Rémy Marciano Architecte

More than ever, the art of building must take the notions of territory and appropriation as its watchwords. Not one and the other, but one for the other.

Until recently, the ​“contextualist school” mined the near environment for narratives and references to support an argument and legitimize a building. But a territory is not a mine ; it is a school. It should be viewed not as a vein of ideas to exploit, but as a form of information to respect.

This has become particularly important in the current environmental, health and economic crisis, which incites us to seek greater proximity with our environment. Such circumstances impel architects to reassess the way they approach their work.

At the same time, the local must not be allowed to generate a new regionalism or create furrows that restrict our vision. What we have to ask ourselves is : How can we return to a territorial focus while continuing to look out at the world ?

Armed with this question, architecture’s aim must be to unveil buried landscapes, abandoned villages and industrial wastelands.