Opera Village
Under construction
2010 -
Laongo, Burkina Faso
14.230 sqm
Festspielhaus Afrika GmbH
ICI, Answer Architects
The Opera Village is the fruit of an exceptional collaboration between Francis Kéré, founder and principal architect of Kéré Architecture, and the late Christoph Schlingensief, iconic theatre and film director and key figure of the German cultural scene. Schlingensief was first drawn to Kéré by his fascination with the element of participation that underlies many of Kéré Architecture’s projects and which he likened to Joseph Beuy’s idea of social sculpture.
The project lies at the crossroads of art and architecture, a powerful and utopian concept built as a tangible manifestation – an opera house at the heart of a village. Rooted in Schlingensief’s belief that performance takes place beyond the stage, the village becomes the backdrop against which the comedy and tragedy of daily life are played out.
Central to the concept of the Opera Village is the idea of something perpetually unfinished and continuously developing; a respect for the importance of slowness and an appreciation of the course of maturation. In this the compromise between the fluidity of art and the formal nature of architecture is evident. Although there is a project plan, it is being built in stages, adapting to needs as it comes into being, with some elements perhaps never actually being built.
The design – as first imagined in 2009 by Kéré and Schlingensief – consists of the main structure of the opera house surrounded by housing, workshops, ateliers, a school and a health centre. Since 2011, a number of the buildings have been constructed in stages, for and in collaboration with the surrounding community, using clay, wood and laterite stone found on site. The as-yet unbuilt opera house at the centre of the village is envisioned as a spiral, its open-ended form symbolising the freedom of possibility.
The Opera Village is the fruit of an exceptional collaboration between Francis Kéré, founder and principal architect of Kéré Architecture, and the late Christoph Schlingensief, iconic theatre and film director and key figure of the German cultural scene. Schlingensief was first drawn to Kéré by his fascination with the element of participation that underlies many of Kéré Architecture’s projects and which he likened to Joseph Beuy’s idea of social sculpture.
The project lies at the crossroads of art and architecture, a powerful and utopian concept built as a tangible manifestation – an opera house at the heart of a village. Rooted in Schlingensief’s belief that performance takes place beyond the stage, the village becomes the backdrop against which the comedy and tragedy of daily life are played out.
Central to the concept of the Opera Village is the idea of something perpetually unfinished and continuously developing; a respect for the importance of slowness and an appreciation of the course of maturation. In this the compromise between the fluidity of art and the formal nature of architecture is evident. Although there is a project plan, it is being built in stages, adapting to needs as it comes into being, with some elements perhaps never actually being built.
The design – as first imagined in 2009 by Kéré and Schlingensief – consists of the main structure of the opera house surrounded by housing, workshops, ateliers, a school and a health centre. Since 2011, a number of the buildings have been constructed in stages, for and in collaboration with the surrounding community, using clay, wood and laterite stone found on site. The as-yet unbuilt opera house at the centre of the village is envisioned as a spiral, its open-ended form symbolising the freedom of possibility.
