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Francis Kéré with a model of a primary school in Burkina Faso (2016): wants »to bring high-quality architecture to my people«
Photo: Matthias Balk / picture alliance / dpa
The architect Francis Kéré, who was born in Burkina Faso and lives in Berlin, has been honored with this year's Pritzker Prize, the highest award for architecture.
»He knows intuitively that architecture is not about the object, but about the goal;
not about the product, but about the process," said the jury in Chicago on Tuesday.
»His buildings, for and with communities, are directly from those communities - in their creation, their materials, their programs and their unique characters.«
The honor moved him to tears, said Kéré, who was born in Burkina Faso, West Africa, in the New York Times.
"I still can not believe it.
I promoted this work in architecture in order to bring high-quality architecture to my people.« In addition to his home country, Kéré has also worked on architecture projects in Mali, Kenya, Uganda, the USA and Germany.
He became known, among other things, through his work on the »Opera Village Africa« by director Christoph Schlingensief, who died in 2010.
The Pritzker Prize is considered the most prestigious award in the architecture industry and is endowed with 100,000 dollars.
Previous awardees have included Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, Norman Foster and Peter Zumthor.
Last year, the French architecture duo Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal won.
Kéré is the first Pritzker Prize winner to come from an African country.
ime/dpa