Burkina Faso: Architect Diébédo Francis Kéré becomes the first African to win the Pritzker Prize

The highest architectural prize was awarded on Tuesday March 15 to Burkinabè Diébédo Francis Kéré AFP - NIKLAS HALLE'N

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An African winner of the 2022 Pritzker Prize. This is a first.

The highest architectural prize was awarded this Tuesday, March 15 to Burkinabè Diébédo Francis Kéré.

At 56, this architect now works all over the world.

His agency is based in Berlin, but Diébédo Francis Kéré has never forgotten the African continent, and especially Burkina.

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Mali, Togo, Benin, Kenya, Sudan, Mozambique, Diébédo Francis Kéré has built in the four corners of the African continent.

This child from Gando, in the Center-East of Burkina Faso, has come a long way since the time when he learned carpentry alongside French Jesuits.

From the age of 17, Diébédo Francis Kéré obtained a scholarship which enabled him to study in Germany where he would train in architecture.

There, he draws inspiration from pre-industrial techniques that he wishes to adapt to the African context.

It was in his native village, Gando, that he built his first building in 2001: a school, built with the help of local people.

Diébédo Francis Kéré uses local materials: earth, granite, wood, which today has earned him the title of pioneer in sustainable architecture.

But the builder explains that it is above all a Coué method: using what is on site is above all a necessity.

Among the architect's current projects: the construction of the Beninese Assembly in Porto Novo, inspired by the palaver tree.

Diébédo Francis Kéré also designed the future Burkinabè Assembly, the construction of which is on hold due to the country's recent political upheavals.

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• Burkina Faso

• Architecture and urbanism