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Architalk Series 2024 featuring Francis Kéré
“Bridging the Gap (Climate, Culture, Material & Architecture)”
On November 22, I-House will invite world-renowned architect and 2022 recipient of the Pritzker Prize Diébédo Francis Kéré for its Architalk series of lectures. Kéré is a native of Burkina Faso and the first African to win the Pritzker Prize, the most prestigious award in architectural design. He is internationally recognized for his sustainable architectural style that achieves harmony with the climate and natural environment and that makes use of local knowledge and materials. Kazuyo Sejima of SANAA, a Pritzker Prize winner in 2010, will be the special guest commentator.
- Date：Friday, November 22, 6:30-8:00 pm (JST) *doors open at 6:00 pm
- Speaker：Francis KÉRÉ（Architect, Founder of Kéré Architecture）
- Guest commentator：Kazuyo SEJIMA（Architect, Founder of SANAA）
- Moderator：Yuko HASEGAWA（Director of Arts and Design at I-House; Director of Kanazawa 21st Century Museum）
- Admission：3,000yen (IHJ members & students 2000yen) *reservations are required
- Language：Japanese / English (with simultaneous interpretation)
- Venue：International House of Japan
- Organized by TheInternational House of Japan
- Sponsored by The Jyukankyo Foundation, MRA Foundation
Francis Kéré (Architect, Founder of Kéré Architecture)
is an internationally acclaimed architect known for his community-focused and sustainable approach. He won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004 for his first project, a primary school in his native Gando, Burkina Faso. In 2022, he became the first African architect to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Kéré’s work has been exhibited worldwide, and he currently holds professorships at TU München and Yale University. Kéré Architecture works globally. Current projects include the Benin National Parliament and Dakar’s Goethe Institut.
The internationally acclaimed architect Francis Kéré garnered critical praise from the beginning of his architectural practice when awarded the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture (2004) for his first ever building – a primary school he designed, raised the funds for and realised in collaboration with the residents of his native Gando, Burkina Faso. In 2022, he became the first African architect to receive the Pritzker Architecture Prize.
Kéré has gone on to become one of the most distinguished contemporary architects, thanks to his pioneering of a communal approach to design and his commitment to sustainable materials, as well as modes of construction. Inspired by a curiosity for the particularities of any given locality and its social tapestry, he has gathered a diverse, agile team at his Berlin-based Kéré Architecture offices, to take on projects across four continents. Most prominently these include his design for the Benin National Parliament (under construction), the Goethe Institut in Dakar (under construction), the Léo Surgical Clinic & Health Centre (2014), the Lycée Schorge Secondary School (2016), the Serpentine Pavilion (2017) and Xylem (2019), a gathering pavilion for the Tippet Rise Art Center.
Underpinning his architectural practice are his past and current teaching engagements at TU München, the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, and Yale University as well as his participation in solo and group exhibitions including at the Venice Biennale of Architecture, the Museo ICO in Madrid, the Architekturmuseum in Munich, the MoMA in New York, the Royal Academy in London and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Kazuyo Sejima（Architect, Founder of SANNA
was born in 1956 in Ibaraki and studied architecture at Japan Women’s University. In 1987, she opened her own studio, Kazuyo Sejima & Associates, and in 1995, together with Ryue Nishizawa, founded SANAA. She is currently a professor at the Polytechnic University of Milan, a visiting professor at Japan Women’s University and the Osaka University of Arts, an emeritus professor at Yokohama National University, and director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum. Major works include Saishunkan Seiyaku Women’s Dormitory, House in a Plum Grove, the Inujima Art House Project, the Sumida Hokusai Museum, and Japan Women’s University Mejiro Campus.