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Gone are the days when the easiest way to make an architectural splash was with a shimmering and photogenic stand-alone building, fancy forms torquing this way and that. Along with exploring new takes on regional or vernacular design traditions, the field’s top talents are taking on projects that reimagine existing institutions or public spaces — or forge new links among them. — Christopher Hawthorne, The New York Times
In a new piece for The New York Times, Yale School of Architecture senior critic Christopher Hawthorne explores how architects are striving to rejuvenate downtown areas across the U.S., where hybrid work schedules and negative perceptions have led to reduced vibrancy. While converting commercial... View full entry
Las Vegas and Francis Kéré may seem like an odd pairing, but that’s exactly where the rammed earth pioneer and 2022 Pritzker winner plans to deliver his first permanent American public building for the new Las Vegas Museum of Art (LVMA) in direct partnership with the Los Angeles County Museum... View full entry
Kéré Architecture has broken ground on a new all-wood childcare facility at the Technical University Munich (TUM). The design of the Ingeborg Pohl Kinderoase an der TUM is 700 square meters (7,500 square feet) in total and will hold space for 60 children in service to faculty members and their... View full entry
Francis Kéré has been announced as the architect of a new virtual museum of stolen cultural artifacts for UNESCO. The project will exhibit 3D versions of the objects while at the same time elevating the voices and narratives of the global communities from which they were taken. Renderings... View full entry
The Yale School of Architecture has just announced a new scholarship named after 2022 Pritzker Prize winner Francis Kéré in the interest of supporting African students at the school as they complete their journey to a career in architecture. “There are so many aspiring African architects, and... View full entry
This spring’s commencement ceremony at the Rhode Island School of Design will feature a pair of luminaries as last year’s Pritzker Prize winner Francis Kéré will join Walter Hood for the event, which is to be held at Amica Mutual Pavilion on June 3rd. Both designers will receive honorary... View full entry
Pritzker Prize winner Francis Kéré’s firm has shared photos of their just-completed Kamwokya Community Centre project in the Ugandan capital of Kampala. Designed for the city’s informal settlement of Kamwokya, the center hosts a variety of activities and educational resources for residents... View full entry
Even though the buildings in Sana'a are thousands of years old, they remain "terribly contemporary", says Salma Samar Damluji, co-founder of the Daw'an Mud Brick Architecture Foundation in Yemen.
Damluji says it is easy to see why these mud buildings have not lost their appeal – they are well-insulated, sustainable and extremely adaptable for modern use. "It is the architecture of the future," says Damluji.
— BBC
Yemen’s largest city Sana'a may even supplant Franis Kéré's home country as the world’s leading rammed earth capital, with a host of stunning, UNESCO-protected sites scattered around its Old City area. The material is one of many in an arsenal of alternatives being used to combat high... View full entry
Speaking at the Triennale di Milano, which kicks off tomorrow in the Italian finance capital, Francis Kéré lamented the Western notion that his “unknown” home continent is a vast but homogeneous place when in reality, it is comprised of 54 countries and over 1,000 different language... View full entry
A new book arts exhibition from celebrated notebook maker Moleskine is now on view at One World Trade Center’s One World Observatory, marking the first public exhibition of artwork in the attraction’s seven-year history. Opened today, the Moleskine Foundation’s Detour New York exhibition... View full entry
I never saw myself connected to this big thing. I was just using my skills to create comfortable spaces and beautiful schools and housing for my people. No, I never dreamed to see this work connected with Pritzker. No, no, never. — NPR
NPR’s Michel Martin got the newest Pritzker laureate and recently-named Dakar Goethe Institute designer to harken back to his childhood village in Burkina Faso, which he credited as a strong influence beginning with his educational experiences in darkened classrooms that frequently hovered... View full entry
Diébédo Francis Kéré has been awarded the 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize, widely considered one of the industry's highest honors. "Francis Kéré has found brilliant, inspiring and game-changing ways to answer these questions over the last decades," said the jury citation for the award... View full entry
Senegal is taking a big step towards further establishing itself as an architectural capital thanks to Francis Kéré’s design for the Goethe Institute that has officially broken ground in Dakar. The 56-year-old architect was on hand Wednesday for a ceremony which included German President... View full entry
Architects, officials, and villagers confirm the trend: People are discarding traditional materials, mostly mud, in favor of concrete, as soon as they can afford it. As living standards increase making concrete more accessible, some of the world’s hottest, poorest landscapes are rapidly morphing from brown to cinder block grey. — National Geographic
Architects like Francis Kéré have been attempting to buck the trend of using concrete by experimenting with upgraded versions of terrestrial materials like mud bricks that simultaneously provide tools for community-building in developing countries like Burkina Faso. Facade detail of Kéré... View full entry
A new polytechnic training campus has sprung up in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley, standing out in the sprawling lowlands region thanks to three terracotta-colored ventilation towers that took their inspiration from termite colonies in the growing East African technology hub. Image ©... View full entry
