Fast Company - June 2011

So he resolved to reverse-engineer everything he was taught, trying to use principles of heat to figure out natural cooling and learning to design windows that would protect from the blazing sun but still offer ventilation.

While in Germany, he learned
that the school in his village
was near collapse. Determined to
help, he launched an organiza-
tion, Schulbausteine für Gando
e.V. (School Building Blocks for
Gando) to raise money for a new
facility that could give his people
a chance at a better life. “Being in
the world was a big shock for me,”
he admits. “How can you explain
life in Europe to a community
with 99% illiteracy? You cannot
tell them about a highway, a
plane, about cold water in a glass.
But you can give back. And you
have to start with the basics,
with education.”
Kéré was determined not to
build the school with traditional
construction methods: bunkers
of concrete blocks with corru-
gated roofs that turn into ovens
in the summer heat. Instead, he
devised a new sort of brick, made
of clay, fortified with 10% cement,
and compressed by hand tools
into sturdy building blocks. These
could accommodate a larger struc-
ture, survive the annual rains,
and support a graceful roof. Now
he just needed the labor to raise it.

Kéré’s schools in Gando are just one example of African architects returning to serve their homelands.

Change: New Architectures of
Social Engagement.”
“We were interested in Francis’s
reimagining of local techniques,”
says Margot Weller, one of the
show’s curators. “Because it was
built by the community, the com-
munity then becomes its steward.”
And the project had an unex-
pected side effect: teaching villagers
new skills that they have subse-
quently used to build schools and
housing in other communities.

“What Kéré did is a model for architects working in other parts of the world,” says Matilda McQuaid, the curator behind the Cooper-Hewitt’s seminal 2007 exhibition “Design for the Other 90%.” He showed what it means “not to impose, but to make a partnership, to know the culture, and get buy-in. It’s a way that Westerners can work hand in hand” with people in developing countries.

Kéré, whose Gando schools now educate 500 children, has also constructed a library and a gymnasium, and is working on a secondary school and a women’s center. He’s also building an arts village near Ouagadougou. He’s not the only Western-trained African returning to his roots. David Adjaye is building a college in his native Ghana, as well as a community center in Johannesburg. And Ghana’s Joe Addo is developing low-income housing and designing building products made from local materials such as bamboo and palm kernel shells.

But while Kéré applauds his peers’ efforts, his own dream is to promote home-grown talent. Truly scalable architectural sustainability for the region can come only if students can learn Western techniques that are adapted by African schools to indigenous conditions, he says. However, architecture schools are expensive to build, so right now, this is one dream that’s beyond the reach of his financing.