FRANCIS KÉRÉ: “THERE’S AN ELEMENT OF

FANTASY”

JUNE 26, 2019 EMMA ROBERTSON

SHORT PROFILE
Name: Dié
bédo Francis Ké
ré
DOB: 10 April 1965
Place of birth: Gando, Burkina Faso
Occupation: Architect

Mr. Kéré, what does it mean to innovate in architecture?

The kind of innovation that I’m doing is not magic. If I am in my home

country of Burkina Faso, I would say to myself that my building should create
shelter from the sun and heat, that it should be low-tech in terms of the cost
and the creation, that it should be sustainable — but sophisticated. With the
primary school that I designed in my hometown of Gando, we used these huge
canopies to protect the structure against the elements, but they are open at the
top so it can breathe, so that the hot air can escape. It’s not magic, it’s just
physics; but for my people, it’s also innovation.

Your style of innovation finds a solution to a problem and fills a

need — whereas a lot of other architects are more egotistical in
their innovation: they want to have the tallest or the most modern
building.

Well, if you hire me, I’ll build you the tallest building! (Laughs) You’re right,
but it is also a question of economy. If you’re in New York, the world you live
in is very wealthy, there’s a lot of business… Your need is different to the local
community in Burkina where there is barely anything. In a city where you
have no space, the tallest building is what you want to have. But in the world
I’m working in, it’s totally different. In a rural zone in Burkina Faso where the
need is for a good infrastructure, the feeling is still the same: a great building
made out of mud that they never thought were possible, it’s like magic for
them, the same way that the tallest building is magic for someone in New
York. This excitement, this wow effect, this “Aha!” moment… It’s nutrition for
everyone.

“It’s a sculpture, but it’s also

architecture: it is animating,
stimulating, yes, but also inviting.”
Your work has been described as “rural high-tech.” Do you like that
description?

I hope people understand that I’m using my skills to create architecture that
serves humanity. I’m not talking about charity, I’m talking about creating
space for you so that you can feel comfortable, space that supports your work
and activity. They can call it whatever they want. I don’t check that.

Is a project that is mostly of aesthetic value — like the SarbaléKe

sculptures that you erected at Coachella this year — just as
important for you if it creates a comfortable space?

The SarbaléKe is a space for celebration, like Coachella, so of course there’s

an element of fantasy, you can be playful, colorful. I designed the structures
after the baobab, a tree native to Burkina, some of which are so big that you
can even enter inside the hollow center of the trunk. The SarbaléKe sculptures
mimicked that, with an opening at the top so you can connect with the light.
You feel enclosed, and the shade cools you down. You saw lovers hanging in
one corner, a group of friends connecting in another, so there was the idea of a
meeting point or reference point. So they did have practical uses as well as the
more aesthetic, celebratory value. It’s a sculpture, but it’s also architecture: it
is animating, stimulating, yes, but also inviting.
 OPEN GALLERY
So, to be inviting, a space can be beautiful but it must be
functional.

Right, it needs to be a place to stay. If you design in a hot region, you have to
pay attention to the climate. So going back to the primary school, it can be a
beautiful structure but it also has to make teaching and learning easy — that is
a need. If you design a building in Canada where it’s cold in winter, you have
to think about the scheme of the building in that sense. Here in Germany,
there’s a lot of requirements you have to fulfill in terms of the user, in terms of
energy, in terms of the community. These are all different things that make a
building inviting. You have to think about the community that will use them
because if you build a structure, it effects everyone. Otherwise, they will
demonstrate against it like they did for the Stuttgart 21 project.

That railway project was proposed in the 1990s, and there has been
debates over it ever since —including protests nearly every year.

Exactly. There was a need in Stuttgart for a train station but to build it, some
of the older trees needed to be cut down. And as you said, there was a lot of
demonstrations! They needed to defeat the political elite and there was a very
strong conflict because the people weren’t involved in the process. So that’s
why it’s good to have everyone involved, especially in the developing
countries, you need the dialogue. You cannot do it without them.

But what if you disagree, like in the case of Stuttgart 21? How do
you mediate between what the community wants and what you
want?

Sometimes the best thing is to demonstrate, to do mock-ups. When I first

went to build the primary school, the local community was not interested in
using mud as a building material. We had to work together through mock-ups
to show them that it can be a good construction material. The way I use clay is
very modern, it has become very well-known in Burkina. We also did a project
in Sudan called the MeroëRoyal Baths Protective Shelter, basically a museum,
a shelter around these ancient baths that were discovered… The locals wanted
to have modernity, but you have to tell them that if you use glass in a place
that is not producing glass, it’s very expensive.

“It’s about figuring out the best means

for a given environment, it’s about the
reality of the situation.”
Plus if something breaks, the local builders wouldn’t have the
experience or resources necessary to fix the problem.

You’ve got it, yes. That’s why I try to do it differently. Mainly what I’m doing in
Burkina Faso is doing teaching and training and demonstrating that it will
work, and how to fix it using locally available resources. It’s about figuring out
the best means for a given environment, it’s about the reality of the situation.
What are the best tools to convince? Here in Berlin, it’s not the economy. It’s
about public interest.

What about in developing nations?

In the developing countries, they are looking for infrastructure. It’s very
different than here. When I do things there that create this infrastructure,
people love them, people are inspired, it’s stimulating for the community. And
that makes me happy. Life is long and it gives us many paths that we can
choose from, and hopefully there is always enough time and opportunity to
express our profession.