Contexts

Building involves being aware of both the visibility of the new object and the local character in which it is embedded. In this balancing act, some projects assert their internal rules more strongly, while others are more subject to the influences of their context. The form of the built object nevertheless remains a tangible sign of its ‘setting’.

Asking the question of the continuity of an urban or architectural feature means having confidence in the timelessness of certain structures in the city, and the search for a link between the project and its environment often makes it possible to continue a sensitive history of the place, by enhancing what makes it attractive. What's more, some heritage sites require a greater degree of ‘courtesy’ on the part of the project towards what already exists. Each project finds its own identity in the interpretation we make of the site, but also in the necessary re-exploitation of hybridised or hijacked architectural languages.

Time is a living material in architecture; a building develops a patina and changes with use. The design of a project is constantly nourished by our observation of the world of construction, whether artisanal, traditional or more learned, because it teaches us about the physical reality of things.The notions of ambiance and atmosphere are an important project resource. They are also rooted in the transposition of the emotions we feel in the spaces of our daily lives or those we discover elsewhere. Our own experience of a place is the first interpretation of its spatial qualities.

The search for beauty is driven by a writing style that is both familiar and simultaneously unexpected. Beauty is also a way of combating banality and transcending obsolescence. In different contexts, the agency pursues shared values, based on the reconciliation of notions that are sometimes contradictory but which, instead of cancelling each other out, enrich each other. The radicalism and rationality often applied to concepts are bent by taking into account the characteristics of the contexts and signs of everyday life, in a materiality put to the test of the sensitive.

This seminar was accredited if you attended it live. You can still watch the seminar here on replay