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Diébédo Francis Kéré
54 quotes
“I just came to Germany because I got a scholarship... to attend training as a development activist in carpentry... Imagine, there is no wood in . ...There's not a lot of trees nor wood and carpentry is very primitive ...but ...coming to Germany was a chance to escape.., to move... to escape my environment to another environment where everything seemed to be available and possible!”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“When I came to Berlin I didn't have my high school degree. ...I had to go again, back to school ...in an evening school in Berlin ...for 5 years ...from 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM to be able to do my high school degree... to go to TU to study architecture.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I built my... first project, a primary school in Gando.., my home village when I was still a student.., and I graduate 3 years later. ...[I]t was a sheer necessity that led me to build a school because when I leave my village there was no school and... instead of bringing presents to my village, I just wanted to give... education to my village.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How to build in a region like .., in a country which has a... colonial past... When I arrived home, explaining to my people that I am here to build a school together with them, and I already have the money.., everybody was... over the moon.., really happy, and then I explained... that we are going to use clay.., mud. ...[T]here was shock! ...The rejection was so big, nobody wanted to speak again with me... [I]t cost me a lot of energy and... discussions to convince them that this is the only way to... respond the best to the climate, and to our need.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The problem... is how to explain drawings and engineering to people who are neither able to read or write. So what I do is to build a ... a model... Normally I jump on top of that structure so that my people understood that it is working. It won't crash. So that is the test... to check the engineering.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[I]f you build a school, this is not enough. ...[Y]ou need teachers. ...[W]e ...collaborate with the government. The government is sending teachers, and pay them. ...I have to ...provide .., housing for them. ...[A]n educated person ...don't want to stay in the village. ...[W]e ...provide them with very comfortable housing, so to attract them.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Even the adult need[s] education. We train the young people in the technique we apply to build the schools so they can earn money. They become professionals working in different building site[s]... from... Gando, to other cities... in Burkina Faso, to the neighboring countries... Ghana, , .., so something is happening...”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the West we are spoiled. We don't know what we have...”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Here's the Xylem Pavilion in at the site of Temple Rice Art Center. ...I wanted to go back to and... learn from the tradition... to design the pavilion.., a gathering space where people can come.., meet and rest. ...[T]he was an inspiration for that... The taguna is... a landmark in the Dogon land.., the symbol of freedom, of peace... The Toguna... forced people to enter not standing.., taking away aggressivity.., by sitting you cannot be aggressive.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[I]n I was impressed.., coming from the Sahara, trees are... so important, so meaningful, the most important things in nature or in human life. ...There was an idea to use dead forest and give it new life. ...[W]e discovered that there is a lot of wood in Montana that is just used to burn or... for other purpose than construction. ...We got them and ...try to do like ...in Burkana, taking the skin off the wood with ...a very simple tool ...We went up to create bundles.., components that we... could build.., transport... and install.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[A] connection to this vast monumental landscape.., that is what I tried to do with this design, not to mimick, but to build a... little space within this big landscape to attract people to rest. [I]t.., being part of the landscape... and also react beautifully to... nature.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Another project that I was happy to do is at . ...Until that, I didn't know what is Coachella .., until that... I would say it is a Mexican drink... I have a daughter Josephine ...and she told me "...you're refusing to do a lot of things because ...you have no time ...but Coachella is cool!" You should do it.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“... decided to travel to... Burkina Faso even when it was a time of terrorism... [H]e traveled for the first time to Africa and... told me.., "I have this festival..., and we... want to promote architecture and art. Would you create... a structure that serves as orientation and a recreation place for our festival visitors?”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This structure... is simply .., very thin steel and light and color. ...[C]olor for a festival ...is like a signal of celebration. ...You use this triangular element and you can create a shape like this...”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[I]n the U.S. there is no big difference between the people. We are [all] looking... for something that can inspire us.., benefiting from the shade and the canopy of this big Baobab.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[W]e couldn't build with brick... to build in London is very expensive, but to build in the is... much more complicated. ...We wanted to use wood to build this big tree ...[W]e made many many components ...[I]t's a gathering space for the community ...I saw people talking to each other to get people ...connected. ...That was ...again, a reason to say, if I learn from my culture, from ...tradition, I can create something in the West that may be seen as a contribution to architecture... I wanted it to be light and blue... my favorite color.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In my culture blue is so important for a young man.., the first date... is to dress blue. If you wear blue, you go to... your lover... everyone will see you walking through the landscape, and then someone is dating this girl ...I wanted to dress this pavilion with... my favorite color.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I was born in the traditional compound in Burkina Faso, in a village called Gando. I grew up in a place seeing architecture as... big.., from corporation, from government... far out of reach. ...I got a scholarship to go to Germany. ...I wanted to make things better, and learning from my tradition how people come together to do communal work like here... they repair a mosque in Mali. ...I wanted to build a school in my home village.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I get the community together and... we have rocks. Let's collect these rocks and create the foundation, so we save money. Let's use clay to build walls, but... clay in my country is seen as poor people construction material. So they reject it, and they said... a school is something from France... European. We want it to be made out of and glass. ...But ...to convince them I ...discovered ...this ...low cost technology ...compact clay brick .., clay that has been mixed with water and ... a percentage of cement ...and then my people were saying, "Wow, this is technology. This is something new!”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[W]e went to build the first school... from mud from Gando... clay, and then we use s to make the roof's top because I have not a lot of money, and rebars was everywhere available... so I could use it to make the roof structure, and... a massive ceiling out of the same bricks... over rebars.., a light hanging roof.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I did very simple drawings because... people didn't know about architecture.., something related to big corporation... Here you made very simple drawings to explain... how it worked... [T]he building, the school... is still like at the beginning.., the same, so people are proud... because normally school... government building, no one take care of them... I build this school the way it is not breaking apart and it is... successful.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“How we did it? How I could get... the community to participate? ...To make a big vault ...out of clay bricks, and then I climb... in the middle showing my people, "Don't worry, It will work," explaining... what is technology.., engineering... [T]his way we could... build... a vault.., and roof structure out of s, and the skin out of metal sheet.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Inside the vault... openings allow the hot air to circulate.., Venturi system. ...The heaviest air ...remain on the ground while the hot air is light and escaping. Together with the... lamellar windows we created , and so we create cool places for the teachers and kids.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Léo is a ... I started to build six years ago, and this... never had enough money... It is a health care center... We used clay... and... this project is... meaningful because in Burkina Faso health care center[s] are connected to debt and dirt, so... you go to the hospital when you have no alternative.., and mostly it is too late... and also you go sometime... and you go back home sick. ...But ...it was great to be able to create a structure like this out of clay ...and while people are getting fixed inside, the kids are playing outside... in a place where normally people don't go...”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I could achieve this even using... clay bricks.., seen as poor people['s] construction material.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Another project... is Lycee Schorge... and Burkina Institute of Technology. ...This client came to tell me... we want to give something back... to create a high school in honor of his brother... [H]is nickname was Schorge... and later they wanted to create a BIT in the image of MIT. ...Things are growing fast in . ...[P]eople come to city... to settle around structures. ...[I]n twenty years time this will be a .”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I wanted to create a compound-like structure that will create a courtyard to protect the student... from the element[s] and... to increase... ventilation systems on adding a... wind tower, and I wanted to use this time laterite.., a construction material in Burkina Faso, but also neglected more and more because people think it is for poor people. ...To get them to be accepted we cut them with a machine. With the cutting they become regular, and with this it has become a modern construction material.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[Y]ou will see kids standing and watching what is happening. ...[S]ometime when we... build it is like a big theater.., a big performance. ...The community come to watch.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[W]e wanted to add Eucalyptus wood. Eucalyptus wood is special.., if you cut it... you have more finger[s] growing out, and they are so straight that people... use them for scaffolding.., or to burn, and I decided to... introduce them to architecture to create structure.., visière... a skin to protect buildings.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[W]e decided to get women from the community to be part of the work. ...The community is participating. ...[Y]ou have women sanding the wood, almost like a meditation, but... they also earn money... [I]n this way... the project... become[s] part of the community. It is creating an identity. People know how the building was made, and they have been part of the building, but they also earn money... to feed their family.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“In the back side we have seatings. You can sit... on the wood that we had been using to create a sort of .”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]he technology for the BIT, because it's a... technology center, I wanted to use clay in a different way, to pour clay like you would do with concrete. ...We end up coming to an agreement to create the form... and with this... create one classroom at a time. ...So the more students are coming, we keep pouring more classrooms. ...[I]t is open to the east, and to the south it's protected with sun-shading wood element[s]. ...[T]he ventilation elements ...[are] different... [from] the high school ...crossing the buildings.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Inside you have a very open courtyard where...the students can be. [The structure] is very warm, very welcoming and inspiring. ...After class you will see the student[s] playing with the other younger students from the high school.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[A]t night you have light, and light is so important. ...One of the reasons I have realized why I'm doing the work... is to bring knowledge to my people. First I started with Gando and then I came to be able to do many many projects in many places... Burkina Faso is still my focus... I realize... that education is like light... what you can see in the night.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Look at what I'm doing... with my work. Here we're trying to create a water basin. ...People just dig and we construct... This is in the site of the BIT and the high school. ...With this you can store water ...to grow trees, the same like we're building, step by step, classes, and you see these tree[s] are creating shadow for my people.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I learned this in Germany, to learn how to use... technology.., modern knowledge and adapting them to the need of the people. ...[T]his was only possible because I was working with the people. So learning... old techniques from my people, training to make them a little better.., to make them last longer.., to connect traditional knowledge to modern knowledge. [S]ometimes I feel like a bridge... between your culture and my own culture, between your culture of science and mine, which is on the very beginning... [of] development...”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I feel very very privileged. I created the school as a student... because... 3 years after I start to study architecture in Berlin I suddenly feel I know a lot... I will go back and work with the community. ...[T]he school has been selected as one of the 21 most influential buildings in the world since the Second World War.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I left... my family when I was 7, so... I was thinking... what can I do to keep the kids home, by their community, by their families, but... to attend education. Education is so highly needed, and so... after I got the scholarship and I started to study architecture, I grew the idea... solve this... creating the school.., but the school should be within the reality of the people: the social context, the economical context and the cultural context. ...[P]eople used to work together. If it come[s] to building, you need the entire community, and that['s] what I've done.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I can see the work of an architect as those of a sociologist. ...You're trying to shape people['s] life. ...It is in a house where you share intimacy. This is where we rest.., where we spend most of our time. ...[W]e work in buildings. ...[T]he role of an architect is caring. Shortly said, [it] is caring for humanity... [C]aring means to think about solutions where you could create comfort, for people to really stay.., spend their time, and fulfill their dreams.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Now you hear a big word, "sustainability"... Honestly.., I was just doing my work, and then... good people realized... there is more than just words around what he is doing. There is a depth, and that saved me. I didn't need... to really use the word properly, but to build, and to build with the people and to use the resources I believe will open a future to my community...”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Later on the school was so successful.., but with the growing success of my architecture there was still a struggle to get the money, and friends... started six years ago to say.., "Francis, it's important that you connect... the name of your foundation with the success of your architecture. ...Why you don't call it Kéré Foundation?" and so we call it Kéré Foundation. ...There's still a struggle, but I have... client[s] that are really looking forward to support this structure... to share my work... to my fellow Africans... [and] to the world.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“This is a smart idea... just to use... the negative effect of the sun to ventilate inside the classroom. So if you have a structure, the metal shaped... roof, and inside-down, you have a massive skin... of clay... bricks. ...So the hot air inside the two elements is escaping from one side, and absorbing the inside air. It is very simple. Fresh air... coming... through the windows. It is very simple, but it really works! ...You need to have openings. ...[H]ot air is escaping, always on the top. ...If, for example.., with the Western world.., you heat your apartment and the guy... [above] is not heating his apartment, your energy is going through the ceiling and... heating... his apartment. ...I just use this principle, making openings in the ceiling... [to] let the hot air escape. So you create a natural ventilation.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The Opera Village and .., he was a genius. ... He had a dream... to build an opera in Africa, and... our ways crossed... in South Africa. ...I am fighting to build schools... and somebody came with an idea to build an opera. You could imagine... my natural reaction... It's a provocation. It's not serious. ...I'm struggling to build schools to educate people. You come with an idea of an opera. An opera, even in the Western world is something... limited to the 2%... [H]e was... a great person.., a strong personality and... made these ideas so attractive, so we start... the project. ...Now 150 kids are attending primary education... in the Opera Village. ...We have infrastructure where... activities are... happening.., sometimes supported by the German ... so that we make performances.., dancing.., a lot of activities... but... most important.., education is still happening. ...A nursery ...is part of it. Christoph... once happened to say... "a cry of a newborn is an opera." So... not... an opera like in Europe...”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“[T]he inspiration here was the Baobab... landmark in the landscape, very big, very giant and in some you have openings, the trunks are hollow. ...I wanted to ...create big Baobab during the festival ...It is just an inspiration ...to make sketches ...mimicking ...how this Baobob is hollow ...create something that is giant, that can be seen from far.., capable of providing shade and a place for visitors... [T]he shadows... rising and inviting the visitor just to gather to sit and rest... [A]t night it was like a beacon... playing the role of orientation pieces... [T]hese giant Baobob... are named, together with the people from Coachella, Sarbalé Ke, a house of celebration or festival...”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hans Obrist wrote me a letter inviting me to submit a proposal for the Serpentine Pavilion. ...I never saw myself ...in the level of Serpentine Pavilions ...so I ignored the letter and I fly to Burkina Faso ...pushing my people to create structures. ...Hans ...called, saying why are you not reacting.., is really serious.., so I came back. ...I said, maybe I have to ...stay true to myself ...I wanted to create a canopy .., a big tree .., and I start to talk about community. ...[A]gain the inspiration is trees, but also the historic pattern of the brickwork... at the for the Serpentine Galleries inspired me ...”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our structure was so successful that many doctors [were] volunteering to... work there from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, and so this doctor who has now become my friend... asked me to design doctor housing because there was no hotel in the area. ...I went again to be inspired by tradition: how we build housing in Burkina... either cylindric or a box.., and from that we create a... little compound... Here the idea was to try and build a small house... mimicking the size of the housing of the local people, with the idea that people can... copy this way of building to improve their homes. ...It looked very simple ...inside, very very simple, but it is luxury in Burkina Faso. ...Where you have a shower and a toilet in my country is, even today a big big luxury.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Hope... because what I have been seeing... during my work.., facing this discussion about who is the best partner for Africa. Who can better help Africa? ...I don't know. Today some voices are saying China has an advantage... in the competition. ...Here, dear community from Columbia.., when I did my first lecture in your place, let's say I was working with simply my relatives from my village, brothers and sisters and cousins. Nowadays I have this big structure working with me (very big group of people) and if you add the women.., I have more than 300 or 400 people sometime... working and earning money. ...Your keeping these young people from the risk to take a boat and go... to Europe, the West, to America, and... you know what's happening with populism. ...[P]eople just use ...other people ...to oppose. ...People are looking ...for opportunity to live a simple and better life.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Maybe with my architecture I am contributing to bring my people to the position to not see things like big and for corporation... This is... what motivated me to do what I am doing. You see these young people. Those kids are now in the BIT learning... New York has been built with people, and... in my work I want my people to be inspired to build their own future, and I want people like you... to see that I'm considering what I'm doing... as important as the same way New York has been built. You may laugh, but... a little school in Gando is, in the eyes of my community, maybe the same... [as] how they build a high rise in New York... very inspiring.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am teaching my people to be able to build this project... When we started... 15 people and... at a certain time... more than 50... belonged to my staff... showing them how to do what I'm doing. ...It sounds so "teacher" ...no, no, no ...I was trying to find solution[s] with them... [T]hey're so full of creativity... of talent, but... today we are doing projects... and my people get paid! My people can earn money from their work..! I am proud to see that. We just started very naive. Everybody was laughing. Now we have a school. It's working. We have teacher houses which are being called fridge of Gando... where it is cool like fridge.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I left my village to go to the city and attend education. ...[W]hen I came on holiday, home, all the women... in my village... here they put their last penny, and they open all the time this... to give my their last penny. ...I will never forget this ...[O]ne day I asked my mother, "Why all the women in the village are loving me... that much that they give me money?" and my mother said... "Yes, ...they love you, of course, but... they're giving you credit so you can help them one day." ...That is why this women's center is so important for me. ...It is ... for the women in my village.., to whom my own mother belong, my own sisters. Everybody will be concerned about this project... [T]his project will impact the life of 3,000 women.., and these... will have an impact on... 12,000... because their family will benefit. ...We will give them ...adult education ...They will have their system trying to improve their economical situation. Trying also to train them to have a better position in the family. ...[I]n Africa, women's rights? ...[I]n countries where people are poor, the people suffering ...are the women, and this is also in Gando, and that's what I'm going to change. ...€70,000 euro ...can change life of more than 12,000 people ...This is my latest project for my village. ...[T]he roofs will be made ...with ...by myself and my people, and the women will help build the house like they used to do. ...[I]t will be a big step for my people, for the women! ...[W]e will use a clay floor ...and we will raise the building ...to have natural ventilation coming from the ground ...and the air will circulate through the roof, through the ventilation system through openings in the ceiling ...and solar panels ...to have electricity ...My people are great and the women are great! Without women there is no Africa.”
Diébédo Francis Kéré (born 1965) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source