Usually representing spirits, ancestors or the primordial couple, these figures were placed in shrines and treated with great respect. Through a wide range of style, scale, belief and function the couples depicted share a timeless, serene equality necessary to the continuity of their societies.

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Noomdo Orphanage / Kere Architecture

Situated in the rural countryside of the Boulkiemdé province of Burkina Faso, the Noomdo Orphanage lies approximately 2 kilometers outside of the city of Koudougou. Mimicking the nearby residential compounds, the project is layed out in a similar way to a small village clustered around a communal outdoor space. The complex consists of 5 modular courtyard buildings, a shaded open-air dining hall...

Lycée Schorge Secondary School / Kere Architecture

Located in the third most populated city in Burkina Faso, the Lycée Schorge Secondary School not only sets a new standard for educational excellence in the region, it also provides a source of inspiration by showcasing locally-sourced building materials in an innovative and modern way.

Kisito Children's Home / Albert Faus Architects

Kisito Children's Home is a Residential Childcare for babies 0-24 months. Recent years some children have come presenting disabilities result of encephalopathy, which is why it has been impossible to find a host family until now. The orphanage is permanently at the limit of its capacity which forces babies and infants with disabilities to share resting place. As the responsible explained, this ...

Francis Kéré Unveils Burkina Faso's New National Assembly in Ouagadougou

At the 2016 Venice Biennale, Francis Kere unveiled, as part of the exhibition “in search of a new Ouagadougou” the schemes for the design of the Burkina Faso National Assembly. In the transformative time for Burkina Faso, the scheme can be summed as tackling the fundamental question of “How do we move forward”. It consequently not only seeks to address the democratic values of transparency, ope...

Koudougou Central Market / Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation + Laurent Séchaud

Designed as an urban community project, the mission and end goal of the design was to improve the human spirit by responding to the growing need for clean water, power, shelter, healthcare and education. Being an Aga Khan Award-winning design, the Central market in Koudougou involved not just the construction of a physical urban infrastructure, but also the elaboration and implementation of a p...

International Conference Center / CAAU Architects

Located on 10ha of a 213ha site in the Ouaga 2000 district, the International conference center project, complemented by an immense urban park, was launched by the Burkina Faso Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs through a design competition, and reflects the ambitious goals and extremely high standards that lie at its foundation. The site is bordered by the Ouaga 2000 development towards the...

Gando Primary School / Kéré Architecture

If you have had the chance to interact with the works of one Diebedo Francis Kere, then you will understand why ArchiDATUM loves this man. His work speaks volumes about architecture in Africa; designing for what we know, and where our heart is. If you have heard the opportunity to listen to Kere talk about his work, then you know he is a passionate man, and a humorous one, if I might add. Susta...

Centre de Santé et de Promotion Sociale/ Kéré Architecture

Located in Laongo, a village not too far from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital, the health facility known as Centre de Santé et de Promotion Sociale,which translates to Centre for health and social advancement was set up as an important component of the Village Opera project produced in conjunction with the late Christoph Schlingensief, and is geared towards providing basic health and medic...

Tena Tower-Tena Lakes/ Manuelle Gautrand

Aimed for sustainability as well as innovation and a construction argued to offer many job opportunities in the city, The Tena Tower- Tena Lakes is an ambitious urban complex project with a mixed use tower, 200 villas and facilities set to be located in the wealthy district of Ouaga 2000 in the southern part of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Designed in the context of a landlocked country with few ...

Opera Village Laongo/ Kéré Architecture

Initiated by the German film and theatre director, actor and artist Christoph Schlingensief, the Opera Village is an arts education project operated by Festspielhaus Afrika. When Francis Kéré first heard the idea of an opera house for Africa, he thought that it was crazy until he met Christoph Schlingensief, the initiator and visionary of the project "Opera House for Africa”. The architect’s co...

Centre pour le Bien-être des Femmes/ FARE Studio

Focused on contrasting the diffusion of Female Genital Mutilation/Excision [FGM], the CBF [Centre pour le Bien-être des Femmes] Women’s Health Centre in Burkina Faso complex investigates the possibility of creating a prototype for cooperation in development in Sub Saharan Countries. The social/health-services program developed by AIDOS, together with its local partners, focuses on providing edu...

Ouagadougou International Airport / ENIA Architects

The existing airport was built in the1960s and has almost certainly outgrown its capacity constraints. It is located in the center of the city, approximately 1.5km southeast of the main commercial area. The airport site itself is approximately 4.8km in length, 0.5km in width at its narrowest point, and covers an area of approximately 426hectares.