Nouveau(x)

160 pages
13 x 18 cm
Bound book in jacket
130 black and white illustrations
Language : French
Collaboration between Dilecta / École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Nantes
Published : 2010
ISBN : 978-2-916275-75-8

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In 2009, the architects Lacaton and Vassal created, for the Nantes School of Architecture, a new  bold and open building. Passée la polémique sur la pertinence du geste architectural, the choice of materials, the form of the building and the potential uses of the space, the school team and the students took control of the premises, located in the heart of a changing neighborhood in Nantes. 

Also as inexperienced as the students in building spaces, Arnaud Théval (aritst and professor at l’ENSA) proposed about thirty of them to make a photographic work on the spaces of the new school and their everyday uses.The body is used as a tool for reading and apprehending places (revealing volumes, circulations, architecture itself) and the images produced express the sensible and plastic appropriation of the building.

The architecture school allows for play, in a multitude of combinations, with avec ses espaces imbriqués, de travailler avec les ouvertures lumineuses à la limite de l’éblouissement avec la ville.

The work Nouveau(x) fonde a collective memory starting with black and white organized according to circulation in the school space. Far from being anecdotal, the students' contribution to this book testifies to a real reversal, given to see from the inside a sensitive experience on this building in touch with the city and to share it by a creative work that is both critical and enthusiastic.