Burkinabè-led practice Kéré Architecture has extended its architectural thinking beyond buildings and installations, unveiling a bespoke football kit designed for Berlin’s architecture football championship. More than a team uniform, the kit reflects the studio’s visual language and design philosophy, earning it the tournament’s Best Jersey Design award.
The shirts were created by architect Ho-Jae Lee, whose proposal emerged as the winner of an internal design competition held within the studio. The initiative encouraged team members to reinterpret architectural ideas in an unconventional format, demonstrating how spatial concepts and material languages can migrate into everyday and cultural expressions such as sportswear.
According to Kéré Architecture, the competition highlighted the studio’s collaborative ethos and curiosity across disciplines. “The jersey design shows how ideas developed for architectural projects can be translated into unexpected contexts, from large-scale installations to something as familiar as a football kit,” the practice noted.
Inspired by Sarbalé Ke
Lee’s design draws direct inspiration from Sarbalé Ke, the colourful installation conceived by studio founder Diébédo Francis Kéré for Coachella 2019. That project featured a group of tower-like structures animated by bold colours and triangular perforations, referencing both African architectural traditions and communal gathering spaces.
These same triangular geometries form the defining visual element of the football shirt. Rendered in yellow and dark blue, the pattern wraps around the entire jersey, creating a dynamic surface that is instantly recognisable on the pitch. The word “Kéré” is printed across the back above the player numbers, reinforcing the studio’s identity in a subtle but confident way.
The outfield kit is paired with clean white shorts, detailed with a slim yellow-and-blue stripe along the sides. For goalkeepers, the studio introduced an alternative version in deep blue and maroon, maintaining the geometric motif while distinguishing the role on the field.
Architecture in Motion
The use of triangles is not incidental. The motif appears repeatedly across Kéré Architecture’s body of work, from the Serpentine Pavilion in London to the Thomas Sankara Memorial in Burkina Faso, as well as the studio’s proposal for the Las Vegas Museum of Art. In the football kit, this familiar geometry is recontextualised, turning architectural identity into something kinetic and wearable.
The kit made its public debut at Berlin’s ABC Cup, an annual football tournament that brings together architecture studios from across the city. This year’s competition featured teams from 13 other Berlin-based practices, including GMP, Sauerbruch Hutton, David Chipperfield Architects, and Max Dudler. Among this strong field, Kéré Architecture’s strip stood out for its clarity, symbolism, and originality.
A Studio with Global Impact
Founded in 2005, Kéré Architecture is led by Diébédo Francis Kéré, who was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2022 and named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential climate leaders in 2023. The practice is widely recognised for its socially engaged architecture, climate-sensitive design strategies, and deep connections to local contexts.
Recent projects by the studio include a community centre in Uganda and an education campus in Kenya inspired by the passive cooling strategies of termite mounds. The football kit, while modest in scale compared to these works, underscores the studio’s belief that design thinking can operate across formats—whether shaping a public building, an art installation, or a jersey worn on a football field.
In Berlin’s architecture league, Kéré Architecture has shown that good design doesn’t stop at the drawing board—and that even on the pitch, architecture can speak.
