We see the city , a living, ever-evolving organism, as the primary ground for our work, and as a solution to the challenges of our time. Inspired by the work of Philippe Panerai, who passed away recently and whose absence is already deeply felt, we strive to bring clarity to complex situations.
We constantly, and at times with concern, reexamine the role of the architect in today’s city, and their ability to engage with global issues through the lens of architecture and urban planning.
[read more]

The example of Detroit in the United States can be seen as a true phase of urban decline — and perhaps the starting point of a new urban paradigm. “Reanimate the ruins” was the theme of a design competition launched in 2014 to lift the city out of its depression. The winning project, “Cross the Plant”, designed by a French team, proposed the transformation of the former Packard automobile factory, abandoned since 1987, into a new urban center. […]

“Building a city” and “building ecology”, two contradictory movements with inverted trajectories, abandoned by politicians on one hand and co-opted on the other? In Paris, based on the results of the last European elections, the stage is set for the upcoming municipal elections. Convenient alliances are shaping up, based on a simplistic and polarized vision of society, between progressivism and sovereigntism. Facing this regenerated, unapologetic yet conservative political scene, a new lever emerges and nuances this bipartisanship: political ecology [...]

The leading force overseeing the making of a city like Paris is the tension between, on one hand, a centripetal movement formed by the appropriation of both resources and living forces and, on the other hand, a centrifugal movement of production facilities and of the work force [...]

Our modern society is the direct product of, mainly, the industrial revolution and both of the 20th century’s world conflicts. However, while the industrial revolution is an official part of our national history, the legacy of world wars’ structuring role in regards to modern societies is less known of a topic. [...]