The Burkina Faso-born architect and TUM professor Francis Kéré has long been world-renowned for his innovative designs: He created numerous social, participatory, sustainable, and local-rooted constructions.
Today his exceptional life’s work has been honored by the Hyatt Foundation with their annually awarded Pritzker Prize. Former laureates of architecture’s most important accolade range from Philip Johnson (1979), Aldo Rossi (1990), and Zaha Hadid (2004), to most recently Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal in 2021.
Previously Kéré received the highly respected Jefferson Medal (2021), the Arnold W. Brunner Prize (2017), the Global Holcim Award – Gold (2012), the BSI Swiss Architectural Award (2010), the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture (2009), as well as the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2004).
After studying architecture at the Technical University of Berlin, Kéré founded the office Kéré Architecture in 2005. In 2013 he was appointed to the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, Switzerland. Previously, he taught at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA. Since 2011 he has also been a visiting professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Through his "Kéré Foundation," Kéré is committed to the implementation of sustainable architecture in Burkina Faso. In 2017 the Architekturmuseum der TUM exhibited the architect’s first monographic presentation, which attracted over 50,000 visitors. On October 1, 2017 Kéré was appointed to the newly created Chair of Architectural Design and Participation at the TUM Department of Architecture.
Prof. Kéré's best-known works include his design for the Burkina Faso National Assembly, Ouagadougou, the Léo Surgical Clinic & Health Centre in Léo, Burkina Faso, the Serpentine Pavilion 2017 in London and a visitors pavilion for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (2018). In April 2021 the cornerstone was laid for the National Assembly in the West African nation of Benin, also created by Kéré. For the Senegalese capital Dakar, Kéré has designed the new Goethe-Institut; its cornerstone ceremony, which was also attended by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, took place in February 2022.
Further information:
- Read all about Kéré's biography, his built oeuvre, and the jury's statement for the highest architectural award on the Pritzker Prize website.
- The Architekturmuseum der TU München honored Francis Kere's work with the first monographic presentation of his oeuvre in 2016/2017: Exhibition "Francis Kéré. Radically Simple"
- Kéré's distinctive life story is outlined by journalist and TUM lecturer Laura Weißmüller in an article at Süddeutsche Zeitung.
- TUM colleague and long-time companion Prof. Andres Lepik will talk about the award winner tonight on Deutschlandfunk Kultur radio (11 p.m.).