Very inspiring news to say the least, that Diébédo Francis Kéré has become the *first* African architect to win the Pritzker Prize 🏆 To think he was born in a remote village in Burkina Faso without running water or electricity and started out building a mud-brick school 🧱. “I remember the room where my grandmother would sit and tell stories with a little light,” he says, “while we would huddle close to each other and her voice inside the room enclosed us, summoning us to come closer and form a safe place. This was my first sense of architecture.” ✨ Although his education took him far from home to Berlin, he recognised the privilege he had gained and returned to design first building, Gando Primary School (2001), which was built by and for the people of Gando. He went on to create a series of buildings that serve communities using minimal structures that show the power of architecture that has a sense of place 🗺 The statement of the jury chaired by Alejandro Aravena is quite lovely. “His cultural sensitivity not only delivers social and environmental justice,” it says, “but guides his entire process, in the awareness that it is the path towards the legitimacy of a building in a community.” Beautiful to see the object of design and it’s societal purpose validated in this way. With Grafton Architects, Langton + Vassal and now Kéré, the Pritzker is, suffice to say via emoji:💥💥💥💥 The images show some of Kéré’s key projects: Léo Doctors’ Housing Centre for Health and Social Welfare Opera Village Lycée Schorge Secondary School Burkina Faso National Assembly, rendering Serpentine Pavilion (All courtesy of Francis Kéré) Sarbalé Ke (courtesy of Iwan Baan) #franciskere #pritzkerprize #architecture #africandesign #designblog @kerefrancis @pritzkerarchitectureprize @alejandroaravenaarquitecto