Patrick Bouchain is a committed architect and scenographer, for whom architecture must respond to concern for the general interest. He is the founder of the Construire agency.
He integrates research and collaboration into his architectural approach, working in particular with contemporary artists.
We questioned him in the documentary “PCA-STREAM: from research to action”. Here he shares his vision of the role of the architect, of the importance of research in understanding the framework in which he operates. In particular, he deals with the question of the commission model, from the way of receiving it to the construction of the project.
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Architect, professor, and curator of the future exhibition “Paris Animal” [Animal Paris] at Pavillon de l’Arsenal, Léa Mosconi considers that architecture is fundamental to reconciling humans with their environment. An invitation to infuse poetry into places and lend a voice to the voiceless!
Xavier Veilhan is a visual artist. He represents France at the 57th Venice Biennale. Since he has been collaborating with PCA-STREAM on a regular basis for a decade, we interviewed him for the documentary “PCA-STREAM: from research to action”. In this talk, he evokes his relationship to architecture, which he considers both as a constraint to the creation process and as a source of inspiration and reflection that nourishes his practice.
What is the impact of current economic transformations (the financialization and the acceleration of the economy, the increasing value of intangible assets) on the way architecture is produced? In only ten years, a massive influx of private capital has transformed existing buildings into fast-moving liquid financial assets. On the contrary, the production process of new projects has slowed down considerably and become much more complex, all the while the resources of the government and local authorities are dwindling. As a result, a process of devolution and transfer of architectural production to the private sector is occurring, and it is probably irreversible. In France, cultural and architectural needs were seen as being legitimately addressed only by public contracts due to the country’s Jacobin tradition (i.e., a centralized State tradition). Private commissions must gradually emancipate from the tutelage of the public sector; to achieve this, private decision-makers must increase their knowledge of architecture and architects and understand that design is at the heart of the process of value creation. Bertrand Julien-Laferrière graduated from École Centrale, Paris, University of California, Berkeley, and Insead. He is Head of Real Estate at Ardian, a leading Alternative Asset Manager in Europe.