Who are we?
Crane.TV
If you could assist to one of PLAN01's meetings you might find it difficult to believe you are seeing architects at work. For hours discussions can go on almost any subject (politics, general philosophy, professional regulations, gastronomy, sports etc.), but architecture. You might also be surprised that equal attention can be given to a major building project or less
This lies in the very history of our group where long lasting friendship and complicity existed before intellectual and professional collaboration. We know quite well each other's strengths, weakness, and compulsive obsessions; accept them, and sometimes play with them. Then comes in line that when we began developing PLAN01 we already had our own offices, each one active and producing interesting projects. Since the beginning PLAN01 was designed as “something else”, between an architectural office and an open forum. Dedicated to finding ways of dealing with architecture through as many medias as possible: projects, but also web sites, books, organizing competitions, exhibits And despite the efforts required, despite the usual pressure in our work (mainly lack of time or tight budget), we have the feeling that our original goal is maintained: architecture with pleasure.
Before drawing projects are given birth through words and conceptual images during marathonian discussions. Ideas are raised by each of us, argued, tested through drawings, models. And only the most effective, only those that can express our vision of the project's underlying questioning are kept. By a strange alchemy these ideas always translate in a way that is like the sum of two symbols: a poetical and fragment of the site, and an icon related in a way or another to our deep understanding of the project.
The Vendée historical museum springs from the meeting of the image of groves growing on the ruins of medieval castles (a feature present in the neighborhood of the site), and the angulated geometry of a stealth bomber as an answer to the clients demand of a “hidden” building. In the Thiepval visitor center we felt that the contrast between the allegory of the long worn trenches of the great war and the purity of minimal art was the correct and respectful approach to one of history's high places.
Chamonix's music center is like a wooden instrument on top of an impetuous glacier. For the archaeological center of Ribemont the building is like the morphing of the area's typical farms with a Gaul warrior's helmet. Renne's crematorium originates in the image of the sunlight filtered by the rhythm of the nearby forest's trunks, and the archaïc yet universal symbol of the circle as emphasized by the Stonehenge standing stones. On a more light mode Torcy's skate park uses truck-style fabric covers, like undulating in the same breeze as the sailboats on the artificial lake beneath.
Through all these associations appear constant thematics that certainly have to do with our collective feelings as young architects of today. The most obvious is certainly our trend to inscribe our projects in a geographic and environmental dimension; giving them a capacity to resonate beyond their limits and give them a quality that does not restrict their perception to that of “a building” but rather as that of a landscaped installation. Limiting the visual impact of complex programs while giving them an expressive presence naturally leads us to favor elegantly discreet architectural resolutions in a world saturated by signs, in a search of compacity to provide maximum outdoor public space, keep budgets tight and limit energy comsumption. Where the the contrast between rough and massive materials with the lightness of glass work, screenings and subtle lighting.
These combinations may appear simplistic in front of the overall complexity of an actual building. But the very fact that the pair of PLAN01 members that will bring the project to it's completion have it as a guideline that gives them a great freedom to invest the project with their own personality, as long as all design decisions – from the most general to the tiny details- fit into this general ,collectively born, conceptual frame.
ARCHITECTURE WITH PLEASURE
If you could assist to one of PLAN01's meetings you might find it difficult to believe you are seeing architects at work. For hours discussions can go on almost any subject (politics, general philosophy, professional regulations, gastronomy, sports etc.), but architecture. You might also be surprised that equal attention can be given to a major building project or less
This lies in the very history of our group where long lasting friendship and complicity existed before intellectual and professional collaboration. We know quite well each other's strengths, weakness, and compulsive obsessions; accept them, and sometimes play with them. Then comes in line that when we began developing PLAN01 we already had our own offices, each one active and producing interesting projects. Since the beginning PLAN01 was designed as “something else”, between an architectural office and an open forum. Dedicated to finding ways of dealing with architecture through as many medias as possible: projects, but also web sites, books, organizing competitions, exhibits And despite the efforts required, despite the usual pressure in our work (mainly lack of time or tight budget), we have the feeling that our original goal is maintained: architecture with pleasure.
Before drawing projects are given birth through words and conceptual images during marathonian discussions. Ideas are raised by each of us, argued, tested through drawings, models. And only the most effective, only those that can express our vision of the project's underlying questioning are kept. By a strange alchemy these ideas always translate in a way that is like the sum of two symbols: a poetical and fragment of the site, and an icon related in a way or another to our deep understanding of the project.
The Vendée historical museum springs from the meeting of the image of groves growing on the ruins of medieval castles (a feature present in the neighborhood of the site), and the angulated geometry of a stealth bomber as an answer to the clients demand of a “hidden” building. In the Thiepval visitor center we felt that the contrast between the allegory of the long worn trenches of the great war and the purity of minimal art was the correct and respectful approach to one of history's high places.
Chamonix's music center is like a wooden instrument on top of an impetuous glacier. For the archaeological center of Ribemont the building is like the morphing of the area's typical farms with a Gaul warrior's helmet. Renne's crematorium originates in the image of the sunlight filtered by the rhythm of the nearby forest's trunks, and the archaïc yet universal symbol of the circle as emphasized by the Stonehenge standing stones. On a more light mode Torcy's skate park uses truck-style fabric covers, like undulating in the same breeze as the sailboats on the artificial lake beneath.
Through all these associations appear constant thematics that certainly have to do with our collective feelings as young architects of today. The most obvious is certainly our trend to inscribe our projects in a geographic and environmental dimension; giving them a capacity to resonate beyond their limits and give them a quality that does not restrict their perception to that of “a building” but rather as that of a landscaped installation. Limiting the visual impact of complex programs while giving them an expressive presence naturally leads us to favor elegantly discreet architectural resolutions in a world saturated by signs, in a search of compacity to provide maximum outdoor public space, keep budgets tight and limit energy comsumption. Where the the contrast between rough and massive materials with the lightness of glass work, screenings and subtle lighting.
These combinations may appear simplistic in front of the overall complexity of an actual building. But the very fact that the pair of PLAN01 members that will bring the project to it's completion have it as a guideline that gives them a great freedom to invest the project with their own personality, as long as all design decisions – from the most general to the tiny details- fit into this general ,collectively born, conceptual frame.