I would like to show you how architecture has helped to change the life of my community and has opened opportunities to hope.
Želeo bih da vam pokažem kako je arhitektura pomogla da se promeni život u mojoj zajednici i kako je pružila priliku za nadu.
I am a native of Burkina Faso. According to the World Bank, Burkina Faso is one of the poorest countries in the world, but what does it look like to grow up in a place like that? I am an example of that. I was born in a little village called Gando. In Gando, there was no electricity, no access to clean drinking water, and no school. But my father wanted me to learn how to read and write. For this reason, I had to leave my family when I was seven and to stay in a city far away from my village with no contact with my family. In this place I sat in a class like that with more than 150 other kids, and for six years. In this time, it just happened to me to come to school to realize that my classmate died.
Rođen sam u Burkini Faso. Prema Svetskoj banci, Burkina Faso je jedna od najsiromašnijih zemalja na svetu, ali kako izgleda odrastati na takvom mestu? Ja sam primer toga. Rođen sam u malom selu zvanom Gando. U Gandu nije bilo struje, ni pristupa čistoj, pitkoj vodi, ni škole. Ali moj otac je želeo da naučim da čitam i pišem. Iz tog razloga, morao sam napustiti porodicu kad sam imao sedam godina, i otići u grad daleko od mog sela, bez kontakta sa mojom porodicom. Na tom mestu sam sedeo u razredu poput ovog, sa više od 150 dece, tokom šest godina. U to vreme, desilo mi se da sam došao u školu i shvatio da je moj drug iz odelenja umro.
Today, not so much has changed. There is still no electricity in my village. People still are dying in Burkina Faso, and access to clean drinking water is still a big problem.
Danas, nije se mnogo toga promenilo. Još uvek nema struje u mom selu. Ljudi i dalje umiru u Burkini Faso, i pristup čistoj vodi za piće je i dalje veliki problem.
I had luck. I was lucky, because this is a fact of life when you grow up in a place like that. But I was lucky. I had a scholarship. I could go to Germany to study.
Imao sam sreće. Činjenica je da sam bio srećan jer sam uspeo da odrastem na takvom mestu. Ali imao sam sreće. Dobio sam stipendiju. Mogao sam ići u Nemačku da studiram.
So now, I suppose, I don't need to explain to you how great a privilege it is for me to be standing before you today. From Gando, my home village in Burkina Faso, to Berlin in Germany to become an architect is a big, big step. But what to do with this privilege? Since I was a student, I wanted to open up better opportunities to other kids in Gando. I just wanted to use my skills and build a school. But how do you do it when you're still a student and you don't have money? Oh yes, I started to make drawings and asked for money. Fundraising was not an easy task. I even asked my classmates to spend less money on coffee and cigarettes, but to sponsor my school project. In real wonder, two years later, I was able to collect 50,000 U.S. dollars.
Tako da sada, pretpostavljam, nema potrebe da vam objašnjavam kako je velika privilegija za mene što stojim ovde pred vama danas. Iz Ganda, mog rodnog sela u Burkini Faso, do Berlina u Nemačkoj da bih postao arhitekta, to je veliki, veliki korak. Ali šta da radim sa tom privilegijom? S obzirom da sam bio student, želeo sam da pružim bolje prilike ostaloj deci u Gandu. Samo sam želeo da upotrebim svoje veštine i izgradim školu. Ali kako da to uradiš dok si još student i nemaš novca? O da, počeo sam da crtam i tražio novac. Skupljanje sredstava nije lak zadatak. Čak sam pitao svoje kolege studente da troše manje novca na kafu i cigarete, da bi sponzorisali moj projekat škole. Za pravo čudo, dve godine kasnije, sakupio sam 50 000 američkih dolara.
When I came home to Gando to bring the good news, my people were over the moon, but when they realized that I was planning to use clay, they were shocked.
Kada sam došao kući u Gando i doneo dobre vesti, moji ljudi su bili presrećni, ali kada su shvatili da planiram da koristim glinu, bili su šokirani.
"A clay building is not able to stand a rainy season, and Francis wants us to use it and build a school. Is this the reason why he spent so much time in Europe studying instead of working in the field with us?"
"Zgrada od gline ne može da opstane kroz kišnu sezonu, a Fransis hoće da je koristi za izgradnju škole. Da li je zato proveo tako mnogo vremena studirajući u Evropi, umesto da je radio u polju sa nama?"
My people build all the time with clay, but they don't see any innovation with mud. So I had to convince everybody. I started to speak with the community, and I could convince everybody, and we could start to work. And the women, the men, everybody from the village, was part of this building process. I was allowed to use even traditional techniques. So clay floor for example, the young men come and stand like that, beating, hours for hours, and then their mothers came, and they are beating in this position, for hours, giving water and beating. And then the polishers come. They start polishing it with a stone for hours. And then you have this result, very fine, like a baby bottom. (Laughter) It's not photoshopped. (Laughter) This is the school, built with the community. The walls are totally made out of compressed clay blocks from Gando. The roof structure is made with cheap steel bars normally hiding inside concrete. And the classroom, the ceiling is made out of both of them used together.
Moj narod stalno gradi pomoću gline, ali oni ne vide nikakvu inovaciju u blatu. Pa sam morao da ih sve ubedim. Počeo sam da se obraćam zajednici, i uspeo sve da ubedim, i mogli smo početi sa radom. I žene, i muškarci, svi iz sela, svi su bili deo ovog procesa izgradnje. Bilo mi je dozvoljeno čak i da koristim tradicionalne tehnike. Tako na primer, zemljani pod, mladići stanu ovako i udaraju satima i satima, a zatim dođu njihove majke, i one udaraju u ovom položaju, satima, dodaju vodu i udaraju. Zatim su došli ljudi koji poliraju. Poliraju kamenom satima. I onda imate ovaj rezultat, veoma fin, kao bebina guza. (Smeh) Nije obrađeno u fotošopu. (Smeh) Ovo je škola, izgrađena sa zajednicom. Zidovi su u celosti izgrađeni od kompresovanih, glinenih blokova iz Ganda. Krovna konstrukcija je izgrađena od jeftinih čeličnih šipki koje se inače kriju unutar betona. I u učionici, plafon je napravljen od jednog i drugog zajedno.
In this school, there was a simple idea: to create comfort in a classroom. Don't forget, it can be 45 degrees in Burkina Faso, so with simple ventilation, I wanted to make the classroom good for teaching and learning. And this is the project today, 12 years old, still in best condition. And the kids, they love it.
Kod ove škole, postojala je jednostavna ideja: stvoriti komfor u učionici. Ne zaboravite, u Burkini Faso može biti i 45 stepeni, pa sam jednostavnom ventilacijom želeo napraviti učionicu dobrom za predavanje i učenje. Ovo je projekat danas, star 12 godina, još uvek u najboljem stanju. I deca je obožavaju.
And for me and my community, this project was a huge success. It has opened up opportunities to do more projects in Gando. So I could do a lot of projects, and here I am going to share with you only three of them.
Za mene i moju zajednicu, ovaj projekat je bio ogroman uspeh. Otvorio je prilike za mnoge projekte u Gandu. Tako da sam mogao uraditi mnogo projekata, i ovde sam da podelim sa vama samo tri od njih.
The first one is the school extension, of course. How do you explain drawings and engineering to people who are neither able to read nor write? I started to build a prototype like that. The innovation was to build a clay vault. So then, I jumped on the top like that, with my team, and it works. The community is looking. It still works. So we can build. (Laughter) And we kept building, and that is the result. The kids are happy, and they love it. The community is very proud. We made it. And even animals, like these donkeys, love our buildings. (Laughter)
Prvi je, naravno, proširenje škole. Kako da objasnite nacrte i inženjerstvo ljudima koji ne znaju da čitaju i pišu? Počeo sam tako da gradim prototip. Inovacija je bila izgradnja zemljanog luka. Onda sam skočio tako na vrh, sa svojim timom, i uspelo je. Zajednica posmatra. Još uvek stoji. Pa možemo graditi. (Smeh) Nastavili smo da gradimo i ovo je rezultat. Deca su srećna, sviđa im se. Zajednica je veoma ponosna. Mi smo to izgradili. Čak i životinje, kao ovi magarci, vole naše zgrade. (Smeh)
The next project is the library in Gando. And see now, we tried to introduce different ideas in our buildings, but we often don't have so much material. Something we have in Gando are clay pots. We wanted to use them to create openings. So we just bring them like you can see to the building site. we start cutting them, and then we place them on top of the roof before we pour the concrete, and you have this result. The openings are letting the hot air out and light in. Very simple.
Sledeći projekat je biblioteka u Gandu. I vidite sad, pokušali smo da uvedemo drugačije ideje u naše zgrade, ali često nemamo mnogo materijala. Nešto što imamo u Gandu su glineni lonci. Želeli smo da ih koristimo za stvaranje otvora. Pa ih donesemo, kao što vidite, na mesto izgradnje. Počnemo da ih sečemo, i onda ih postavimo po krovu pre nego što izlijemo beton, i imate ovaj rezultat. Otvori puštaju van vreli vazduh, a svetlost unutra. Veoma jednostavno.
My most recent project in Gando is a high school project. I would like to share with you this. The innovation in this project is to cast mud like you cast concrete. How do you cast mud? We start making a lot of mortars, like you can see, and when everything is ready, when you know what is the best recipe and the best form, you start working with the community. And sometimes I can leave. They will do it themselves. I came to speak to you like that.
Moj najskoriji projekat u Gandu je projekat srednje škole. Želeo bih ovo da podelim sa vama. Inovacija u ovom projektu je izlivanje blata, poput izlivanja betona. Kako izliti blato? Počeli smo izradom dosta maltera, kao što možete videti, i kada je sve spremno, kada znate koji je najbolji recept, i najbolji oblik, počnete da radite sa zajednicom. Ponekad mogu i da odem. Oni će uraditi sve sami. Tako sam došao i ovde da vam govorim ovo.
Another factor in Gando is rain. When the rains come, we hurry up to protect our fragile walls against the rain. Don't confound with Christo and Jeanne-Claude. It is simply how we protect our walls. (Laughter) The rain in Burkina comes very fast, and after that, you have floods everywhere in the country. But for us, the rain is good. It brings sand and gravel to the river we need to use to build. We just wait for the rain to go. We take the sand, we mix it with clay, and we keep building. That is it.
Još jedan faktor u Gandu je kiša. Kada dođu kiše, mi žurimo da zaštitimo naše krhke zidove od kiše. Nemojte da vas zbune Kristo i Žan-Klod. Jednostavno, tako štitimo naše zidove. (Smeh) Kiša u Burkini dođe veoma brzo, i posle toga, imate poplave svugde u zemlji. Ali za nas, kiša je dobra. Donosi pesak i šljunak u reku, koji su nam potrebni za gradnju. Samo sačekamo da prođe kiša. Uzmemo pesak, pomešamo ga sa glinom, i nastavljamo da gradimo. To je to.
The Gando project was always connected to training the people, because I just wanted, one day when I fall down and die, that at least one person from Gando keeps doing this work. But you will be surprised. I'm still alive. (Laughter)
Projekat Gando je uvek bio povezan sa obučavanjem ljudi, jer sam želeo, da jednoga dana, kada padnem i umrem, bar jedna osoba iz Ganda nastavi ovaj rad. Ali bićete iznenađeni. Još uvek sam živ. (Smeh)
And my people now can use their skills to earn money themselves. Usually, for a young man from Gando to earn money, you have to leave the country to the city, sometimes leave the country and some never come back, making the community weaker. But now they can stay in the country and work on different building sites and earn money to feed their family. There's a new quality in this work.
Moji ljudi sada mogu da koriste svoje veštine da sami zarade novac. Obično, da bi mladi čovek iz Ganda zaradio novac, mora da napusti selo i ode u grad, ponekad da napusti zemlju i neki se nikad ne vrate, što zajednicu čini slabijom. Ali sada mogu ostati u zemlji i raditi na raznim građevinskim lokacijama i zaraditi novac za svoje porodice. Postoji nov kvalitet u ovom radu.
Yes, you know it. I have won a lot of awards through this work. For sure, it has opened opportunities. I have become myself known. But the reason why I do what I do is my community.
Da, vi to znate. Osvojio sam mnogo nagrada kroz ovaj posao. Zasigurno, otvorio mi je mnoge prilike. Postao sam poznat. Ali razlog zbog kojeg radim to što radim je moja zajednica.
When I was a kid, I was going to school, I was coming back every holiday to Gando. By the end of every holidays, I had to say goodbye to the community, going from one compound to another one. All women in Gando will open their clothes like that and give me the last penny. In my culture, this is a symbol of deep affection. As a seven-year-old guy, I was impressed. I just asked my mother one day, "Why do all these women love me so much?" (Laughter) She just answered, "They are contributing to pay for your education hoping that you will be successful and one day come back and help improve the quality of life of the community." I hope now that I was able to make my community proud through this work, and I hope I was able to prove you the power of community, and to show you that architecture can be inspiring for communities to shape their own future.
Kada sam bio dete, išao sam u školu, i za raspust sam se uvek vraćao u Gando. Na kraju svakog raspusta, morao sam reći zbogom zajednici, idući iz jedne sredine u drugu. Sve žene u Gandu bi ovako otvorile svoju odeću i dale mi poslednji peni. U mojoj kulturi, to je simbol duboke naklonosti. Kao sedmogodišnjak, bio sam impresioniran. Pitao sam majku jednoga dana: "Zašto me sve ove žene toliko vole?" (Smeh) Samo mi je odgovorila: "Doprinose plaćanju tvog školovanja jer se nadaju da ćeš biti upešan i da ćeš se jednog dana vratiti i pomoći da se popravi kvalitet života u zajednici." Nadam se da sam uspeo da učinim zajednicu ponosnom kroz ovaj rad, i nadam se da sam uspeo da vam dokažem snagu zajednice, i da vam pokažem da arhitektura može inspirisati zajednice da oblikuju svoju budućnost.
Merci beaucoup. (Applause) Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause)
Mnogo hvala. (Aplauz) Hvala. Hvala. Hvala. Hvala. (Aplauz)