Francis Kéré's social and sustainable architecture wins the Pritzker Prize 2022
The Hyatt Foundation has awarded the 2022 Pritzker Prize to Burkinabe architect Francis Kéré, who becomes the first African to receive this distinction. The prize, awarded annually since 1979, is endowed with $100,000 (91,000 euros). The 44th Pritzker Prize ceremony will take place at the Marshall Building in London on a date yet to be decided.
Born in Gando in 1965, Kéré emigrated to Germany where he studied architecture and later became an emblem of social and sustainable construction. Gando is a village in one of the poorest countries in the world, Burkina Faso, but he won a scholarship to study in Berlin, where he trained and eventually opened his own architectural practice
His work is deeply rooted in his native country, but makes use of universal elements and principles that allow it to be inserted in contexts as different as that of his adopted city. The author of exemplary architecture in the use of limited resources and sustainable techniques, this Burkinabe has become the leader of a new generation of architects who, as Luis Fernández-Galiano commented in 2018, are "determined to make the world better by working for those who have the least".
The thesis that structured the exhibition, 'Primary Elements', curated by Luis Fernández-Galiano and inaugurated on 3 October 2018, related Kéré's work to the primary elements of architecture devised by the German architect and scholar Gottfried Semper in the 19th century: the stereotomic floor, the tectonic ceiling and the textile wall. In total, 29 projects and six installations showcased the stripped-down beauty of his constructions.
The ICO Museum, the only one in our country specifically dedicated to the dissemination of architecture as an artistic and cultural discipline, was inaugurated on 28 March 1996, initially to exhibit the permanent collections of the Official Credit Institute. Since 2012, the Fundación ICO has taken up the line centred on the field of architecture and urban planning for its temporary exhibitions. Around them, the ICO Museum develops educational activities aimed at children and young people, and guided and accompanied tours, aimed at adults, with the intention of deepening and completing its discourse.
Both free visits and the different activities are subject to compliance with current COVID-19 regulations, and all safety recommendations are respected to ensure that the experience is safe and satisfactory.
