Diebedo Francis Kere was born in Burkina Faso in 1965. His first construction was a school building in his hometown of Gando, in which Kere used local building materials and an effective natural ventilation system that reliably protects students from overheating and stuffiness. Kere continued his architectural education in Berlin, where he graduated from the Technical University in 2004 and founded the Kéré Architecture bureau. Among the most successful projects of this company are a girls' high school in India, a Red Cross museum in Switzerland, and an international convention center in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso).
The international jury of the "Marcus Prize", which this year was headed by Toshiko Mori, chose Kere among 30 other nominees from 13 countries. Preference was given to this particular architect for "the ability to use the traditions of Western architecture in the name of the needs and values of indigenous peoples and the readiness to always give preference to energy efficient technologies."
The Marcus Prize is awarded every two years by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and the Marcus Corporation Foundation and has a cash equivalent of US $ 100,000. Half of this amount is awarded to the laureate, and half is spent on organizing his seminars at the university and a series of public workshops. Recall that the prize has been awarded since 2005: the Dutch bureau MVRDV became its first laureate, the Berlin studio Barkow + Leibinger Architects was the second, and the third was the architect Alejandro Aravena from Chile.
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