Prose 生活隨筆: Diébédo Francis Kéré – 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner 普利茲克建築獎得獎者

From a Chinese article, I learned that Diébédo Francis Kéré won the 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize. Although the winner is unknown to me and I only know that the Pritzker Architecture Prize is related to Architecture, I was very moved after reading the article. After checking the Pritzker Architecture Prize website, I find out that the Pritzker Architecture Prize is an award presented annually “to honor a living architect or architects whose built work demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision and commitment, which has produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.” So it focuses not only on the architect’s work, but also on its creativity and contribution to humanity. Why does this story move me?

Diébédo Francis Kéré was born in the village of Gando, Burkina Faso in 1965. Burkina Faso is a country in West Africa and it is one of the world’s least educated and most impoverished nations, a land void of clean drinking water, electricity and infrastructure. Although born in such an environment, he didn’t give up on himself. Following his father’s arrangement, he left home to go to school at the age of seven because there was no school in his hometown. But the classroom that he attended was constructed with cement blocks, lacked light and ventilation, and was crowded with more than 100 students. It was in this uncomfortable learning environment that motivated him to design better schools in the future.

In 1985, he traveled to Berlin on a vocational carpentry scholarship, learning to make roofs and furniture by day, while attending secondary classes at night. After completing the apprenticeship, he was awarded a scholarship to attend Technische Universität Berlin (Berlin, Germany) in 1995, graduating in 2004 with an advanced degree in architecture. During his studies he felt it was his duty to contribute to his family and to the community which had supported him, and to give the next generation the opportunity to follow in his footsteps. He established a foundation and funded the construction of a primary school for his village. His first building, Gando Primary School (2001, Gando, Burkina Faso), was built by and for the people of Gando. Locals offered their input, labor and resources from conception to completion, crafting nearly every part of the school by hand, guided by the architect’s inventive forms of indigenous materials and modern engineering. I respect his spirit of reciprocated gratitude. I also admire him for using his knowledge and wisdom to make more use of the local environmental resources, and to teach the villagers what he knows so that they can have vocational skills to improve their personal and community life. His contributions are not limited to his own hometown, and his built works can also be seen in Africa, Europe and the United States.

Seeing the following passage on the Pritzker Architecture Prize website, you can tell the principles of Diébédo Francis Kéré’s design and the reason for the award. “With each trip back to Gando, Kéré has bestowed purposeful ideas, technical knowledge, environmental understanding and aesthetic solutions, but his service to humanity through cultural sensitivity, process of engagement and devotion proves as a constant example of generosity to the world.” And Kéré’s words are also very inspiring. “I considered my work a private task, a duty to this community. But every person can take the time to go and investigate things that are existing. We have to fight to create the quality that we need to improve people’s lives.” Benefits to the people are always his focus.

我在一篇中文的報導中得知迪埃贝多·弗朗西斯·凯雷（Diébédo Francis Kéré）榮獲 2022 年普利茲克建築獎，我雖然沒聽說過這位得獎人，只知普利茲克建築獎與建築有關，但是讀完報導後我很感動。查了普利茲克建築獎的網站，才知道普利茲克建築獎是一個每年頒發一次的獎項，“以表彰仍在世的建築師，他們的建築作品展示了融合才華、遠見和承諾的品質，藉由建築藝術為人類和建築環境做出了持續且重大的貢獻。” 所以這個獎不只注重於建築師的建築成品，也重視其創意及對人類的貢獻。為什麼這個故事感動我呢？

迪埃贝多·弗朗西斯·凯雷於 1965 年出生在布基納法索的甘多村。布基納法索是西非的一個國家，是世界上教育程度最低、最貧困的國家之一，沒有乾淨的飲用水、電力和基礎設施。雖然出生在這樣的環境裡，迪埃贝多·弗朗西斯·凯雷並未自暴自棄。因為他的家鄉沒有學校，於是他遵從他父親的安排，七歲便離家去外地上學。但是那個用水泥蓋的教室，採光及通風都不佳，又擠著一百多個學生，就是在這種不舒服的學習環境下，激發了他未來要設計更好學校的動力。

1985 年，他獲得職業木工獎學金前往柏林，白天學習製作屋頂和家具，晚上去修中學的課程。完成見習期後，他於 1995 年獲得獎學金進入柏林工業大學（德國柏林），並於 2004 年以建築學研究生學位畢業。在學習期間，他覺得自己有責任為家人和支持他的社區做出貢獻，並讓下一代有機會追隨他的腳步。他成立了一個基金會，在他家鄉的村莊資助建造了一所小學。他的第一座建築成品甘多小學（2001 年，布基納法索甘多），是由甘多人民來建造，也是為了甘多人民建造的。當地人從構想到完成都提供了他們的意見、勞力和資源，在建築師運用本土材料和現代工程創造性形式的指導下，學校的每個部分幾乎都由手工完成。我很敬重這種知恩圖報的精神。我也敬佩他運用他的知識及智慧，多加利用當地的環境資源，並將他所知教導給村民，讓他們能有職業技能，進而改善他們個人及社區的生活。他的貢獻不限於他自己的家鄉，在非洲及歐美也可以看到他的作品。

在普利茲克建築獎的網站上看到這段話，可以看到迪埃贝多·弗朗西斯·凯雷設計的原則及得獎的原因。「每次回到甘多，凯雷都灌輸了有目的的想法、技術知識、環境理解和美學解決方案，但他透過對文化的敏感性、參與過程和奉獻精神來服務人類，證明了他對世界貢獻的一貫例子。」而凯雷的這段話也是很激勵人心的。「我認為我的工作是一項私人任務，是對這個社區的責任。但是每個人都可以花時間去探討現有的事物。我們必須爭取創造改善人們生活所需的質量。」為民造福始終是他的焦點。