BURKINA FASO’S Diebedo Francis Kere has become the first African and the first black person to win the Pritzker prize, architecture’s equivalent of the Nobel.

“For the gifts he has created through his work, gifts that go beyond the realm of the architecture discipline, Francis Kere is named the 2022 Pritzker Prize Laureate,” reads the jury’s citation.

Kere’s work has consistently highlighted the role of design in creating what he calls “coherent and peaceful cities.” When Burkina Faso’s National Assembly building in Ouagadougou was burned down during the country’s 2014 uprising, Kere put forward a proposal for the new complex. It was to be a symbol of the transparency and inclusiveness that the protesters demanded of the new government.