Sixth Edition 2017-2018
Diébédo Francis Kéré
Burkina Faso / Germany
Member
Diébédo Francis Kéré was born in Burkina Faso in 1965, the first born son of the chief of the village of Gando. After completing his apprenticeship as a carpenter, Kéré began to work in the capital city of Ouagadougou as a teacher in the professional training courses organised with the sponsorship of the German Federal Administration for Economic Cooperation and Development. Kéré was awarded a scholarship in 1990 and moved to Berlin. He completed his secondary education there and enrolled in the School of Architecture at the Technical University of Berlin, where he earned his degree in 2004.
Kéré began his career in architecture while still at university. In 1998, he founded the organisation Bricks for the Gando Schools, through which he raised the funds to build a new primary school in his home village.