ABSTRACT

A project that is exemplary of the recent proliferation of socially responsible architecture is the school complex in Gando, Burkina Faso, designed by the Berlin-based architect Diébédo Francis Kéré. Kéré engaged in the project in the late 1990s, starting first with the design and construction of a primary school. This kind of public program is emblematic of the wide range of architectural typologies that currently emerge under the banner of ‘social engagement’, such as markets, assembly halls, cultural centers, sports facilities, health clinics and so forth. The enterprise had a special meaning to the architect, as the beneficiary of the school was the community in which the architect had grown up before leaving for Germany to commence his architectural education. In order to raise money for the project, Kéré established his own foundation, Schulbausteine für Gando.