The pioneer of sustainable architecture, Francis Keré, will be, once again, in Porto

Francis Keré, award winning architect from Burkina Faso, will be in Porto to deliver a conference at Exponor, on 21 November, at 6pm.

Keré was one of the keynote speakers of the Forum of the Future, in 2017, in Porto, where he talked about architecture as a social act. The so-called pioneer of sustainable architecture was awarded the Aga Khan Prize in Architecture, in 2004, for his first designed school in his homeland, the Elementary School in Gando, in Burkina Faso, a school built on the contribution of the community, as for Keré "architecture is a social act that engages communities and serves humanity". 

Francis Kéré was the first African to design the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, in 2017. He has also presented his work in London, at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, in 2018, and at the Biennial of Architecture in Venice, in 2016 and in 2018.

Francis Keré will display his work, for the first time in Portugal, at the Concreta Fair, at the Exponor, which runs from 21st to 24th November. The "Keré Architecture" exhibition opens on 21st, at 5pm. The conference follows with the presentation of the monography of his main work.

As a young boy, Keré carried all sort of materials at construction sites and was already paving the way towards his life project - architecture.

"I grew up with the idea of making things better one day. If you talk about a building, to make it better it is just to become an architect, to try to improve the building environment. I don't know when it arrived, but when I finished building my first school I realised that was something I liked doing. And so I did", said Francis in an interview to Porto., on occasion of the Forum of the Future, on November 2017.

Entrance to the conference is 8 euros. The "Keré Architecture" exhibition will be on show till 24th November. Entrance to the exhibition is 3 euros (industry professionals) and 5 euros (general public).

The architect from Burkina highlights among his most significant references in architecture Louis Isadore Kahn, Mies van der Rohe and Siza.

Francis Kéré is currently based in Berlin, although he travels a lot in order to keep track of new trends and projects.

"I was here almost two years ago for one week. This will not be the last time. This is such a rich city", Keré stated at the time, in 2017 in Porto, in the scope of the Forum of the Future.

And so, here we meet again!