Francis Kéré: Radically Simple

Catalogue and exhibition design for Francis Kéré: Radically Simple, held at the Architekturmuseum TU München in der Pinakothek der Moderne, 17th November 2016–26th February 2017.

Unlike almost any other architect, Diébédo Francis Kéré (*1965 in Burkina Faso) stands for the association of constructive, social, and cultural aspects of building. He made a name for himself not only with his designs for Christoph Schlingensief’s Opera Village Africa. He has received numerous international awards, primarily for his building projects in his native country of Burkina Faso – including the 2004 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. His structures join his formal training at the Technische Universität Berlin with the traditional building methods of Burkina Faso. In doing so, he places local social and historical needs at the center of his design concepts. The innovative thing about this work is: he relies on the inhabitants. They are trained to become professionals and thus the constructors of their own future. This first monograph on his extensive oeuvre provides unique insight into the creative work of this outstanding architect and renders visible the fact that architecture not only revolves around buildings but always around people as well.

According to the visual language of Francis Kéré’s architecture, Verena Gerlach designed two special display typefaces that were used for the exhibition. Inspired by original shop letterings from Burkina Faso, Gerlach designed Kommune and another face named Unknown (yet unreleased, shown here in use for numerals). Another reference to Burkina Faso are the patterns and borders, used for chapter openings. Kommune and Unknown are paired with another typeface by Gerlach: FF Sizmo.

Kommune was later extended into stencil and non-stencil typefaces and is currently available in 2 widths and 4 weights.

Published by Hatje Cantz, 2016
Ed. Andres Lepik, text(s) by Andres Lepik et al., Ayca Beygo
208 pp., 260 ills.
hardcover, 24×28 cm