Kere Exhibition
"Conceptually, the formal expression of the installation was generated using a combination of organic and rectilinear geometries inspired by the contrasting layouts of the typical Burkinabé village and American city. By overlaying the organic grid of Kéré’s home village Gando with the rectilinear grid of William Penn’s Philadelphia, visual as well as conceptual parallels between the types and geometries of spaces begin to appear. Philadelphia is a modern and industrial city whose busy citizens regularly bus, drive, or train to and from work or school. Gando on the other hand, is mainly an agriculture-based society that lives in close context to the natural rhythm of the seasonal landscape. If you look beyond these differences, you might begin to find similarities in how these two societies use architecture to form social gradients ranging from the individual and private to the collective and public.
Integrated within the Colorscape, the Sounds of the Village are a collection of audio samples recorded both in Burkina Faso and Philadelphia. The sounds communicate atmosphere, an often elusive aspect of villages and cities that enrich our experience of them just as much as the visual and physical. Sounds of the Village was produced in collaboration with University of Pennsylvania Undergraduate Architecture students.
This installation was produced as part of the Creative Africa series, specifically supporting the monographic exhibition The Architecture of Francis Kéré: Building for Community."
