On Stage Design Indaba 2011: Francis Kéré

Looking at the housing situation in West Africa, architect Diébédo Francis Kéré (Kéré Architecture) says that Africans should stop imitating the Western way of building and rather adapt it to their own needs – and the needs of the community – in order to cope better with the weather patterns in the region.

Due to the lack of a secure income, people build their houses themselves... and as models, they just copy the neighbouring house.

Kéré believes the built environment in Africa should adapt to nature, while maintaining the cultural richness of the people.

Diébédo Francis Kéré is an architect from Burkina Faso. The focus of Kéré’s drafts are climatic adaptation, low building costs and self building.