I would like to show you how architecture has helped to change the life of my community and has opened opportunities to hope.
我想讓你們看看 建築是如何協助 我家鄉的人們改變生活, 並且帶來許多充滿希望的機會。
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.
我是布吉納法索人, 根據世界銀行,布吉納法索 名列全球最窮國之一, 但是在那種地方長大成人 是什麼樣子? 我就是其中一例。 我出生在一個名叫甘多的小村莊。 甘多沒有電力, 沒有乾淨的飲用水,沒有學校。 但是我的父親希望我 學習如何閱讀和寫字。 因為這個因素,我必須離開家人, 我七歲時待在都市, 遠離我的村子, 無法連絡家人。 我坐的這個地方 是一間教室, 裡面有超過 150 個小孩, 長達六年。 那個時候,我到學校時 才知道我的同學死了。
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.
直到今天,並沒有多大的改變。 我的村子裡還是沒有電。 布吉納法索的人們還是不斷死去, 如何取得乾淨的飲用水 仍是個大問題。
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.
我有好運,我很幸運,因為 如果你在那樣的地方長大, 生命的真相就是如此。 但是我當時很幸運, 我有獎學金。 我可以去德國唸書。
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.
那麼現在,我想 我不需要向大家解釋對我來說 能夠站在大家面前是多麼大的恩賜。 從我在布吉納法索的家鄉甘多 到德國柏林成為建築師 是很大、很大的飛躍。 但我要怎麼利用這個恩賜呢? 從我還是個學生開始,我想幫助 其他甘多的孩子得到更好的機會。 我只想運用我的能力,蓋一所學校。 但當你還只是個學生, 而且你沒有錢,該怎麼做? 噢,對,我開始畫圖 來賺錢。 募款不是件簡單的任務。 我甚至要求同學 少花點錢在咖啡和煙上, 來贊助我的建校工程。 兩年後奇蹟發生了, 我募到五萬美元。
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.
我帶著這個好消息 回到家鄉甘多, 我的村民非常開心, 但是當他們發現 我打算用泥土來蓋, 他們都很震驚。
"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?"
「泥土建築撐不過雨季, 而方濟打算要我們用泥土來蓋所學校。 這是他花這麼多時間 在歐洲唸書, 而不和我們在田裡工作的原因嗎?」
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.
我的村民總是用泥土建造, 但是他們沒有在泥土上創新。 因此我得說服每個人。 我開始找大家談, 說服每個人, 之後就可以開工。 不分男女, 每個村子裡的人 都參與建築的過程。 我連傳統技法都用上了。 比如說泥土地, 年輕人會在這裡像這樣槌 好幾個小時, 然後換他們的母親來, 他們用這個姿勢槌 幾個小時,加水、槌打。 接著負責磨光的村民又來。 他們開始用石頭磨光好幾個小時。 最後你可以看到成品, 非常精細,就像嬰兒的屁股。 (笑聲) 這可沒修過圖。 (笑聲) 這是全村居民蓋的房子。 牆壁都是由 甘多當地的壓縮泥塊做成的。 屋頂的架構則是用 便宜的鋼條 如慣例藏在混凝土裡。 而教室的天花板是用 這兩種東西一起做的。
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.
在這所學校只有一個簡單的概念: 在教室裡打造舒適環境。 別忘了,布吉納法索可以高達 45 度, 因此要有簡單的通風, 我想讓教室 適合教學和學習。 這是工程目前的樣子, 12 歲了,依然是最好的狀態。 而且小孩都很愛它。
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.
對我和我的家鄉來說, 這個工程非常成功。 我們因此創造了許多機會 可以在甘多做更多工程。 因此我可以做更多工程, 在此我想和各位分享的 只有其中三件。
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)
第一件是擴建學校,當然。 你要怎麼解釋繪圖和工程 給連讀和寫都不懂的人聽? 我開始做像這樣的模型。 創新的是蓋一個泥造拱頂。 之後,我在上面像這樣跳, 和我的團隊一起跳,拱頂能承受。 大家都在看,拱頂仍然能承受(我們的重量)。 因此我們就可以動工了。 (笑聲) 我們持續建造,這是成果。 孩子們都很開心,他們都很喜歡。 大家都感到驕傲,我們做到了。 就連動物,像是這些驢子 也喜歡我們的房子。 (笑聲)
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.
第二個工程是甘多的圖書館。 你看現在,我們試著介紹 我們的建築裡各種不同的概念, 但是我們通常沒有很多材料, 我們在甘多有的是泥罐, 我想用來做通風口。 因此,我們就把你可以看到的這些 帶到建築現場。 我們開始切割, 接著我們在灌混凝土前, 把這些罐子放在屋頂上, 你可以看到成果。 這些通風口能排出熱空氣, 並且讓光線透進來。 非常簡單。
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.
我在甘多最新的工程 是蓋一所高中。 我想和你們分享這件事。 這個工程的創新 是澆築泥土,就像澆築混凝土一樣。 要怎麼澆築泥土呢? 我們開始製做大量的砂漿, 就像你看到的這個, 當每件事都準備就序, 當你知道什麼是最好的配料 和最好的組成, 就可以和大家一起開始工作。 有時候我可以離開, 他們可以自己做, 就像我今天可以來這裡演講。
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.
影響甘多的另一個要素是雨, 當雨來了, 我們要趕快保護脆弱的牆面, 以免被雨淋到。 別和克里斯托和珍妮克勞德搞混。 我們保護牆壁的方法很簡單。 (笑聲) 布吉納法索的雨來得很急, 在那之後會淹水, 在鄉下到處都是。 但是對我們來說,下雨很好。 雨會把沙子和砂礫帶到河裡, 我們需要運用它來建房子。 我們只要等雨下完, 收集沙子,混合泥土, 就能繼續蓋房子。 就這麼簡單。
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)
甘多的工程一向與訓練人們有關, 因為我只希望有一天 當我倒下、過世, 至少甘多還有一個人 可以繼續這項工作。 但是讓你驚訝的是,我還活著。 (笑聲)
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.
我的同胞現在可以運用他們的能力 為自己賺錢。 通常,一個從甘多來的年輕人想要賺錢, 必須離鄉背井 到城市去,有時候離開鄉村的人 永遠不會回來, 讓整個社群變得更衰弱。 但現在他們可以留在鄉村, 在不同的建地工作、 賺錢養家。 這份工作有新的品質。
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.
沒錯,你知道的。 因為這項工作我得了很多獎。 無疑的是它增加了許多機會。 我為自己帶來名聲, 但是我做這些事的原因 是為了我的家鄉。
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.
當我還是個孩子時, 我上學的時候, 每個假日都會回甘多。 在每次假期結束時, 我要跟所有家鄉的人說再見, 從一個聚落到另一個聚落。 所有在甘多的女人都會掀開 他們的衣服,就像那樣, 然後給我最後一分錢。 在我們的習俗中,這是很深的情感象徵。 當時我還是個七歲小孩,我非常感動。 有天我問媽媽: 「為什麼這些女士這麼愛我?」 (笑聲) 她只說了: 「他們想為你的教育盡一分心力, 希望你能成功, 有一天回來協助 大家改善生活品質。」 我希望能透過這項工作 讓大家感到榮耀, 我希望能向你證明 社群的力量, 讓你看到建築 可以激勵大家 塑造自己的未來。
Merci beaucoup. (Applause) Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause)
非常感謝。(掌聲) 謝謝!謝謝!謝謝!謝謝! 謝謝!謝謝!(掌聲)