The fascinating testimony of Francis Kéré reveals the ideas and values driving his socially committed architectural practice. It presents 26 key projects, illustrated with numerous sketches, photographs, and unpublished drawings, in a beautifully designed volume by the Amsterdam-based graphic design studio Irma Boom.
Highlighted works include the Serpentine Pavilion, the Gando school projects, the national assembly designs of Burkina Faso and Benin, the Thomas Sankara Memorial, and the recently unveiled Las Vegas Art Museum. Kéré’s voice naturally moves between poetry and pragmatism. From technical aspects like cutting bricks in situ to the political and environmental forces shaping his designs, he attends to both craftsmanship and large-scale reflection. One chapter subtitle sums it up: “How to channel imagination within the grid of rules (without stopping it from flying).”
For Kéré, architecture is a driver of learning and exchange that is created collectively and not imposed from above. The architect is never the star but a facilitator of a common purpose. His designs are rooted in vernacular knowledge and non-elitist values, yet fully committed to the urgent realities of our time, from climate change and overpopulation to the fragile infrastructures of young democracies.
Reading this book is like peeking into Kéré’s personal notebook, with his scribbled notes alongside the works. It concludes with two reflective texts — one by the Ghanaian-Scottish academic and novelist Lesley Lokko and another by his mentor Juhani Pallasmaa — that place his practice within a broader cultural, ethical, and architectural conversation.
