Blueprint Awards 2017: The winners
Blueprint Award for Architecture 2017
Winner: Francis Kéré
Nominated by our Judges, voted for by Blueprint readers
Francis Ke´re´ is principal and founder of Berlin- based practice Ke´re´ Architecture. Born in Gando in Burkina Faso but trained in Germany, Ke´re´’s first major project was the Gando Primary School which earned the Aga Khan Award in 2001. He founded Ke´re´ Architecture in 2005 and the practice works in countries across the world, including award-winning projects in Mali, Yemen and China, as well as in Burkina Faso. He combines traditional materials and building techniques with modern engineering methods to create socially-driven, community-focused projects.
This year, the renowned annual Serpentine Pavilion was designed by Ke´re´. Taking inspiration from a tree in Gando which serves as a community meeting point, the circular open-air steel and wooden structure — immediately remarkable for the rich blue hue and bold triangular-pattern motif of its wall screens — sought to connect people with the surrounding nature of Hyde Park as well as with one another.
Ke´re´’s work has earned numerous accolades, including the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture, BSI Swiss Architectural Award, Marcus Prize, Global Holcim Gold Award, and Schelling Architecture Award. Ke´re´ is a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects (FAIA), and has held professorships at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Swiss Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio. As of 2017 Ke´re´ has taken over the newly created professorship for Architectural Design and Participation at the Technical University of Munich.
Nominations
Francis Kéré
Reiach and Hall
Category sponsored by Turkish Ceramics
