This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies
By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn More
This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
Architectural Record logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Subscribe
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Architectural Record logo
  • NEWS
    • Latest News
    • Interviews
    • Reviews
    • Commentary
    • Editorials
  • PROJECTS
    • Building Types
    • Interior Design
    • Museums & Arts Centers
    • Adaptive Reuse
    • Colleges & Universities
    • Lighting
    • Snapshot
  • HOUSES
    • Record Houses
    • House of the Month
    • Featured Houses
    • Kitchen and Bath
  • PRODUCTS
    • Material World
    • Categories
    • Award Winners
    • Case Studies
    • Partners in Design
    • Trends & Insights
  • EXCLUSIVES
    • Best Architecture Schools
    • Top 300 Firms
    • Theme Issues
    • Record Houses
    • Record Products
    • Good Design Is Good Business
    • Design Vanguard
    • Historical Archive
    • Cocktail Napkin Sketch
    • Videos
  • CALL FOR ENTRIES
    • Record Houses
    • Guess the Architect Contest
    • Submit Your Work
  • CONTINUING ED
    • Architectural Technology
    • Architect Continuing Education
    • Continuing Education Center
    • Digital Academies
  • EVENTS
    • Record on the Road
    • Innovation Conference
    • Women In Architecture
    • Webinars
    • Advertising Excellence Awards
  • MORE
    • Subscribe
    • Customer Service
    • Digital Edition
    • eNewsletter
    • Interactive Spotlight
    • Store
    • Custom Content Marketing
    • Research
    • Sponsor Insights
    • eBooks
  • CONTACT
    • Advertise
Home » Interview with Diébédo Francis Kéré on Serpentine 2017 and Future Projects
Architecture NewsInterviews

Interview with Diébédo Francis Kéré on Serpentine 2017 and Future Projects

Photo © Architectural Record

May 31, 2017
Anna Fixsen and Miriam Sitz
KEYWORDS AIA Conference / Diebedo Francis Kere
Reprints
No Comments

When RECORD first interviewed Diébédo Francis Kéré six years ago, he spoke of his aspirations for his young—but growing—Berlin-based firm. These days, the Burkina Faso native is virtually everywhere. In the last year alone, Kéré has been the subject of a solo exhibition at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, proposed a new parliament building for his home country, and was awarded the Arnold W. Brunner Memorial Prize in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Later this month, the pavilion he designed for London’s Serpentine Gallery will open, marking the first time an African architect has won the prestigious commission. record sat down with Kéré at the 2017 AIA Conference on Architecture in Orlando, where he was the opening speaker, to discuss his recent and upcoming work.


Architectural Record: Online, back in October, we ran a story about your plan for the parliament building in Burkina Faso. Is that happening?

Diébédo Francis Kéré: It’s an amazing project. The parliament president told me, “I love your design, and our country needs this in the center of our capital, but we have to see how to get the funding. If I could, I would start to build it with you tomorrow.” The country is coming out of a very hard time—30 years of corruption and a revolution. The design has launched a debate about how symbolic buildings like a parliament house should look. I thought, we have to consider what is important for Burkina Faso. And so that was the idea with the pyramid—it’s transparent and has a garden space, so the people can really engage with it.

What do you have going on in Berlin?

I was asked to design a theater for Volksbühne, a 100-year-old theater company. The new director, Chris Dercon, wants to open the theater to the world, so I designed a satellite theater in a hangar [at Berlin Tempelhof Airport]. This particular airport is very important, because, during the cold war, the U.S. used it to bring food to people in Berlin.

So now, putting a theater for 800 to 1,000 people inside of it, I said, “Can I drill?” No! “Can I hang things?” No! It’s all historically protected. Instead, I thought, let’s create a movable thing. All the seating can be moved like an accordion, and the stage can be used for different purposes. We’ll put wheels on the entire structure, to move the whole thing outside, as you would move an aircraft. The moving out becomes theater in itself.

Also, there are Syrian refugees staying in some of the hangars nearby. They can’t leave, so it’s difficult for them to make relationships and connections. I thought, if we move the theater out of the hangar and bring everyone together in front of it, we’ll get the refugee and the Berliner to connect—the new citizen with the existing citizens. People loved that idea.

It sounds as if it captures the zeitgeist. When will construction start?

We’re waiting on the financing from the state. It’s not easy.

Anything else happening now in Germany?

There’s a church and community in Muenster, too. An old military barracks. It’s still in the competition phase, but it’s looking good. We won the master plan a couple of years ago. Cross your fingers.

With the Serpentine Pavilion coming up, this is a big moment for you!

Yes, it is a great honor. But the pressure’s great too, because you have to succeed. Look at who has been there before me! [Zaha Hadid, Oscar Niemeyer, Frank Gehry, and others.] When I discovered that I won, I was like, c’est pas moi!—it’s not me! They said, “Yes, you.”

Are you traveling to London often, then?

Yes, I have been there several times already for fabrication, discussion—and we went through fire tests a lot.

Fire tests?

Yes! The structure has to stand. A crowd will come there, so it has to be secure.

Are you going to meet the Queen?

That would be a dream—which I don’t think will come true.

Do people from your hometown in Burkina Faso want to be architects now? Do they want to go to architecture school?

Friends have told me that kids say they want to be “Francis.” So I am a profession. It’s wonderful.

AR Subscribe

Recent Articles by Anna Fixsen

Top Architecture Schools of 2018

New Report from Van Alen Institute Proposes Design Alternatives to Rikers Island

Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá Expansion by El Equipo Mazzanti

Anna Fixsen was a staff writer and editor for Architectural Record from 2013 to 2017, during which time she covered topics ranging from new projects to human rights, and edited Firms to Watch—a special section devoted to emerging architecture firms.

Sitz

Miriam Sitz is the Senior News & Web editor for Architectural Record and has been with the magazine since 2015. She leads the news section in print and online, writes features, creates multimedia content, and oversees RECORD's digital presence. She previously worked for the Current, San Antonio's alternative newsweekly, and has written for Texas Architect and the San Antonio Business Journal, among others. She holds a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a bachelor’s degree from Trinity University.

Related Articles

Diébédo Francis Kéré Designs Educational Campus for Mama Sarah Obama Foundation

Tippet Rise Commissions Francis Kéré to Design Pavilion

Jackson Park Selected as Site of Obama Library

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

Report Abusive Comment

More Videos

AR Huber Webinar 12/10


 


 

Events

December 10, 2019

New Options for Insulating and Venting Wood-Framed Sloped Roofs

Credits: 1 AIA LU/HSW; 1 AIBD P-CE; 0.1 IACET CEU

May qualify for learning hours through most Canadian architectural associations

A comprehensive overview of the control layers of a wood-framed sloped roof assembly. New code provisions will be discussed for high-performance, green and sustainable building practices. The differences between vented and unvented assembly requirements will be defined. In conclusion, a review of the emerging 2018 code provisions will be done as well as a comparison of different methods to providing continuous and integrated air, water, and thermal barrier.

December 12, 2019

Improving Building Delivery with BIM

Credits: 1 AIA LU/Elective; 1 AIBD P-CE; 0.1 IACET CEU
May qualify for learning hours through most Canadian architectural associations

BIM brings countless advantages to the construction team, but the biggest benefit lies with the owner. For architects continuing to develop and enhance delivery methods, BIM is the solution. In this webinar with Rob Glisson, AIA, principal at ROJO Architecture, see how BIM can help you reduce risk, accelerate schedules, establish more accurate budgets, decrease costs, and better serve your clients.

View All Submit An Event

Products

ENR Square Foot Costbook 2020

ENR Square Foot Costbook 2020

See More Products

Tweets by @ArchRecord

Architectural Record

AR December 2019 Cover

2019 December

In the December 2019 issue, Architectural Record reveals the winners of the annual Record Products contest.

View More Subscribe
  • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Survey And Sample
    • Editorial Calendar
  • Call for Entries
  • Subscribe
    • Subscribe
    • Renew
    • Create Account
    • Change Address
    • Pay My Bill
    • Free eNewsletters
    • Customer Care
  • Advertise
    • Architectural Record
    • Advertising Awards
  • Industry Jobs

Copyright ©2019. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing