“Architecture is much more than art. And it is by far more than just building buildings”
There are few architects that are as humble and community-focused as Francis Kere. He is an absolute inspiration to me. The son of a Chief, Kere had the rare opportunity to be educated from the age of 7. He was sent far from his home in Gando, to join 150 other children in a basic school, where he excelled. He was awarded a scholarship to study Architecture in Berlin, Germany.
Kere recalls how the women in his village would give him their last pennies when he would return to school from holidays. A deep sign of affection, these women wanted to support his education in the hope that he would be able to use his knowledge to benefit the community in the future. This had a deep impact of the young man, and he carried the hope of his community with him throughout his education. While still a student in Berlin, he started drawing up plans for a new school for Gando and set about fundraising amongst his peers and further a-feild. He eventually returned with $50000.00 to start work.
In a TED talk he explains how the community were thrilled at his proposal for the school but they were shocked that he would use clay as a primary building material. Clay is the typical building material for the huts in Burkina Faso and the villagers were hoping that Kere would propose building components like one would find in flashy cities. But it is precisely Kere’s solution for buildings that hit the bulls-eye of sustainable architecture. Use locally abundant building materials, & techniques that can be taught to the community who will be the ones to do the work. Not only does this keep costs manageable but there are almost zero carbon emissions and the buildings respond well to the context and climate. (Despite the durability of the clay walls, they do need to be protected from the heavy rains, by wide overhangs of the roof.)
Clay is used in the form of compacted bricks, and compacted floors:
Steel rods (typically used as rebar in concrete) span between beams that hold the clay brick roof:
An elegant but brilliantly functional floating roof of corrugated iron acts as a sun umbrella, shading the building below from the direct solar energy, while allowing ventilation in the void below to remove hot air. This passive cooling strategy proves highly affective at regulating the indoor temperature.
The children love the building and it has aged very well.
The success of the school enabled Kere to embark on other projects in Gando and beyond. An extension to the school saw the use of an arch of clay bricks where Kere had to physically demonstrate the safety of the rather fanciful looking structure. It survived when Kere jumped up and down on the top and his community was satisfied!
Another beautiful project is the Library. Again, using local craftmanship, clay pots were sawn in half and cast into a concrete roof slab.
The affect is beautiful. Mottled natural light as well as escape points for hot air.
Clay walls have excellent thermal mass which is idea for hot climates. The walls slow the passage of heat from outside to inside, but this is further assisted where the walls are shaded by wide eaves / roof overhangs.
Francis Kere has definitely delivered on the hope held by his community. Not only has he seen it that they have beautiful buildings to improve the lives of the Gando people, but he has brought skills to the men and women who are now eligible to work on other projects around the country. Kere has won a number of awards for his buildings, while utterly deserved, it is clear that winning awards is not the reason Kere does what he does… it is to give back, and to improve the lives of the people he loves.
This is Sustainable Design in action. It is truly beautiful and I am totally inspired!
See more Kere Architecture HERE, I will be writing more posts on his other projects in the future.
Images source: KERE ARCHITECTURE
Sustainable Building Design 