Magazine: Architects on a social mission
When Diébédo Francis Kéré was living in Berlin in the late 1990s and planned his first building for his home village, Gando, in Burkina Faso, he was derided in German architecture circles. In the meantime, Kéré, who studied at the Technical University of Berlin, where he now also teaches, has received the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, found followers in Germany and his work has been widely publicised. An attempt at an explanation for the fascination for his buildings is that Kéré's architecture - as well as that of the other architects mentioned in this article - embodies a direct and practical approach to sustainability that combines social, economic and ecological criteria. Construction budgets were nearly always minimal - frequently consisting only of donated money - but the buildings nevertheless create an effect that reaches far beyond their specific context.
