can an architect truly help bring change
in society
can the quality of build space
make lives of people better
a lot of people think not but maybe your
perception might change by the end of
this video
but why am i talking about this is this
video not about the pritzker prize
winner of the year 2022 the ebedo
francis carre
yep it is but to understand why he won
his pritzker we also need to ask what is
the essence of his architecture in this
video we will look at who francis carrey
is
what is his body of work like and why
was he selected for this prize but more
importantly
how do his structures connect with the
lives of the people and of communities
welcome to bless dark and today on this
channel we are looking at the life and
designs of the pritzker winner for the
year 2022 the ebedo francis carey
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the announcement of this year's prize is
not only exciting because of the work
that francis carey has done over his
life
but because of his interesting
beginnings as well
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he was born in bukhina faso one of the
world's least educated and most
impoverished nations
a land devoid of clean drinking water
electricity and infrastructure
let alone architecture
it is growing up here that kerry
understood what architecture or lack of
can do to any region in his own words i
grew up in a community where there was
no kindergarten
but where community was your family
everyone took care of you and the entire
village was your playground
my days were filled with securing food
and water but also simply being together
talking together building houses
together
i remember the room where my grandmother
would sit and tell stories with a little
light while we would huddle close to
each other and a voice inside the room
and closed us
summoning us to come closer and form a
safe place
this was my first sense of architecture
kerry was the oldest son of the village
chief and the first in his community to
attend school but his own city of gando
did not have a school at the time
so he had to leave his family at the age
of 7 to go and study
but even being away from his family he
wasn't in a fancy beautifully designed
space his small childhood classroom was
constructed of cement blocks and lagged
ventilation and light
trapped in that extreme climate with
over 100 classrooms for hours at a time
he vowed to one day make schools better
in 1985 he uprooted again and traveled
to berlin on a vocational carpentry
scholarship
learning to make roofs and furniture by
day while attending secondary classes at
night he was awarded a scholarship to
attend a university in berlin in 1995
and in 2004 he graduated with an
advanced degree in architecture so
studying architecture in a foreign
country did have an influence on his
design style
but no matter how far carrick got he
never forgot about his homeland
and about his childhood
he remembered his wow to build better
schools for his village and he soon
established a foundation
with which he raised funds and advocated
for a child's right to a comfortable
classroom
in 2001 he built his first project and
that was the gandho primary school it
was a building built by and for the
people locals offered their input labor
and resources from conception to
completion
crafting nearly every part of the school
by hand guided by carrie's inventive
forms of indigenous materials and modern
engineering his design was geared to
combat extreme heat and poor lighting
conditions with limited resources as he
said
good architecture in bukhina faso is a
classroom where you can sit
have light that is filtered entering the
way that you want to use it across a
blackboard or a desk
how can we take away the heat coming
from the sun but use the light to our
benefit
creating climate conditions to give
basic comfort allows for true teaching
learning and excitement
indigenous clay was fortified with
cement to form bricks with bioclimatic
thermal mass
retaining cooler air inside while
allowing heat to escape through a brick
ceiling
and wide overhanging elevated roof
resulting in ventilation without the
mechanical intervention of air
conditioning
the success of this project
increased the school student body from
120 to 700 students
and later more buildings were added like
the teacher's housing an extension of
the school
and the library
the success of this project awarded him
the agar khan award for architecture in
2004 and was the catalyst for
establishing his practice career
architecture in berlin in 2005.
the realization of additional primary
secondary post-secondary and medical
facilities
soon followed throughout bukhina faso
kenya mozambique and uganda
kerry's built work in africa have
yielded exponential results
not only by providing academic education
for children and medical treatment for
the unwell but also by providing
occupational opportunities and
vocational skills for adults therefore
serving and stabilizing the future of
entire communities
so the reason his architecture is
important is not just because of what he
creates but how he creates it in the
jewelry citation for the pritzker prize
they said
he knows from within that architecture
is not about the object
but the objective
not the product but the process
francis carries entire body of work
shows us the power of materiality rooted
in place
his buildings for and with communities
are directly off those communities
in their making the materials their
programs and their unique characters the
impact of his work in primary and
secondary schools catalyzed the
inception of many institutions
each demonstrating sensitivity to
bioclimatic environments and
sustainability distinctive to locality
and impacting many generations
let's talk about some of his works
startup lions campus in kenya an
information and communication
technologies campus
uses local quarry stone and stack towers
for passive cooling to minimize the air
conditioning required to protect
technology equipment
bukina institute of technology is
composed of cooling clay walls that were
cast in situ to accelerate the building
process now nature and symbolism are
also a huge part of his work
the west african tradition of communing
under a sacred tree to exchange ideas
narrate stories celebrate and assemble
is one that you will see in a lot of his
works
sarbalai ke at coachella valley music
and arts festival
translates to the house of celebration
in his native bhissa language and
references the shape of the hollowing
baabab tree revered in his homeland for
its medicinal properties
the serpentine pavilion also takes its
central shape from the form of a tree
and its disconnected yet curved walls
are formed by triangular indigo modules
identifying with color representing
strength in his culture and more
personally a blue bobo garment worn by
the architect as a child the detached
roof resonates with that of his
buildings in africa but inside the
pavilion rainwater funnels into the
center of the structure
highlighting water scarcity that is
experienced
worldwide the benin national assembly
currently under construction and
situated on a public park is inspired by
the pallava tree
while parliament convenes on the inside
citizens may also assemble under the
wash shade at the base of the building
so time and time again with project
after project his solutions have been
local all distinct and yet he takes a
part of his culture and is upbringing
everywhere and the best part is his
architecture yearns to get people
involved in the whole process so
remember the question i posed at the
start of this video
can architecture truly change the lives
of people now i think it can
but not just by itself it's not just a
piece of structure that can do this
alone but how it is created
the process behind it and that is what
kerry's work shows
i would like to quickly show you the
selected works that caught him to be
awarded the prize in 2022
and while we see the projects i would
like to read out some lines from the
jury citation
in a world in crisis amidst changing
values and generations he reminds us of
what has been and will undoubtedly
continue to be the cornerstone of
architectural practice
a sense of community and narrative
quality
which he himself is so able to recount
with compassion and pride
in this he provides a narrative in which
architecture can become a source of
continued and lasting happiness and joy
so now i hope you get a better idea of
who this man is and what is the kind of
architecture he practices
and why he was chosen as the winner for
the pritzker prize 2022
there is a lot more to discuss about his
life and his work
but i want to keep this video short
and i think i will make a detailed one
exploring all his designs very soon but
before we leave i would like to end this
video with some very beautiful words by
kerry
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i am hoping to change the paradigm push
people to dream and undergo risk
it is not because you are rich that you
should waste material it is not because
you are poor that you should not try to
create quality everyone deserves quality
everyone deserves luxury
and everyone deserves comfort
we are interlinked and concerns in
climate democracy and scarcity
are concerned for us all
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and that was it you guys that was my
video for the pritzker winner 2022 the
bedo francis carey i hope you liked that
video and got something from it now let
me know your thoughts on this year's
selection and his work down in the
comments below before you leave do
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with more such content until then
bye bye
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you