The scheme originated from cooperation between Kéré and the German film, theater, and opera director Christoph Schlingensief, who died on August 21, 2010. Their joint endeavor began at the end of 2008 through the agency of Peter Anders, who was then the Director of the Goethe-Institut in Johannesburg.1 Advised and inspired by Kéré, whose buildings provide for the essential health and education needs of their respective local populations, Schlingensief modified his original vision of a Bayreuth-influenced festival theater in Africa into a multi-functional Opera Village. At its heart a performance center was to be erected in the final building phase, but it would be accompanied by residential accommodation, workshops, and commercial buildings—some of them now completed—along with a medical center finished in 2014 and a school that opened in October 2011. The latter had a new curriculum that introduced instruction in artistic subjects in Burkina Faso for the first time. What triggered the rearrangement of priorities in the building program were the devastating floods in Burkina Faso in September 2009, which left 150,000 people

without shelter. The “function modules” that Kéré had by then developed for the Opera Village were not only capable of serving as emergency accommodation, but could also be used as a prototype for rebuilding the population’s housing. Hence the Opera Village program was subdivided into three phases focused on particular needs— and so the construction of the school, the function modules, and the medical center, all originally scheduled for the final phase, were brought forward. 2

hiffffffffff OPERA VILLAGE The layout of the Opera Village is reminiscent of the kraal, an African type of settlement traditionally of circular plan. For Kéré, the spiral form derived from this is meant to symbolize growth and also to facilitate the later expansion of the Village. The spiral form unfolds the layout of the Village, starting with the Festival Theater, which is intended to occupy the center of the whole complex, and continues with the rest of the buildings that radiate out from it.3 In this project too, Kéré is innovating and developing the use of local building materials—particularly to optimize weather resistance and internal air temperature and quality. For load-bearing elements bricks have been employed, made on site from clay with the addition of a small amount of cement. Eucalyptus wood is used for ceilings and façades,4 laterite for plastered areas, and earth for floors, but industrially

Partial aerial view of Opera Village complex with school and housing, under construction, 2013

hiffffffffff FUNCTION MODULES Exposed brickwork, up-slanted projecting eaves, and novel roof construction characterize the appearance of the function modules. For these units Kéré turned to the double-roof system he had already developed to create natural air-conditioning: between the masonry ceiling and the corrugated-iron upper roof on its metal-rod supporting structure there is space that encourages air circulation and counteracts overheating of the building. Furthermore, metal supports braced together enable the roofs to have large overhangs that create shade and ward off rain. South of the entrance to the Village six modules are arranged alongside one another, their projecting roofs pointing inwards to the Village center. The first five of them are used as workshops, offices, and warehouses, but the sixth module—along

with two others, slightly set back—are used as school dining halls. Adjoining these on the east are seven living modules intended for teachers and administrative personnel, or alternatively as guesthouses. Here the first type of module gives way to a residential unit of two stories with slightly off-center roof surfaces, each rising towards the center of the building, pierced by a high chimney, which creates a dynamic roof structure. Four more residential units of the same construction have been completed in the northwest of the site, as well as, slightly set apart, a recording studio.

hiffffffffff PRIMARY SCHOOL A total of three buildings are envisaged in the site plan. They sit at the entrance to the Village: slender bars of elongated rectangular plan grouped so as to articulate a trapezoidal open space overlooking the Village center. The two southernmost buildings are almost identical, while the northerly one is slightly modified. The architectural concept of all three buildings is the same, and is a variation on the schools Kéré had already completed in 2001 and 2007 in Gando and Dano. The two northerly buildings have been completed at the time of writing. The modular classrooms are arranged at irregular intervals on extensive plinths (that of the northernmost range, at about twelve by thirty-five meters, is slightly more compact): three rooms in the southerly range

and two in the northerly—the latter’s slightly larger western room was originally intended for cultural purposes but, due to shortage of school places, was reassigned for teaching. The classrooms, currently configured for fifty pupils, have clay brick walls. Regularly spaced buttresses— currently two on the short sides and five on the long—articulate their unplastered sides, which creates a rhythmic alternation of light and shade along the wall. The short sides are windowless, but on the long sides tall, rectangular window embrasures and doorways pierce the walls between the buttresses. Retractable blinds with swiveling slats regulate the inflow of air. Here too a double-roof system is adopted; transverse vaulted ceilings cover the classrooms. Above these the upper roof’s flatter curve of corrugated iron, with its extensive overhangs, seems to hover over the whole length of the building, sustained by a support framework of metal rod and a concrete beam running the length of each side.

hiffffffffff FESTIVAL THEATER The Festival Theater planned for the center of the Opera Village is not—as one might suspect from the name—meant to be used for classic opera productions, but rather instead as a venue for intercultural events and activities. Seen in the plan, the central space is designed as two circular shapes of different sizes that interpenetrate each other. The

OPERA VILLAGE REMDOOGO

produced materials are employed as well, for example sheet metal for roof surfaces, steel bars for supporting structures, and reinforced concrete for pillars and beams. A sandy road leads to the Village from the west, and the two completed school buildings are located where it enters. Outside the kraal are the medical center to the southeast and a sports ground to the northwest. Laid out radially around the Village’s still unbuilt center, twenty of the function modules have been completed so far, varying in size, plan, and elevation.

600-seat auditorium has a diameter of some twenty-five meters and, like an ancient Roman theater, has a two-part cavea with raked rows of seats, a girdle ring, and axial staircases. There is also a smaller stage area with a round orchestra, and a raised apron canted towards the auditorium. Here it is intended that Schlingensief’s “Animatograph,” a multi-functional revolving stage, will be installed. Curved wall sections into the sinuosities of which other functions of the event space are incorporated spirally envelop the stage area and auditorium. A characteristic feature of the building is the outer facing eucalyptus wood slats that project above the (also spiral-shaped) corrugated iron roof, which slopes upwards from above the stage area towards the auditorium.

hiffffffffff Opera Village project, conceptual sketch for the site plan, Burkina Faso, initiated in 2009

CRITICAL RECEPTION The Opera Village project, which was supported by the then President of Germany, Horst Köhler, the German Foreign Ministry, and the Goethe-Institut, has aroused some controversial media discussion. Criticism focuses in particular on the concept of “opera,” of which there is no tradition in Burkina Faso and which is seen elsewhere as an art form of the European educated classes. Because there are still broad sectors of the Burkinabé population who were shaped by the socialist ideas of President Thomas Sankara, murdered in 1987, elite cultural events will presumably not

be unreservedly welcomed. Further censure cites a lack of involvement with local figures, particularly representatives of the country’s rich cultural scene: exactly the people one would want to engage with in a sympathetic exchange. This problem is exacerbated by the geographical remoteness of the Opera Village, which for most of the population is very hard to reach because there is no public transport to it. Nonetheless, the primary school, opened in October 2011, has been met with great approval. It is providing 225 children from 0 2 5 10 surrounding villages—boys and girls—with free access to education and one meal a day. A desire to enhance the performance skills and cultural identity of the pupils has seen the introduction of a curriculum new to Burkina Faso that caters to artistic subjects like theater, music, and film alongside traditional fields of study. This goes back to Kéré and the switch of priorities from the Festival Theater to the school that was established before Schlingensief’s death, and seems to fit in with it. He, Schlingensief, saw the Opera Village in the light of Joseph Beuys’s “social sculpture,” which should be influenced by the ideas of the people who live in it; he sought to widen the concept of “opera” and to do so as the school does—by uniting art and life.5 KB

Theater building section

0 2

Opera Village site plan

OPERA VILLAGE REMDOOGO

0 2

Theater building section

BASIC SOURCES CONCERNING THE OPERA VILLAGE:

www.filmgalerie451.de/filme/knistern-der-zeit-christoph-

Blasberg, Anita. “Ein Opernhaus für Ouagadougou.” Die

schlingensief-und-sein-operndorf-burkina-faso/.

Zeit, 27, June 25, 2009, pp. 15–17.

Marcus, Dorothea. “‘Ein Projekt von beeindrucken-

Eckstein, Kerstin, and Michael Schönhuth. “Der weisse

der Kraft’. Schlingensief-Operndorf in Burkina Faso,”

Mann schluchzt.” Zeit Online/Musik, August 18, 2011,

Deutschlandfunk, December 10, 2014, www.deutsch-

www.zeit.de/2011/34/Schlingensief (accessed July 11, 2016).

landfunk.de/schlingensief-operndorf-in-burkina-

Francis Kéré, “Operndorf für Afrika.” ARCH+ 10, 200,

faso-ein-projekt-von.691.de.html?dram:article_

2010, pp. 126–7.

id=305796 (accessed 4. August 2016).

—— “Über Architektur der Notwendigkeit.” ARCH+ features, 2, 2013, pp. 2–15.

mation.

Gespräch mit Udo Kittelmann,” Udo Kittelmann, Chika Okeke-Agulu, and Britta Schmitz (eds.) 2010, Who

Cf. Knaup 2010; Dahrendorf 2012; Kéré 2013, pp. 12–15.

Knows Tomorrow? exh. cat. Berlin, Nationalgalerie (Co-

Simone Kraft 2010, “Interview mit Diébédo Francis

logne, 2010), pp. 65ff.

Kéré,” in: Architekturzeitung, October 17, 2010, www.

Knaup, Horand. “‘Er kam wie ein Messias,’ Schlingen-

architekturzeitung.com/architekturmagazin/archi-

sief-Projekt in Afrika,” Spiegel Online, October 19, 2010,

tektur-und-kunst/554-architekt-diebedo-franciskere.html (accessed August 4, 2016).

www.spiegel.de/kultur/musik/schlingensief-projektin-afrika-er-kam-wie-ein-messias-a-722081.html

Liere, Judith. “Der Visionslieferant und die Savanne,”

Primary School interior view, 2016 Gathering space in front of the Primary School buildings, 2016

Dahrendorf

2009;

Dahrendorf

2012;

Eckstein

Süddeutsche Zeitung, Feuilleton 59, March 10, 2012, p. 16.

and Schönhuth 2011; Marcus 2014; Stefan Kuz-

Niermann, Jan Endrik. Schlingensief und das Operndorf

many, “Schlingensiefs Traum erwacht zum Leben.

Afrika (Wiesbaden 2013).

Operndorf-Projekt in Afrika,” in Spiegel Online, Fe-

Schlingensief, Christoph, and Francis Kéré. “Festspiel-

bruary 8, 2011, www.spiegel.de/kultur/gesellschaft/

haus Afrika, Laongo,” in: ARCH+ 10, 200, 2010, pp. 128–135.

operndorf-projekt-in-afrika-schlingensiefs-traum-

Stephan Trüby, “Kritik der burkinischen Vernunft. Zu

erwacht-zum-leben-a-744359.html (accessed July 17,

Christoph Schlingensiefs und Francis Kérés Operndorf,”

2016).

ARCH+ 10, 200, 2010, pp. 136–7. FILM AND BROADCAST SOURCES: Dahrendorf, Sibylle.“Ein Festspielhaus in Afrika,” 3sat − Kulturzeit, January 29, 2009, www.3sat.de/page/? source=/kulturzeit/themen/130481/index.html (accessed July 11, 2016). —— “Knistern der Zeit. Christoph Schlingensief und sein Operndorf in Burkina Faso,” film 106 mins., 2012, http://

Eucalyptus wood was planned for the façade of the theater that has not been built.

(accessed July 17, 2016).

Primary school buildings from the yard, 2016

I owe heartfelt thanks to Carolin Christgau and Thekla Worch-Ambara for their helpful advice and infor-

“Das Operndorf Remdoogo. Christoph Schlingensief im

0 2

Plan

OPERA VILLAGE REMDOOGO

0 2

Longitudinal and transverse sections

2014

CENTRE DE SANTÉ ET DE PROMOTION SOCIALE

Site:

Laongo, Burkina Faso

Status:

2014

Size:

1,200 m²

Client:

Festspielhaus Afrika GmbH

Section

Aerial view of the Centre de Santé et de Promotion Sociale, 2016 One of the courtyards of the clinic, 2014 Natural light from the interior space, 2014

←

Openings in the wall, 2014

Laongo, a rural village in the middle of Burkina Faso, suffered massive flood damage in August 2009. Prior to the flood, a large architectural project conceived and produced in cooperation with the late German theater, opera and film director Christoph Schlingensief, called the Opera Village, was already in motion. After this catastrophic event, which destroyed houses as well as infrastructure, the Opera Village project has been reoriented to prioritize the educational, residential, and medical care functions. Thus, the Centre de Santé et de Promotion Sociale (CSPS) became part of the design. The CSPS, built in 2014, is part of the Opera Village, which is now a thirty-five-acre campus consisting of residential and educational amenities such as classrooms, sound and art studios, housing, canteen, nursery, and a performance center (not built yet). The CSPS, located at the end of a winding path descending from the opera house hill, provides the complex with health and medical facilities for the local population. The building follows the same aesthetic and construction principles of the Opera Village and of most works by Francis Kéré, such as the use of vernacular building techniques and locally available materials (here, compressed clay bricks for the load-bearing structure, eucalyptus wood for the suspended ceilings, and laterite stone for the paved area around the center). The project was realized by volunteers of the German nonprofit organization Grünhelme e.V. and local staff who were employed and trained.1

From a functional point of view, the center encompasses three units organized around a central reception area: dentistry, gynecology and obstetrics, and general medicine. Examination rooms, offices, a pharmacy, and two open courtyards for gathering and waiting complete the functional program of the complex. Unpretentious and modest in contrast to traditional healthcare buildings, the CSPS has a lively and playful architecture. Far from being a source of fear and uneasiness, the unimposing structure is perceived by the local people as an agreeable place, thus fostering easy access to basic treatment and preventative care. 2 The exterior is characterized by an irregular fenestration design resulting from three modules of different sizes that offer varied views of the landscape outside. Each window frames a specific part of the surroundings, creating several unique views of the savanna desert. As Francis Kéré points out, “people are the basis of every piece of work” in the sense that his architecture responds to the needs of the users and provides pleasant environments for the community, including socially engaged buildings. The community itself is involved and participates in the design and construction process. An important goal of Kéré’s approach is to use identification and participation as tools for positive development. The center’s interior rooms are airy and filled with natural light. Natural ventilation in the building is achieved by two fundamental means: the particular façade design with a multitude of openings which provide

❺ blowsover over the Wind Wind blows the roof and 5 roof and helps helps draw thedraw hot air away the hot air away

1 ❹ 4

Hot & stale air rises and escapes through

Hot and stale the roof air rises and escapes through the roof

Climate diagram

Cool & fresh air is 3 drawn into the interior ❸ rooms

Cool and fresh air is drawn into the interior rooms

❶

Hot & dusty air is drawn into the courtyard Hot and dusty

air is drawn into the courtyard

Air is cooled down in

the shaded courtyard ❷

Air is cooled down in the shaded courtyard

the interiors with the fresh air cooled down in the shaded areas of the courtyards, and the use of low-pitched roofs with central openings through which the hot and stale air flow out.3 Ceilings are made of concrete joists supporting a metal roof structure. A double-envelope construction of the walls protects the building from rain: the inner walls are made of compressed-earth bricks, the outer ones of concrete bricks coated in clay.4 Both the internal and external walls are characterized by the warm colors of earth and clay and by the rough texture of the surfaces. Although the clinic does not display the typical characteristics of Kéré’s architecture, which is represented by the linear alignment of alternating rooms and in-between passages under a large overhanging roof, it epitomizes a good example of how the architectural language can differ and still result in a product that serves the same climatic, social, and economic needs.

0 2

GCC 1

J. M. McKnight, “Just What the Doctor Ordered,” in: Architectural Record, August 2015.

http://kere-architecture.com/projects/csps/.

On the concept of room climate control see: “Neubau eines Gesundheitszentrums,” in: Architektenkammer Berlin, ed. Architektur Berlin. Baukultur in und aur der Haupstadt, vol. 3, Berlin 2103, p. 102.

J. M. McKnight, “Bringing It All Back Home: A Firsthand Look at How Diébédo Francis Kéré Has Used His Architecture to Transform His Rural Village,” in: Architectural Record (June 2014), p. 108.

CENTRE DE SANTÉ ET DE PROMOTION SOCIALE

Plan

2014

SURGICAL CLINIC AND HEALTH CENTER

View of the clinic’s modules from the central courtyard, 2014

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View of the central courtyard, 2014

Interior view, 2014 Interior view from the surgical room, 2016

The Léo Surgical Clinic sets new standards for the development of medicine in Burkina Faso. The project by the charity Operieren in Afrika improves healthcare in the West African country, where many men, women, and children have no access to urgently needed medicine and treatment. The clinic stands beside a main road in the provincial capital of Sissili, near the Ghana border. It is open twenty-four hours a day to provide basic medical care for some 50,000 people in this southern region of the country and also acts as an access point for international surgical missions. After many years of experience with doctors, caregivers, and hospitals locally, the charity Operieren in Afrika, founded in Freiburg-im-Breisgau in 2001, decided to build a hospital and health center dedicated for its medical aid program in Burkina Faso. The village chiefs provided a site for Francis Kéré’s design, and on it the charity built an exemplary clinic that came into operation in 2014. Through this building’s skilled use of local resources and pioneering ecological measures Kéré Architecture provided a clear view of the way forward for Burkina Faso’s development. The clinic’s rooms are spread between ten buildings arranged, as though in a village, along a winding central street; further building modules can be added later, as the charity’s donations and budget permit. To contain costs, each individual cuboid space has the same dimensions. Spatial arrangement is simple and clear: along one side of the central east-west axis lie the operating

Site:

Léo, Burkina Faso

Status:

2014

Size:

1,900 m²

Client:

Operieren in Afrika e. V., Freiburg i. Brsg.

theater and the treatment and recovery rooms, with the in-patient wards and administration rooms lining the other. There are shady niches and courts between the individual buildings, whose entrances all give onto the central “street,” which is used as a meeting place and rendezvous for patients and their friends and relatives. Outside ground surfaces are red clay punctuated with areas of pebbles. The buildings are made of pressed mud bricks that store up the coolness of the night air and give it out again through the day. For manual work on the site Kéré Architecture cooperated with local workers and trained them to work with mud, an innovative material, and its associated techniques, which they would be able to put to use on other projects as well. The raised roofs of the individual clinic buildings project considerably beyond the walls and overlap each other, shading the outside areas around the structures and, during the few rainy months, protecting people and mud walls from the wet. Their raised corrugated iron surfaces, with photovoltaic panels mounted on them, are supported by a steel filigree structure, leaving free air space above the concrete upper surfaces of the buildings. While the hot air is drawn into this interspace, cooler air can circulate through the rhythmically but irregularly placed windows of the clinic’s rooms. Strongly projecting frames of colored concrete surround the small windows and light shafts of the inner rooms, making a kindly, irregular pattern that contrasts with the reddish façade.

Bernhard Rumstadt, founder of Operieren in Afrika and Chief Physician at the Diakonie Hospital, Freiburg-im-Breisgau, says, “For me development aid is international understanding. I have made friends here, and we work and laugh together.” Before long a maternity ward is to be added to the Léo complex, plugging another considerable gap in the region’s healthcare.

View of the clinic’s modules, outer façade, 2014

Bibliography “Chirurgische Klinik in Léo, Burkina Faso,” in: MADEby Magazin für Architektur & Design 3 (2014), pp. 96–7. Kéré Architecture, Project Description; see www.kerearchitecture.com/projects/clinic-leo. Rumstadt, Bernhard, “Kéré Architecture, Krankenhaus Léo Burkina Faso,” in: Deutsches Architektur Jahrbuch/German Architecture Annual 2015/16 (Munich: 2015), pp. 162–7. Trangos, Guy, “Francis Kéré’s Dreams Realized,” in: Earthworks 21 (August/September, 2014), p. 60. Zick, Tobias, “Gegen den Teufel,” in: Süddeutsche Zeitung, Panorama, September 30, 2014.

SURGICAL CLINIC AND HEALTH CENTER

The natural ventilation system and the insulation capability of mud brick allow the perceived temperature of the inside rooms to be ten degrees lower than the temperature outside. The operating theater in the surgical wing is fully air-conditioned, however, with the solar panels on the clinic roof supplying the power for the cooling. Ninety percent of the establishment’s dayto-day energy use can be provided by the automated system, and backup from the emergency generator is needed only once a month. Further self-sufficiency comes from a storage pond in which the infrequent rainwater of this dry region is collected, and from the country’s first biological waste water treatment plant. The wards of the Léo Surgical Clinic and Health Center provide a total of ten beds. Unusual for Burkina Faso, each patient room has its own bath with shower and toilet. A team of ten Burkinabè staff handles day-to-day working and, in addition, international operating teams in various specialties come several times a year to treat patients alongside African colleagues. The time these teams spend in Burkina Faso is also used for intensive further training of Burkinabè physicians and nurses. The treatment provided is free. Some 300 people a month receive medical help in Léo, many of whom cannot afford the expense of going to the District Hospital. About three-quarters of the surgical clinic’s monthly expenditure and salary costs are covered by voluntary contributions from patients, with the remaining €1,500 a month financed by contributions from Operieren in Afrika.

Transverse sections and the faรงade elevation

Clinic plan

SURGICAL CLINIC AND HEALTH CENTER

Housing plan

Site plan

2016

LYCÉE SCHORGE SECONDARY SCHOOL

View from the school’s central courtyard, 2016 View of the exterior façade, 2016 The central courtyard of the school, opening ceremony in February 2016

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A front view of the window shutters and the seating elements, 2016

In Koudougou, 100 kilometers from the capital city Ouagadougou, on open rural land among the scattered village compounds and mango trees, the building rises as if it is a natural formation of the reddish and flat topography. The refined abstraction of the organic, circular, and introverted mass, gradually turns into a façade, walls, and a roof as one approaches, hears the sound of the metal bell, and notices the chatting and cycling teenagers, the careful plantings, the water tower, and the sports fields around the area. Lycée Schorge, the latest and biggest school of the architect Francis Kéré in Burkina Faso was launched in February 2016. The school was initiated and financed by the Stern Stewart Institute. The institute runs projects to support economic improvement and education in Africa. It has built many schools thus far, and is offering literacy courses for women in Burkina Faso. After having met Francis Kéré’s works in the AFRITECTURE exhibition in Architekturmuseum in Munich in 2013 and convinced by his unique approach in architecture, Susanne Pertl1 decided to work with Kéré on a new school project. Kéré followed here the same fundamental principles, which he utilized in his previous projects in Burkina Faso. He used locally-sourced building materials and on-site production methods without any heavy machinery, employed and trained about 100 Burkinabé in the construction, and applied low-tech design methods to provide natural ventilation within the building, which is crucial in this harsh climate. Well-studied

Site:

Koudougou, Burkina Faso

Status:

completed 2016

Size:

1,660 m² (6 hectares gross)

Client:

The Stern Stewart Institute, Munich

and learned expertise, which Kéré repeatedly gained on-site in his previous projects, allowed Kéré’s biggest school building to be completed in eighteen months. Although the main principles remain the same, Kéré’s architecture improves with every building, offering new elements, which provide a more sophisticated and unique language. Kéré abandons his familiar linear layout approach in this project. The radial plan, which refers to the layout of the vernacular compounds in the area, aims at an autonomous village form, especially useful for the use of the space as an educational facility. The two wings of the building consist of articulated rectangular modules, which rotate slightly to create the radial layout. The modules, three on one wing, six on the other, accommodate a series of classrooms, administration rooms, a library, and a dental clinic and wrap around a central public courtyard that is accessible from the northwest and south directions. This configuration also helps to protect the inner courtyard against wind and dust. The wide and over-hanging roof protects the façades from direct sunlight and rain, and provides more shaded space for the users to spend time outside. It connects the two wings of the building, except the northwest side, where two wings open up to punctuate the main entrance. All classroom modules have the same size: 72.4 square meters. They have two entrances each from the courtyard and outer façades. The narrow windows, which rise up to the concrete beam, let the air in and

Exterior view, 2016

LYCร E SCHORGE SECONDARY SCHOOL

Faรงade elevation and transverse sections

Plan sketchs for Lycée Schorge Secondary School

Façade detail with the wind-catching tower behind, 2016

100

control the light by the movable mechanism of the shutters. The walls are built of locally harvested laterite stone, which was cut and shaped into bricks in the nearby quarry. 2 The thermal mass capability of the laterite helps to keep the temperature of inner space at a lower level. The wave-like ceilings, which are reminiscent of the multivaulted ceilings of Operndorf School, are in Schorge made of concrete and plaster, and have more openings that turn the ceilings to a perforated surface. This particular element not only helps the interior space breathe and expel hot stagnant air, but also with the off-white color serves to diffuse and spread around indirect daylight that is necessary for the learning space. Another new element Kéré introduces with this project is the huge wind-catching tower that rises above the overhanging roof. The architect employed an ancient invention, which is based on the basic principles of aerodynamics. Malqaf is a high shaft rising above the building with an opening facing the prevailing wind. It was invented in hot arid zones where thermal comfort depends mostly on air movement. The earliest examples are known from 1300 BC from ancient Egypt.3 Located at the backside of each module, nine triangular towers rise along the height of the building, surpass the roof and generate steady air movement indoors. The metal roof extends over the building on a space frame structure, which sits on a concrete beam. The roof, a typical element of Kéré, is detached from the building and allows air circulation

Sketchs for the ventilation system of the school Axonometric view of the project metal roof

eucalyptus screen

classroom modules

Plan

concrete platform

101

LYCÃ&#x2030;E SCHORGE SECONDARY SCHOOL

wind catchers

Interior view from a classroom, 2016 Furniture prototypes View from the gathering space for a classroom, 2016

Furniture construction details.

in-between the space, helping the ventilation of the rooms below. The third new element of the project is the wooden screen that wraps around the outer façade like a transparent fabric.4 This second layer of the façade is made from the fast-growing eucalyptus wood and acts as a shading element, particularly for the immediate and informal gathering spaces in front of the back doors of the classrooms. They not only protect the classrooms from the dust and wind, but also define these alternative places for the students to spend time between the classes. The last two new elements are found on the inner and outer façades. On the outer façade, the window shutters transform into curved seating elements made of wood, which provide comfortable rest corners. These seats cover the concrete tunnels inserted into the lower side of the windows for ventilation. The same concrete tunnels project more from the façade to become the seating elements on the inner façade. These projecting elements break the two-dimensional verticality and bring a dynamic configuration to the facades. The positive influence of the architecture designed to serve the needs of the students is not difficult to see in the secondary school in Koudougou. Ninety-four students5 spend most of the day in the free, open, spacious, and playful indoor and outdoor spaces of the school learning from, and contributing to, their environment. AB

102

Today the chairwoman of Lycée Schorge.

For more details about laterite, see the Material Section on p. 184.

H. Fathy, Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture (Chicago and London, 1986).

This element was first planned for the façade of the women’s community center and the library in the Gando complex; however, since these buildings have not been completed, Lycée Schorge is the first building where it is applied. The school will have 250 students in September 2016. Axonometric view of the classrooms

Sketches for seating elements

103

LYCÉE SCHORGE SECONDARY SCHOOL

2016

NOOMDO ORPHANAGE

Site:

Koudougou, Burkina Faso

Status:

completed in 2016

Size:

1,560 m² (interior building space), 4,000 m² (including courtyard spaces and wall boundary)

Client:

View from the courtyard of the Noomdo Orphanage, 2016. A view of the window construction detail, designed for the ventilation and protection for interior spaces, 2016

←

Aerial view of the Noomdo Orphanage under construction, 2016

106

The most recent work of Francis Kéré in Burkina Faso is an orphanage project that is located in a rural area of Koudougou, a short distance to Lycée Schorge. It has been commissioned by the NGO Le Soleil dans la Main, an organization based in Luxembourg (founded 2002) that dedicated itself to development projects in Burkina Faso, mostly with education and agricultural support. This NGO had already started in 2009 to take care of thirty-eight children in two buildings they rented in Koudougou, which were not in good condition. It was decided to plan for a larger and more adequate facility in the future and this is how they got in touch with Kéré, whom they already knew through media. The groundbreaking of the project was in October 2014 and it has already been completed as of August 2016. As in the design of the Lycée Schorge project, Kéré introduces new elements in the architecture of the orphanage as well. The orphanage consists of seven rectangular modules organized on a radial layout enclosing a central courtyard similar to the Schorge project. However, the relation and the articulation of the modules are different from the school’s layout. Six independent modules on the western side are connected with a continuous wall, which defines a more private, introverted space appropriate to the function of the building. The only detached module on the east contains the administrative spaces and the refectory, which provides a controlled access to the complex. Four of the connected modules on the east consist of male and female dormitories located sym-

Association Le Soleil dans la Main (A.S.D.M) et M.A.E Luxembourg

metrically on the east-west axis, which also offers isolation for each other. Bigger modules that are used to accommodate the older children have six bedrooms that surround a courtyard each. The smaller modules are for housing the younger children and have five bedrooms around a courtyard, but positioned with a more private space with controlled access. The biggest module, which stands on the axis on the east, is the administrative unit including a ward with ten rooms surrounding a bigger courtyard as well. The sixth and the smallest module of the group accommodates the changing rooms of the staff, the storage, and a bicycle workshop. It is annexed to the east end of the dormitories to control the access to the complex. The walls are built of two rows of locally harvested laterite stone, which was cut and shaped into bricks in the nearby quarry.1 Each room of the complex is covered by its own shallow barrel vault that sits on the concrete beam running completely over the building, and is built of compressed stabilized clay blocks. The openings at both ends of the vault on the short sides of the rooms provide ventilation for the inner spaces. For the narrow windows, which rise up till the concrete beam, Kéré introduced a new element for protection, as well as air and light control. The window cases, which enable total isolation with the movable wooden plates on the inner side, are covered with a net from the outside. These modular elements were produced partially from recycled material, in a workshop just a few kilometers from the building site. The

Transverse sections

Plan

3 5

10 4

9 10 2 8 1

6 7

Axonometric diagram

9 10

Boys Quarters Age 13–17

6 Dining Hall

2 Boys Quarters Age 6–12

7 Storage and Workshop

3 Girls Quarters Age 6–12

8 Public Courtyard

For more details about laterite, see the materials

4 Girls Quarters Age 13–17

9 Semi-Public Courtyard

section, page 184.

5 Administration

10 Private Courtyard

1 Boys Quarters Age13-17

NOOMDO ORPHANAGE

lower parts of the windows are complemented with concrete blocks with an S profile tunnel, which lets the air in and contributes to the ventilation of the inner spaces. Each module has its own overhanging metal roof resting on a space frame structure, which is supported by a concrete base, as with all Kéré buildings in Burkina Faso. The raised and extended metal roof serves the ventilation of the inner spaces and provides shelter against direct sunlight and rain. The inner courtyards of the dormitory modules are left uncovered. The roof elements of the refectory building separate from the rest of the buildings, due to its large surface. The flat concrete ceiling of this space is covered with two sizeable overlapping plates in the form of a hipped roof. Two small lateral plates on the sides provide even more shadow around the building. This flying structure identifies the building with its height and form, as it is located at the entrance, the most visible spot from the street. Besides employing the well-known features like local material and labor, low-budget intelligent design providing airflow without any artificial ventilation, which are almost synonymous with Kéré’s name, the architect introduces new elements in each new project, continues experimenting and improving his architectural language with bigger-scaled projects with new functions.

5 Administratio 6 Dining Hall

2 Boys Quarters Age 6-12

7 Storage & W

3 Girls Quarters Age 6-12

8 Public Courty 9 Semi-Public

4 Girls Quarters Age 13-17

10 Private Cour

107

PARLIAMENT HOUSE

Site:

Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Status:

In progress

Size:

25,000 m²

Client:

Burkina Faso Assemblée National AA

Longitudinal and transverse sections

←

Rendering image showing the Parliament House in the urban context.

110

The Parliament building, which was built just after Burkina Faso gained independence from French colonial rule on Avenue de l’Independence, one of the main axes that crosses Ouagadougou and where many administrative buildings are assembled, was burnt down during the revolution in Burkina Faso in October 2014. The West African nation took its first steps towards a democratic future by rejecting the twenty-seven-year dictatorial rule of Blaise Campaoré. The project for a new Parliament House aims to represent a new era, the will to change, and to move forward with growth, education, and economic development in Burkina Faso. Upon the request of the head of the parliament, the new building project was proposed by Francis Kéré and reflects the reaction to the political change. It reveals a hill where people can climb and have an elevated view of the surroundings. In a country where the highest altitude does not exceed 400 meters, this unexpected but accessible height in the middle of the flat urban fabric offers another perspective, both literally and metaphorically. The building will be part of the ascending landscape itself— open, accessible, and transparent. Seven floors embedded in this hill with a terraced layout will surround an atrium, which will represent the transparency and communication with the outside, as well as proximity to the people. At the heart of the project is a traditional gathering and decision-making place similar to what is used in the rural village, where

the elders of the village gather to discuss important matters in a very transparent way, often out in the open under a traditional straw shelter or baobab tree. The plan also includes a memorial where the previous parliament house was, a depression in the ground where rain water is collected (shaded by a roof.) This acts as a reflection pool where the public can relax in the shade and reflect upon those whose lives were lost in the 2014 revolt. The site plan also has a new plaza with a small grove of trees, offering shaded gathering areas, and new commercially viable store fronts for local businesses and cafes, including areas for bikes and car parking. The façade of the new building will host plots for urban agriculture that are built into the terraces on the north face. These plots will be accessible to the public and will serve as an education tool to encourage urban agriculture in Ouagadougou. The monumental landmark, to be built for and by the citizens, will serve democracy and development for the people of Burkina Faso. The project concept is on view in the exhibition as a part of Reporting From the Front, the 15th International Architecture Exhibition, curated by Alejandro Aravena for the Venice Biennale, at the Central Pavilion from May 28 to November 27, 2016. AB

Rendering image of the court from the Parliament building

Exploded perspective

canopy

event space agricultural plots for public education

faรงade as public space

Ouagadougou Parliament House site plan

permeable wall enclosure

central void for passive ventilation

111

PARLIAMENT HOUSE

tree as traditional place of gathering and discussion

PROJEC

MALI, K

MOZAMBIQ

ECTS IN

KENYA,

QUE, SUDAN

2010

CENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE

View from the west showing the promenade on top of the dike and the historical mosque behind, 2016 Interior view from the exhibition rooms showing the barrel-vaulted ceiling, 2016

←←

Courtyard of the sports center, National Park, Mali, 2016

←

View from the west, 2016

118

Not far from the Great Mosque in Mopti, between Timbuktu and Ségou in central Mali, is the Center for Earth Architecture designed by Francis Kéré.1 The initiative for the Center came from the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC), which also financed the building. Only six years earlier the same charitable organization had been instrumental in restoring the earth-built 1930s Mosque, a symbol and landmark of Mopti. That restoration was made necessary by the 1978 repairs in concrete, which had caused innumerable cracks in the façade, and to save the building the incompatible material had to be removed. To avoid the need for such difficult renovations in the future the AKTC also set up the Center, to publicize the history and importance of building with earth. Now a permanent exhibition emphasizes the significance of traditional earth building methods and promotes their use. The AKTC commissioned the building from Kéré, whose work always shows a commitment to allying modern design ideas with traditional building methods: one reason why he had been honored with the 2004 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. Technically and formally, in its use of compressed earth bricks and large roof overhangs, the elongated, tripartite building complex is strongly reminiscent of Kéré’s prize-winning design for the Gando Primary School in Burkina Faso, and also of the buildings in the Opera Village not far from Ouagadougou. “People take my earth bricks for concrete blocks. So we are giving them more modernity—and stabilizing

Site:

Mopti, Mali

Status:

completed 2010

Size:

1,200 m²

Client:

Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC)

this so-called ‘poor man’s’ building material.”2 Here, like similar projects in Africa, the simply coursed red bricks have had about seven percent of cement added, to give the building greater stability. And the architect has used the double-roof system again in Mali, so as to make natural air circulation possible and avoid the need for air conditioning. To this end he has ceiled the interiors with a succession of shallow barrel vaults topped by a structure of slender steel rods that supports the thin metal roof. Air can flow through the intervening space thus created, cooling the brickwork. The Center’s two overhanging roofs link the three individual buildings together and in addition cast welcome shade. The narrow, floor-to-ceiling windows provide a cool atmosphere and are shaded by the emphatically projecting pillars that also give the façade its strong profile. Here as in all his projects Kéré has sought to incorporate more than one function into his design. He set out to ensure that, along with exhibition and office space, the Center also had sanitary facilities. By including public facilities, which Mopti had hitherto lacked, and a drinking water connection he anchored the building more successfully to its social context.3 In addition, the site is beside a lake in a green and pleasant park area that is accessible to the public. The single-story Center fits in very well among the surrounding buildings and does not clash visually with the Mosque. Kéré’s design clearly shows earth as a suitable contemporary building material. The building, with its

Transverse section, façade elevation, and longitudinal section

discreet but very modern architectural vocabulary, together with the exhibition within it both explicitly uphold and endorse the traditional earth-brick construction technique that, although no longer highly regarded, is still widespread in Sub-Saharan Africa. SB

See here and hereafter Caroline James, “Francis Kéré, Centre de l’architecture en terre. Mopti, Mali,” in: Deutsches Architektur Jahrbuch 2013/14 (Munich, 2013), pp. 175–6.

Quoted from Francis Kéré, “Wie Architektur hilft: Interview mit Francis Kéré,” in Detail, May 15, 2011.

See note 1, p. 176.

119

CENTER FOR ARCHITECTURE

Plan

2010

NATIONAL PARK

Site:

Bamako, Mali

Status:

completed 2010

Size:

National Park total area, 103 hectares; entrance buildings, 650 m²; restaurant, 800 m²; sports center 1,400 m²

Client:

Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC)

Entrance, 2016

←

The main entrance, 2016.

122

After the millennium, Mali, under the presidency of Amadou Toumani Touré, stood out for its strengthening democratic structures. To celebrate fifty years of independence from France, and as a gesture of support for the country’s development, the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in cooperation with the Malian Government sponsored two construction projects for which Francis Kéré was commissioned. One involved a museum building in Mopti, and the other was the new buildings at the National Park in Bamako, the country’s rapidly growing capital. In a 2,100-hectare protected forest reserve in the northwest of the city, an area of 103 hectares was identified that was to remain as a green belt and be transformed into a public park. This area includes a botanical garden, laid out by the French administration in the 1930s and containing a collection of protected trees and indigenous medicinal plants, which adjoined the Koulouba Plateau and lay between the National Museum of Bamako and the Presidential Palace.1 An attractive layout of the park was achieved by creating large open areas for relaxation, leisure, and educational purposes to be used by the public, school groups, and tourists. The concept is both ecologically and culturally based and seeks to bring the botanical garden and the National Museum together into one entity. The first phase of construction comprised restoring the garden, laying out the open areas and an extensive network of paths, jogging tracks, and cycleways, along with natural history

trails focusing on botany and zoology, and building various visitor amenities. 2 At the start of the planning phase plant specialists, landscape architects, engineers, and architects were brought together to develop the project and implement it with an on-site team of 130 people. Kéré, winner of an Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004 with the Gando Primary School, was commissioned by the client to undertake the buildings involved: a restaurant, a youth and sports center, and entrance buildings. He oversaw the process during the development and training phases, putting particular emphasis on craft skills such as stone-dressing.3 The restaurant, a single-story building near the entrance area, is sited on a hill. It extends along a lengthy flight of steps and from terraces at various different levels offers a view over the park and its adjoining lake. Four buildings with different uses are linked together by means of a single roofscape with a deep overhang. This corrugated iron roof is supported by a raised metal substructure. An open space above the buildings’ walls and below the roof provides for air circulation, so that all the spaces have good natural ventilation, and only the restaurant area is air-conditioned. As well as sheltering the spaces between the buildings, the roof also shades their façades. Another response to climatic conditions is using local sandstone of high insulation value for cladding the external walls. It was extracted on site and cut into strips. Using this stone for cladding is

Kéré’s intention either to emulate vernacular building tradition, or to reproduce a modern aesthetic in local materials; he seeks to react to the prevailing conditions at the site. And integrating an unskilled workforce into the building process was also an important contribution to generating public identification with the Park, which Bamako’s inhabitants will be making great use of.6

View from the visitor’s restaurant, 2016

M.-H. Contal-Chavannes and Jana Revedin (eds.), Sustainable Design II: Towards a New Ethics for Architecture and the City (Arles, 2011), p. 64.

Ibid.

D. F. Kéré, Bridging the Gap, exh.cat., Arc en rêve centre d’architecture (Bordeaux, 2013), p. 29.

C. James, “Francis Kéré in Mali,” domus 949 (July/ August 2011), pp. 44–51, p. 50.

Ibid., p. 47.

D. F. Kéré, “Architektur zwischen den Kulturen,” lecture in the Kunsthalle, Mannheim, June 11, 2012; audio version: https://www.mannheim.de/node/26065 (last accessed August 30, 2016).

123

NATIONAL PARK

new; it is usually employed only in places on façades and as a decorative element. The sandstone, also used for floors, is characteristic of the new buildings of the National Park.4 The Sports and Youth Center in the southeast of the site is similar in construction. The same supporting structure carrying roofs with large overhangs and the same natural stone cladding of the exterior walls mark the three blocks that surround an internal court with an elliptical, stepped depression in the middle. The buildings and the access ways between are so arranged that the inner court is well shaded. The walls are perforated concrete grille structures that also provide both shade and ventilation. The entrance buildings are similarly designed. With his use of local stone Kéré creates a connection with the place and the local building tradition, while at the same time juxtaposing a contrast in the form of the expansive and eye-catching roof structures that underline the interpolation of upto-date building technology and a sense of weightlessness. Caroline James points out that in Bamako Francis Kéré has let himself be influenced by the baobab trees, with their widely spreading crowns, and by the spaces between them. She quotes him: “You have a single element, when you see these beautiful trees. . . . One baobab is solitary— it’s like a single note. With many trees, you have a rhythm. You need repetition, but also different notes. The space in between the trees is so great. It’s architecture.”5 It is not

The main entrance, section

The main entrance, plan

Sports Center, section

Sports Center, plan

Visitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s restaurant, section

Visitorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s restaurant, plan

124

125

NATIONAL PARK

Bamako National Park of Mali, site plan

2014

â&#x20AC;&#x201C;

←

Rendering image of the early childhood development center

OBAMA LEGACY CAMPUS

Site:

Kogelo, Kenya

Status:

In planning since mid 2014

Size:

9.6 hectares

Client:

Mama Sarah Obama Foundation

Transverse section

Initiated and financed by the Mama Sarah Obama Foundation, which was established by the grandmother of American President Barack Obama, the projected educational center in the western Kenyan village of Kogelo is located in the birthplace of Barack Obama Sr., the president’s father. It represents the life’s work of its founder Sarah Obama, who never had the chance to attend school. With this project she hopes to improve the opportunities for the village’s orphans and society on a long-term basis.1 The extensive layout of the Legacy Campus encompasses a day care center, a primary school, a secondary school, a chapel, lounges, sports facilities, and dormitories. From toddlers to adolescents, vocational training will be promoted and administered on the campus. 2 Kéré’s plans for the site take up the partitioned but open typology of a village. A number of smaller building complexes comprising individually designed schools are spread out across the campus. Their respective plans incorporating libraries, playgrounds, and sports fields reflect the needs of the respective age groups and teaching methods. The uniform materiality of the campus joins the diverse separate buildings into an aesthetic interplay of simple masonry structures with varying types of wooden roofs. The main bodies of the one and twostory constructions are built of brick. The wooden roof elements rest on a filigree subconstruction above the masonry walls, giving each simply constructed volume its own specific appearance with their diverse

128

folded, rowed, or tapered roof shapes. The elevated roofing promotes air circulation in the interior space while the extensive overhang provides shade to the adjacent exterior space and the façades whose window and door openings feature prominently protruding wood profiles.3 The plan is intended to create an interesting learning environment “that promotes curiosity and critical-thinking.”4 The separate elements will be united by shared public spaces. An auditorium, sports fields, and a cafeteria will contribute to the social life of the school as well serving the village’s society for gatherings, celebrations, and sporting events.5

“Diébédo Francis Kéré, Educational Campus for Mama Sarah Obama Foundation,” in Arquitectura Viva SL (October 2015). http://www.arquitecturaviva. com/en/Info/News/Details/7644 (accessed August 19, 2016).

For further information see msof.org/legacy-plan.

“Mama Obama und ihre Schulen. Francis Kéré baut Bildungscampus in Kenia,” in baunetz (September 2015). http://www.baunetz.de/meldungen/MeldungenFrancis_Kere_baut_Bildungscampus_in_Kenia_ 4542815.html (accessed August 19, 2016).

Philip Stevens, “Francis Kéré Plans Educational Campus for the Mama Sarah Obama Foundation,” in: Designboom (September 2015). http:// www.designboom.com /architecture/franciskere-plans-kenyan-educational-campus-for-themama-sarah-obama-foundation/(accessed August19,

2016). 5

Karissa Rosenfield, “Francis Kéré Designs Education Campus for Mama Sarah Obama Foundation in Kenya,” in: archidaily (September 2015). http:// www.archdaily.com/774492/francis-kere-designskenyan-education-campus-for-mama-sarah-obama-

Rendering image of the inner courtyard of the secondary school.

foundation (accessed August 19, 2016).

Plan

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OBAMA LEGACY CAMPUS

Longitudinal section

BENGA RIVERSIDE RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY

Site:

Tete, Mozambique

Status:

under construction (completion 2017)

Size:

15,000 m²

Client:

MATERIA

Section of a housing unit

←

Rendering image of the courtyard of a housing block

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Developing a new, local architectonic identity has always been one of the basic concerns of Kéré Architecture. In a specifically African context this mostly involves the use of local materials and building techniques, which today in Africa are still seen from an adopted colonial viewpoint as “poor” and “underdeveloped.” The Benga Riverside Residential Community project currently under construction, a 100-unit residential complex, tackles this theme. Given the increased demand for high-quality affordable accommodation for migrants and locals, this project will benefit a region characterized by a high growth rate. The Benga Community is being built in the Tete District of Mozambique at the confluence of the Zambezi and Revuboe rivers. The fundamental idea is to put forward a new planning and development model for the further expansion of the city, with a particular focus on social inclusion and the integration of different social strata. The complex is to arise from a fusion of public and private functions: in addition to the residential units there will be a primary school, sports facilities, a restaurant, shops, a community center, and a public area. Real estate developer MATERIA, based in Dubai, invests in socially oriented projects in Africa,1 and the Benga Community is the first project it has financed. The single-story buildings, of L-shaped ground plan, are spread out across the open and varied landscape. The preservation of natural riches, the flora and fauna, will, in the architects’ opinion, be ensured by the

preservation of site-specific elements like the ancient baobab trees, the bushes, and the local tree species. The density of the settlement is in fact very low, enabling unoccupied spaces to be configured as private internal courtyards, large-scale green spaces, and public pathways, all of which fit in with the low-density building of the city of Tete. Based on a prototype house, the entire settlement was designed around the use of local building materials, stone, wood, and mud, and uses a low-maintenance modular system. The structure is based on the mixed-material supporting framework Kéré had already developed for the Gando School: reinforced concrete girders stiffened with brickwork. The climatic concepts of both buildings are similar too: the roof rests on a light framework that permits air convection and the resultant cooling of the voids beneath. Internally, brick barrel vaults span the light areas between the steel sections and seal off the spaces. Energy sustainability plays a major role, as it does in all Kéré Architecture’s projects. Not only are passive ventilation and air conditioning involved, but rainwater and gray water are also captured, all demonstrating a high-quality, sustainable, and economic residential solution for the whole region. The Benga Riverside Residential Community, Kéré Architecture’s first large-scale residential scheme, with its long, open views and innovative spatial articulation, will adumbrate a new typology for residential building.

Rendering from an internal courtyard of a housing group

Plan of a housing unit.

Above all, it will provide a model for reconsidering the “gated community” concept as practiced in the region, and which is still seen in Mozambique as a status symbol. LL 1

See www.materiainc.com.

Project description on the website of Kéré Architecture: http://kere-architecture.com/projects/benga-riverside-

Site plan of Benga Riverside Residential Community

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BENGA RIVERSIDE RESIDENTIAL COMMUNITY

tete-mozambique/

2015

â&#x20AC;&#x201C;

PROTECTIVE SHELTER FOR THE ROYAL BATHS

Site:

Meroë, Shendi, Sudan

Status:

winner of competition in May 2015

Size:

ca. 680 m²

Client:

Qatar-Sudan Archaeological Project, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut (DAI), National Corporation for Antiquities and Museums (NCAM)

←

Rendering image from

the exterior

the interior

Axonometric view

Long-span double-envelope roof

permeable vaulted-ceiling

exterior and interior walls

suspended walkways

archaeological site

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innovative technical solutions to problems Two hundred kilometers north of the Sudaof air-conditioning, illumination, and pronese capital Khartoum lie the ruins of the ancient town Long-span of Meroë, which, as the royal Double-envelope Rooftecting the finds in the site. The shelter’s simple construction solves the problem of capital of the Kingdom of Kush, dominated museum buildings’ visual impact by taking the middle Nile valley until the early fourth a restrained and respectful approach: the century AD. The magnificent archeologibuilding fits harmoniously into the ensemble cal site consists of pyramidal tombs and a of the archaeological sites, primarily due to residential quarter with royal palaces and its use of mud brick produced in situ. religious buildings. Directly alongside the palaces are the “Royal Baths,” discovered Permeable Vaulted Ceiling in Four massive, outer walls enclose the excavated area, two planted areas and a small 1912 by English archeologist John Garstang: functional area. All measures can be ima large water basin, decorated with paintplemented through the involvement of loings, sculptures, and pillars, which supplied cal people using locally produced materials the royal palace with water from the Nile. such as clay and concrete. Z-shaped conIn the course of a joint German–Sudanese crete components form a frieze-like Attica conservation campaign it became apparthat not only allows ventilation of the roof ent that a new protective structure was ur& Interior walls Royal in all wind directions but also tops off the gently neededExterior to protect the fragile building according to the classical division Baths area against the weather and at the of stereobate, main corpus, and entablasame time to make it accessible for visiture. The base consists of the ring beams tors to the site. The long-running conflict and the concrete ventilation elements at in Darfur, the kidnapping of tourists and the foot of the building; these enable air tensions aroused by Islamic extremists circulation through the hotter air zone in have all affected the development of culthe roof area. Following the principle of tural tourism in Sudan. Nonetheless, steps convection, known for centuries in parts of toward modernization taken at the Meroë Suspended Walkways North Africa, warm air is drawn out of the sites, listed by UNESCO as World Heriinternal spaces, and fresh air can flow in at tage Sites since 2011, should give tourism ground level. a needed boost; visitor numbers are very Spanning the space of about twenty-one low—recently fewer than 15,000 tourists a meters, between the walls is a modular year have visited Sudan.1 steel roof support system that is made of In 2015 Kéré Architecture won a design comrebar and can be assembled on site. Vaulted petition for the new building that involved translucent panels rest on this structure architectural offices from Venice, Berlin, and natural daylight can enter the inner and Dubai.2 The Kéré entry takes up the typArchaeological Site space indirectly and evenly through them. ical North African building form of the mudThe roof structure also contributes to the brick courtyard house, but combines with it

Section

preservation of the archeological finds: the steel staging for the visitors is suspended from its beams. The inner space is closed off at the top by a brick vault that contrasts with the clear glass walls of the planted areas. The new building, with its massive appearance, not only provides appropriate protection against erosion and the region’s extreme climatic conditions, it also recalls the monumentality and richness of the vanished city. One hopes that the building will increase international awareness of the still little-known African high culture that adapted Egyptian and Greco-Roman forms to local traditions. Meanwhile the shelter will allow the excavations to continue.

“Vergessene Pyramiden im Wüstensand,” Süddeutsche Zeitung, May 25, 2015.

Press release from Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, “Gemeinsames Projekt zum Erhalt des Kulturerbes: Ein neuer Schutzbau für die Royal Baths in Meroë/Sudan,” June 8, 2015; www.dainst.org.

Project description on the website of Kéré Architecture: http://kere-architecture.com/projects/ meroe-royal-baths-protective-shelter-meroe-sudan/ S. Wolf, H. - U. Onasch, Kéré Architecture, Ein neuer Schutzbau für die Royal Baths in Meroë (Sudan), Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, 2016, Berlin

Plan

137

PROTECTIVE SHELTER FOR THE ROYAL BATHS

INSTALL

EXHIBI

LATIONS

AND

ITIONS

PERMANENT EXHIBITION AT THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT MUSEUM, GENEVA

Site:

Geneva, Switzerland

Status:

completed 2012

Size:

400 m²

Client:

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum

Awards:

Kenneth Hudson Award, European Museum of the Year Award 2015

←

Colorscape, the wel-

Francis Kéré: Building for Community, presented

coming feature for the monographic exhibition The Architecture of

at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, 2016

Designing an exhibition provides the opportunity for an architect to engage with topics he or she would otherwise not have the chance to. On the occasion of restaging the permanent collection of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva, three socially engaged designers have been invited to develop the three separate sections of the new permanent display. Together with designer Gringo Cardia and architect Shigeru Ban, Diébédo Francis Kéré contributed to the revitalized permanent collection, titled The Humanitarian Adventure. The leading idea behind Kéré’s design was to emphasize the inherent connection between family members, family roots, and natural elements. The journey starts by entering a rather uncanny space designed with the aim of setting the tone for the exhibition Restoring Family Links. Due to the spatial arrangement, the visitor has to walk through the dark room where a chain of curtains hanging from the ceiling block his or her free movement—a conscious decision by Kéré, who envisions that “the darkness and the coldness of the chain evokes not only separation, but immerses the visitor in family tragedy.”1 Upon exit, a narrow corridor follows, surrounded by a total of twenty meter-long shelves sealed off with glass hosting and protecting the archive of the International Prisoners of War Agency. More than 5,000 boxes, including around 6 million index cards, stand here as a memorial for the institution’s activity, established in 1914. It

162

is part of a group of works under the title Searching for the Disappeared that aims to showcase historical and contemporary methods of tracing missing family members. As a further reference, a tower made of hempcrete covered with numerous passport-like photos of children recalls the achievements of a photo-tracing initiative launched after the Rwanda genocide in 1994. The seven-meter-high structure defines the space both visually and spatially and is a “reference to the traditional domestic architecture of a family home.”2 The journey continues into the roundshaped hempcrete structure that symbolizes a further section of the exhibition, titled The Need to Know, referring to scenarios when the search for missing relatives does not seem to be successful. Occupying the space is a large cloth made by the Association of Mothers of Srebrenica, with the names of their loved ones and the following message written on it: “Srebrenica, 300 days, World help our mothers to trace their sons and our children to find their fathers.” The inside of the protective hut recalls the importance of connecting with other affected people after scenarios alike, and the creation of spaces where the missing person can be remembered, mourned. The next section of the display, Receiving News, stands for establishing and keeping up the communication between separated family members. On view are official Red Cross Messages with the families’ notes and the prisoners’ responses on a treelike structure where each leaf provides a

close-up reading of a personal message—a juxtaposition of the content and the symbol from nature, carrying it. Additional photographs capture the moment families receive the long awaited news from their relatives handed over by Red Cross volunteers. As new ways of communication exchange, examples of radio announcements, videoconferences, and satellite telephone messages complete the group of items on display. Kéré’s design ends with a nest-like structure made of piled up wood that hosts the installation The Chamber of Witnesses. Here, life-size projections of people affected by scenarios as natural disasters or conflicts are presented. Personal stories are told by a former Al Jazeera journalist in prison in Guatanamo Bay between 2002– 08; a Japanese dentist who had a key role in identifying corpses after the earthquake in Tohoku in 2011; a survivor of the Rwanda genocide and a neuro-psychiatrist who offers support for affected family members and victims. With the aim of symbolizing hope in hopeless scenarios, the architecture of the structure plays with transparency and the passing of light. As the architect notes, “by choosing this material I wanted to reinforce the inseparable link of family with nature. Nature is the foundation of family.”3 Kéré as the choreographer of the exhibition directs the visiting experience; he determines the way of walking through the exhibition and plays with lighting, material, and sound along the themes discussed that

View of the Chamber of Witnesses as part of the installation, 2015

result in an interesting fusion of information and bodily experience. His use of diverse materials evokes emotions through discussing moments of the history of humanitarian action and especially through the personal stories embedded.

Preliminary sketches

Exhibition plan

See the interview with Francis Kéré where he exstoring Family Links. http://www.redcrossmuseum. ch/en/exhibitions/permanent-exhibition/restoring-family-links/.

See the project description on the website of Kéré Architecture:

http://www.kere-architecture.com/

projects/micr/. 3

See the interview with Francis Kéré referenced in note 1.

163

PERMANENT EXHIBITION

plains his vision and design for the exhibition Re-

SENSING SPACES PAVILION AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ARTS, LONDON

Location:

Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom

Status:

January 25 – April 6, 2014

Size:

54 m²

Client:

Royal Academy of Arts

As one of the seven invited architects to participate in the Sensing Spaces: Architecture Reimagined exhibition in the main galleries of the Royal Academy of Arts in London, Kéré designed a space that the visitors can interact with. He created a tunnel made of plastic honeycomb material readily available in London, which allowed people to experience the space from both outside and within, but also invited them to interact with it by adding straws of different colors and lengths. The continuous transformation of the structure through participation referred to the building with community process in Africa.

SENSING SPACES

Installation view before

164

visitors’ interaction with the proposed structure, 2014 Installation view with different colorful straws added by visitors, 2014

Location:

CANOPY

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk,

INSTALLATION AT THE LOUISIANA MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, HUMLEBÆK

Denmark Status:

June 6 – October 25, 2015

Size:

90 m²

Client:

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Inspired by the natural form of basic shelter that a tree provides, the open and accessible canopy was built of locally sourced unbarked willow branches and logs. The canopy consists of two main elements: an overhanging ceiling and a terrain-like seating installation underneath. When the visitors gathered, reflected, and encountered each other in an intimate setting, the articulated ceiling structure replicated the sun’s movements by a programmed day lighting system.

View of the communal gathering space, 2015

Exploded axonometric perspective

165

CANOPY

View of the canopy structure, 2015

PLACE FOR GATHERING

INSTALLATION AT THE 1ST CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE BIENNIAL

Location:

Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, United States of America

Status:

October 3, 2015 – January 6, 2016

Size:

30 m²

Client:

Chicago Architecture Biennial

Kéré’s first work in the US is the installation he prepared for the Chicago Architecture Biennial in the historic Chicago Cultural Center. Place for Gathering is a seating terrain that was created with locally sourced logs. The design invited the community to come together and enabled the interaction of the people in a very direct and informal way. It represented maximizing local resources and facilitating the exchange of ideas and knowledge.

PLACE FOR GATHERING

Seating place for gathering, 2015

166

Axonometric view

Palazzo Litta, Milan, Italy April 12 – April 17, 2016

Size:

500 m²

Client:

DAMnº Magazine,

COURTYARD VILLAGE

INSTALLATION AT THE PALAZZO LITTA, MILAN

Mosca Partners

The pavilion was designed within the context of the A Matter of Perception: Tradition as Technology, which explored how homegrown traditions go hand in hand with modern technology. The main aim was to create a space available for a series of events and talks in the inner courtyard of the Baroque style Palazzo Litta. Three circular shelters made of stone were placed on an elevated platform surrounded by a ground cover of native Italian grasses. Above, an overhanging roof of bamboo emphasized the social encounter and gathering space.

Installation view, 2016

Architectural model of the proposal and existing structure

Preliminary sketch

167

COURTYARD VILLAGE

Location: Status:

COLORSCAPE

Location:

INSTALLATION AT THE PHILADELPHIA MUSEUM OF ART, PHILADELPHIA

Section through the atrium

View from the welcoming installation in the atrium of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

gathering learning

encounter reflection

Installation concept

168

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, United States of America

Status:

May 14 – September 25, 2016

Size:

45 m²

Client:

Philadelphia Museum of Art

Planned as a welcoming feature for the monographic exhibition The Architecture of Francis Kéré: Building for Community, the installation took place in the atrium space adjacent to the main gallery of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Kéré used locally produced lightweight cord of interwoven strands, which were wrapped around steel components and hung from the ceiling. The rectilinear geometry of the steel constituents and the unexpected, playful, and informal space, representing the encounter of the contrasting layouts of the American city and the African village, created a semi-transparent space to interact with. The installation also integrated the audio samples recorded in Burkina Faso and Philadelphia. In the monographic exhibition in the main gallery, building materials like wood, pots, brick, and stone, 1:1 models of some parts of his previous installations, prototype chairs, and videos of his projects were displayed.

View from the exhibition The Architecture of Francis Kéré, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2016

169

COLORSCAPE

View from the exhibition The Architecture of Francis Kéré, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2016

FRANCIS KÉRÉ. RADICALLY SIMPLE

Site:

Architekturmuseum der TU München, Pinakothek der Moderne

Status:

November 17, 2016 –

Size:

580 m²

February 26, 2017

EXHIBITION AT THE ARCHITEKTURMUSEUM DER TU MÜNCHEN

Installation concept in Room 2

Radically Simple is the most extensive exhibition of the built works and projects of the architect Francis Kéré to date. The concept of the exhibition design, developed in close cooperation with the architect, is based on the life journey of the architect, which is closely connected to his projects. The transformation from one phase of life to another happened through leaving home, exploring a new world, and eventually returning home. These phases are represented in the first two rooms of the exhibition space, under five titles and with different design approaches. The important moments of the life of Kéré that have a direct influence on the projects, or vice versa, will lead the visitors along a route through the exhibition.

FOREST The story starts with a forest, which spreads from outside the entrance to the exhibition space. According to the tribal traditions in Burkina Faso, young boys of the village are sent out into the wilderness for a period as a part of their education—it is thought this aids in their transition to adulthood because the natural world represents the supreme source of knowledge. The visitors enter the exhibition space through this forest where they are invited to experience a new world they do not know—to discover, to learn and to change.

Exhibition plan

170

CULTURAL GATHERING / BEYOND VILLAGE / RETURN HOME The second room of the exhibition space is reserved for the projects from the rest of African countries and outside Africa. “Cultural Gathering” represents the life outside of Gando and the exchange of ideas between Africa and the West. As the architect started to open up his design practice to the world, the visitor as well steps into a wider, clearer, and brighter space where she can observe the drawings, models, and images of seventeen projects. “Beyond Village” represents the projects outside of Africa and is presented by a rebar structure, which Kéré utilizes in his raised roofs in Burkina Faso and elsewhere. This space also functions as a gathering space where the visitor can watch a film. “Return Home” will reveal the current projects of Kéré, including the Parliament House in Ouagadougou; this further represents “the return” of the architect to Burkina Faso with a design proposal for the capital of Burkina, after many international projects.

ACTION / INTERACTION The third room of the exhibition is reserved for getting closer to Kéré with a documentary, which is projected on one of the walls. The second wall of this space will be an interactive wall transformed by the visitors. The third element in this space will be the story of “Schulbausteine für Gando” (Kéré Foundation), which will be presented by stories and many original objects from the archive of Francis Kéré. The wall will also present some facts and figures from the students and their curricula in Burkina Faso. The visitors will be sitting on the original chairs used in the Lycée Schorge, in an area that represents one module of the primary school and drawn as a 1:1 plan on the ground. The narrative of “Radically Simple,” inspired by the journey of leaving home and eventually returning, unfolds the architecture of Francis Kéré and aims to also encourage the visitor to brave the unknown in order to explore and change. It is meant to transform the intercultural experiences of the architect into a space of learning and physical interaction. AB

171

FRANCIS KÉRÉ. RADICALLY SIMPLE

VILLAGE The first room represents the atmosphere of Burkina Faso; it is a space of circular video hubs, which refer to vernacular village compounds. In this space they are introduced to the rural/urban life, personal stories from Gando village, images and sounds from the landscape, construction process and architectural shootings from some projects in Burkina Faso. Both the flat wall surfaces and the curved hub surfaces serve for the display of the architectural drawings. Models and construction materials will complement the display, which covers twelve projects.

APPENDIX

MATERIALS ←

Laterite extraction in

Clay is a natural material found in different geographies and climates in

Koudougou, 2016

the world

CLAY Clay is a fine-grained natural soil material that combines one or more clay minerals with traces of metal oxides and organic matter. It is originally formed from granite rock, which undergoes millions of years of weathering. Clays exhibit plasticity when mixed with water. When dry, it becomes firm and impermeable to water. These qualities caused it to become one of the world’s oldest building materials. Building with clay is a practice that dates back 9000 years. Many archaeological gems and UNESCO World Heritage Sites, such as the Temple of Ramses II in Kurna, Egypt (built out of mud bricks) and the Great Wall of China (originally built of rammed earth), are part of the vast history of clay architecture. The popularity of clay building suffered during industrialization as new building materials were discovered. The preferred use of modern building materials was encouraged as their production and transportation industries grew. The stigma that developed towards clay as the “poor mans material” has not completely faded in many societies today, despite many evident advantages of using the material. Building with clay allows for a large variety of construction methods. Whether used as rammed earth or in a form of masonry construction, it is easily workable, even without special equipment. It is also fire resistant. Particularly in climates with extreme temperatures, a pleasant side effect of building with clay is temperature regulation within the building, as the clay presents a passive

182

thermal mass and itself has a low thermal conductivity. As it is generally used where it is locally available, low transportation costs make clay a sustainable option. Several methods can be used to make clay more durable. Firing it causes permanent physical and chemical changes, converting it to a ceramic material. When molded for masonry building methods, it can also be compressed and used in the form of rammed earth bricks. To protect clay buildings from weathering, they are often layered with plaster, which can be renewed when necessary. Clay is sometimes mixed with materials such as cement to increase durability. Whether used alone or together with other materials, the many possibilities of building with clay has contributed to its continued use despite stigma and contention. In fact, it has resurfaced several times on the architectural scene as a sustainable building material. This is an indicator that clay is a material of the future, and not of the past. Kéré Projects has constructed using clay, including the buildings in Gando (Burkina Faso): the Primary School, Teacher’s Housing, and the School Extension. He has also built with clay elsewhere, for example the Centre de l’architecture en Terre in Mopti (Mali) and the Surgical Clinic and Health Center in Léo (Burkina Faso). There are also several Kéré Projects still under construction using clay, in Gando these are the School Library, the Secondary School, the Songtaaba Women’s Center. and Atelier Gando. Also under construction in clay are

the Opera Village in Laongo (Burkina Faso), Benga Riverside Residential Community in Tete (Mali) and the Meroë Royal Baths Protective Shelter (Sudan).

The material can be easily molded while humid

Compressed earth bricks for Gando Atelier pavement

Compressed earth bricks used in Gando School’s Library construction

Compressed earth bricks

A flat and uniform surface is obtained with clay after pounding

The material’s plasticity can be used to obtain different forms for architectural elements. In this case, clay is used for the external walls, mixed with sand gravel and cement in a formwork at Gando Secondary School

External structural walls shaped by formworks at the Gando Secondary School. A series of concave arcs was designed to provide shaded surfaces on the walls

Francis Kéré uses rounded clay pots as a construction element in different solutions and occasions. The pots were transported to site for Gando School’s Library construction.

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Laterite can be obtained in different geographies with hot and wet climates

LATERITE Laterite is a soil or rock type high in iron and aluminum, most commonly formed in hot and wet climates by extensive weathering of an underlying parent rock. It is usually a rusty red color; a general rule of thumb is the darker the laterite, the harder, heavier, and more moisture resistant it is. Its bright color is an aesthetic quality which has seen it historically used particularly for the construction of monuments, among other buildings. Building with laterite is first recorded in India and has long been popular throughout Asia. An example of its early use is Angkor Wat, the World Heritage Site in Cambodia, which has laterite foundations and walls behind the sandstone surface. As it can be obtained even in the absence of advanced removal technology, laterite is used traditionally in many places throughout the world, including Burkina Faso. When moist, which is its usual state when it is below or at the water table, it can easily be cut into blocks. In this state, it is quite permeable, and can be used as an aquifer to filter water. This is a practice found in rural areas in Nigeria, for example. When exposed to air it hardens as the iron salts it contains lock into a rigid lattice structure. It can then be used as a sustainable building material. It naturally becomes fairly resistant to atmospheric conditions. Although it is often used without further treatment, its durability can be enhanced by water proofing treatments. As laterites usually have even lower thermal conductivity than clay, it has an even stronger temperature-regulating effect and

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is also very suitable for building in hot climates. Similarly to clay, its sustainability through cost effectiveness and energy efficiency make it a desirable modern building material, especially where it is present locally. Kéré has also built several buildings using laterite, such as the Secondary School in Dano, Lycée Schorge, and Noomdo Orphanage in Koudougou (Burkina Faso).

BIBLIOGRAPHY Adekunle, A., et al. 2014: “Analysis of Thermal and Electrical Properties of Laterite, Clay and Sand Samples and Their Effects on Inhabited Buildings in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria,” Journal of Sustainable Development Studies, Volume 6, Number 2 (2014), pp. 391–412. Vellinga, M., et al. Atlas of Vernacular Architecture of the World. London, 2007. Kasthurba, A. K., et al. “Use of Laterite as a Sustainable Building Material in Developing countries,” International Journal of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Volume 7, Number 4 (2014), pp. 1251–1258. Krautheim, M., et al. City and Wind, Climate as an Architectural Instrument. Berlin, 2014. Minke, G. Building With Earth: Design and Technology of a Sustainable Architecture. Basel, 2006. Rael, R. Earth Architecture. Princeton, 2008. SKAT. Appropriate Building Materials: A Catalogue of Potential Solutions. 1988. Schellmann, W. An introduction to Laterite. See: laterite.de. UCL Earth Sciences: London’s Geology, Clay and Minerals. See: ucl.ac.uk/earth-sciences/impact/geology/ london/ucl/materials/clay.

The efficient thermal conductivity of laterite provides a temperatureregulating effect applicable to building in hot climates

The material is easily cut into blocks when moist

Wall of laterite blocks.

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pp. 54–63, 90–92.

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De Carlo, Giancarlo, “Architecture’s Public,” in: Peter Blundell Jones, Doina Petrescu, and Jeremy Till,

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207

This book is published in conjunction with the exhibition Francis Kéré. Radically Simple Architekturmuseum der TU München, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich November 17, 2016 – February 26, 2017

Published by Hatje Cantz Verlag Mommsenstrasse 27 10629 Berlin Germany Tel. +49 30 3464678-00 Fax +49 30 3464678-29 www.hatjecantz.com A Ganske Publishing Group company

Editors: Andres Lepik, Ayça Beygo Managing editors: Ayça Beygo, Katrin Bäumler Image editor: Marcelo della Giustina Copyediting: Aaron Bogart, Leina González Translations: John Wheelwright, Michael Wolfson Graphic design: Verena Gerlach Typeface: Sysmo, Burkina, Hector Typeface design: Verena Gerlach

Catalogue texts: Simone Bader (SB) Ayça Beygo (AB) Katrin Bäumler (KB) Gabriella Cianciolo Cosentino (GCC) Marcelo Della Giustina (MG) Sandra Hofmeister (SH) Leonardo Lella (LL) Roberta Salvi (RS) Zsuzsanna Stánitz (ZS) Hilde Strobl (HS) Virginia Zangs (VZ) Materials, map information: Fernande Bodo Tonderai Koschke Moïse Zala

Project management: Claire Cichy, Hatje Cantz Production: Heidrun Zimmerman, Hatje Cantz Reproductions: Repromayer GmbH, Reutlingen Printing and binding: FIRMENGRUPPE APPL, aprinta druck, Wemding

Hatje Cantz books are available internationally at selected bookstores. For more information about our distribution partners, please visit our website at www.hatjecantz. com. ISBN 978-3-7757-4217-7 (English) ISBN 978-3-7757-4216-0 (German) Printed in Germany

Paper: Profibulk 1,1, 150 g/m2

2016 © Architekturmuseum der TU München, Munich, Hatje Cantz Verlag, Berlin, and authors 2016 © for the works reproduced works by Daniel Schwartz / Gran Horizonte Media: VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn, the artists, and their legal successors

208

Cover illustration: Secondary School, Lycée Schorge, Koudougou, Burkina Faso, 2016

IMAGE CREDITS Courtesy of arc en rêve centre d'architecture (photo: Rodolphe Escher): pp. 23; © Iwan Baan: pp. 106 (top), 114-115, 117, 118, 121, 122, 123; © Ayca Beygo, Architekturmuseum der TU München: pp. 106 (bottom), 141; © Fernande Bodo pp. 8-9, 187; Courtesy of Camper (photo: Sánchez y Montoro): p. 157; © Giovanni Desandre: pp. 22 (right), 167 (top left); Diébédo Francis Kéré, Eine Grundschule in Ouagadougou, ein Zentrum zum Lernen, Versammeln und Austauschen. Diplomaprasentation, TU Berlin, March 2004, Cover: p. 69; ©Tom Harris: pp. 22 (left), 166 (left); ©Peter Herrle: pp. 66, 67; Courtesy of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum (photo: Alain Germond): p. 163 (top left); © Kéré Architecture: Architectural drawings, renderings, and sketches; © Kéré Architecture Archive pp. 12-13, 24, 36, 51, 53, 58 (middle and bottom), 62 (bottom), 63, 76 (bottom), 80 (bottom), 81, 87, 88, 91, 92 (top and middle), 93, 98 (bottom), 102 (right), 109, 111,127, 128,131, 154 (bottom), 174,175,176,177,179,182, 183, 185 (except top and middle), 201; © Andres Lepik, Architekturmuseum der TU München: pp. 17, 33, 34 (top), 62 (top), 92 (bottom); © Erik-Jan Ouwerkerk: pp. 22 (middle), 75, 76 (top and middle), 80 (top), 165; Courtesy of Philadelphia Museum of Art (photo: Tim Tibeout): pp. 1819, 140, 160-161, 168, 169; © Royal Academy of Arts, London (photo: James Harris): p. 164; © Daniel Schwartz: Cover, pp. 6-7, 28-29, 34 (center and bottom), 35, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44, 45, 46, 49, 50, 54, 57, 58 (top), 61,72-73, 79, 84, 88 (top), 97, 98 (top and middle), 99, 100, 102 (left), 103, 105, 181,184,185 (top middle), 193; Small Scale Big Change: New Architectures of Social Engagement, The Museum of Modern Art, New York 2010, Cover: p. 16; Courtesy of Vitra (photo: Eduardo Perez): pp. 144-145, 154 (top).