alliance franco senegalaise

alliance franco-senegalaise

Designed by the French architect and anthropologist Patrick Dujarric, a long-time resident of Senegal, this extraordinary building houses the Alliance-Francaise, along with a community center, library, and performance area for the town of Kaolack, about 160 kilometers south of Dakar. While its mission is to promote French culture, the building seems to celebrate the mingling of French and Senegalese esprits, employing an exuberant Senegalese vocabulary of iconography and ornament in a manner that is fresh and modern, with a hint of French flair. Equally innovative is the building's construction: terrazzo flooring, painted PVC tubing, load-bearing concrete block, and concrete roofing. Only a small portion of the center is entirely enclosed, the rest is at least partially open, so that visitors can assemble and interact in the open air, as is the local custom. Completed in 1994, the building was honored with an AKAA the following year.