Francis Kéré is an architect from Burkina Faso who studied in Germany. Assisted by his friends, during his study he founded the »Schulbausteine für Gando« association whose main aims are to create buildings that meet climatic demands, and to support the Burkinabe people in their development. Since 1999 Francis Kéré has already taken part in numerous national and international conferences and has given lectures at several European universities. The projects he has been running since 2001 as a free designer are situated worldwide - from Burkina Faso to India. In the year 2004 one of his projects - a primary school in his home village Gando - won the »Aga Khan Award for Architecture«. Besides his occupation as a self-employed planner Francis Kéré has been working as a lecturer at the »Technische Universität Berlin«, »Habitat Unit«, since 2004. His main subjects are housing and urban development, strategies of climatically advantageous building, sustainable utilization of materials, integration of local labour force, and local construction techniques. All these topics he considered in numerous articles in international specialist journals and books. But Francis Kéré does not limit his efforts to architecture. With the help of his association he tries to provide the people of his homeland with innovative development projects and with better future prospects thereby. The band width covers adult education, health care, and economic support for women bearing the greatest share of burdens in his home country. Consequently his motto is »help to self-help«. Only those who take part in the development processes will be able to appreciate their results, to continue, and to save them.

http://www.franciskere.com/