Montana's sprawling, 12,000 acre sculpture and music park will soon begin construction on a permanent pavilion designed by the Berlin-based Burinabé architect Diébédo Francis Kéré. The commission for Tippet Rise Art Center, which will kick off their 2019 Summer concert season, is being funded by the Tippet Rise Fund of the Sidney E. Frank Foundation, which is also helping to construct a new school in Kéré's hometown of Gando. 

The wooden pavilion is derived from Kéré's 2017 Serpentine Pavilion and his 2015 canopy structure for the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art. It is inspired by the traditional togunas of the Dogon culture of Mali and will be constructed of locally and sustainably sourced ponderosa and lodgepole pine. Described by the architect as creating a "rain of light" effect, the structure will offer visitors a space to gather, contemplate the views, and/or meditate.

“At Tippet Rise, we want the buildings to have the material and formal integrity of sculptures and the sculptures to have the scale and presence of architecture, with both kinds of structure rooted deeply in the experience of land and sky" said Tippet Rise co-founders Peter and Cathy Halstead. "That’s why, from the first time we encountered Francis Kéré’s enthralling work, we knew his architecture would be perfect for Tippet Rise, and that we wanted to support his wonderful philanthropic initiative in West Africa."

In keeping with the educational mission of Tippet Rise, the organization will be supporting Kéré's work building an environmentally sustainable and climatically appropriate schools in West Africa. Scheduled to complete in the summer of 2019 as well, the school will be named after Francis Kéré's father and will accommodate approximately 1,000 students.