“Bridging the Gap - Jeter un pont” presents eleven projects designed by Diébédo Francis Kéré. Issues relating to urban conditions in Africa will also be explored during a special event to be organized in 2013.
Internationally acclaimed designs anchored in local realities
‘Help to self-help’ is the guiding principle of Diébédo Francis Kéré’s work.? Born in Burkina Faso in 1965, he graduated from the Berlin Technical University in 2004 and opened a design office in Berlin. Concerned with climate conditions and local contexts, his research in Berlin, at Harvard University, and at the Federal Polytechnic School in Lausanne is applied to full-size projects in Burkina Faso, where most of his buildings are located.
Traditional techniques for contemporary architecture
Diébédo Francis Kéré began building in Burkina Faso in 1999 when he was still a student, designing a primary school, then a secondary school, for his native village of Gando. In 2007 he designed a lycée in Dano, and in 2010 the Centre for Earth Architecture in Mali. He is currently working on the Opéra Village project, near Ouagadougou. For Diébédo Francis Kéré, each construction must bring technical innovation that affirms the building’s identity, and the act of building is as much an educational development tool as a way of fostering interactions and sharing expertise.With this is mind, Kéré adapts traditional construction techniques from his native land and creates designs whose simplicity, generosity and elegance express a strong sense of modernity.
Bridging the Gap
Designed and supported by the architect, who is closely involved at every stage, the buildings are constructed by local people: the men, women and children of the village. The building sites become places for experiment where African expertise is used to build intelligently. “My goal is to bridge the gap between Africa and developed countries, where, in the end, building sustainably turns out to be something we have in common”.