Purpose Built
From Burkina Faso to North America, the work of architect Francis Kéré is building a better world for both nature and humankind
for architect Francis Kéré, last year marked a first. Though the former London Serpentine Pavilion winner has worked on projects across Africa, Asia and Europe, a bundled-pine log pavilion in rural Fishtail, Montana, became his first permanent structure in the Americas. Xylem, which was inaugurated last July at the Tippet Rise Art Center, is thoughtful, hyperlocal and sustainable, like all projects produced by Kéré Architecture. Nestled in a grove of aspen and cottonwood trees, Xylem is constructed of locally and sustainably sourced ponderosa and lodgepole pine and features a canopy of vertical logs, which filters shafts of light onto the seating areas. The seating elements’ organic shapes are inspired, in part, by forms of microscopic life, as well as the sinuous topography of the surrounding hills. Visitors to the pavilion are encouraged to contemplate the views, meditating in solitude. In keeping with the educational mission, Tippet Rise is also supporting Kéré Architecture in building environmentally sustainable and climatically appropriate schools in West Africa by funding the construction of a new school Francis has designed in his birthplace, the village of Gando in Burkina Faso. Opened in January, the Naaba Belem Goumma Secondary School, which is named after Francis’s father, combines both modern and vernacular construction methods, the design showing how a low-tech, energysaving and low-cost climatic concept can be used in areas of extreme heat and drought. The main construction of the school campus is cast-in-place walls made of poured local clay mixed with concrete and aggregate. Double-skin roofs and facades made from clay, metal and local wood act to protect the interiors from damaging rains and winds, while an extensive landscaping program aims to introduce trees and vegetation, which will in time reinforce the surrounding soil against desertification. Consisting of a courtyard surrounded by several classroom modules, the Secondary School will accommodate approximately 1 000 students from Gando and its adjacent villages.
Kéré Architecture8 kere-architecture.com