kéré architecture Carves a Monument to Memory
The Thomas Sankara Mausoleum, designed by Kéré Architecture, rises solemnly from the red earth of Ouagadougou with a quiet sense of permanence. Its brick volumes carry the weight of memory, yet open to the light and wind that move freely across the site. Built on the very ground where Sankara and twelve of his closest aides were assassinated, the building acknowledges history without enclosing it. It invites presence through both sunlight and earth.
Inside the mausoleum, Kéré Architecture arranges the tombs in a circular pattern that follows the arc of the sun. At each hour, daylight passes through a separate oculus above one of the thirteen graves, animating the space with shifting light. This hourly rhythm creates a subtle procession, pulling visitors through a landscape of loss, where the absence of each man is rendered in full-scale vertical voids. These open columns stretch skyward, framing absence as architecture. See designboom’s previous coverage here.
images © Kéré Architecture
a mausoleum to remember Thomas Sankara
Approaching the Thomas Sankara Mausoleum, visitors follow a winding route that begins along Boulevard Thomas Sankara and unfolds into a colorful pavilion. Kéré Architecture softens the transition between public city and sacred space through this sequence, allowing the act of walking to become part of the experience of remembrance. The building reveals itself gradually, offering time to reflect before entering its inner chamber.
The building’s materials reflect the land on which it stands. Kéré Architecture turned to laterite stone and clay bricks sourced locally, rooting the construction in the traditions Sankara once championed. Communities around Ouagadougou gathered and prepared the earth, reinforcing the connection between memory and labor. This choice also supports passive thermal performance, as the structure absorbs and regulates the heat of Burkina Faso’s dry climate.
Meanwhile, Kéré Architecture’s environmental strategy is embedded in the building’s form. Two large, louvered gates are positioned along the east-west axis to funnel wind through the central chamber. The 34-meter dome above acts as a thermal buffer, shielding the space below while allowing air to circulate. Rather than seal off the heat, the design embraces natural flows, using the land’s resources to maintain comfort and calm.
the mausoleum is sited where Sankara and twelve others were assassinated in Ouagadougou
The Larger Memorial Landscape in burkina faso
The mausoleum is the first realized element of the Thomas Sankara Memorial Park, a wider urban project also led by Kéré Architecture. This future park, occupying fourteen hectares, will include gathering spaces, educational facilities, and a towering monument. Rising to 100 meters, the tower will carry visitors up to an open terrace at 87 meters — a reference to the year of the assassination. Its height serves as a visible reminder of a history reclaimed.
In public remarks, Francis Kéré described the commission as both a personal and political responsibility. The Thomas Sankara Mausoleum, he noted, transforms a site once shrouded in silence into a place of gathering. The team draws the space outward, aligning architecture with healing. Here, remembrance becomes collective rather than private, and the design supports the emergence of a new kind of civic identity.
The integration of the mausoleum into the broader Ouagadougou Green Belt plan extends the project’s reach. Kéré Architecture connects the site to Sankara’s environmental legacy, as the memorial park will introduce plantings and shaded paths into a dense urban grid. The mausoleum thus becomes part of a regenerative landscape, where built form and green space work in tandem to protect memory and future life.
thirteen tombs are arranged in a circular plan, illuminated hourly by shifting daylight through skylights
thirteen vertical voids represent the physical absence of the assassinated figures
a winding pavilion connects Boulevard Thomas Sankara to the mausoleum entrance to guide visitors
