LAN   Paris

« I would like there to exist places that are stable, unmoving, intangible, untouched and almost untouchable, unchanging, deep-rooted ; places that might be points of reference, of departure, of origin. (…) Such places don’t exist, and it’s because they don’t exist that space becomes a question, ceases to be self-evident, ceases to be incorporated, ceases to be appropriated. Space is a doubt : I have constantly to mark it, to designate it. It’s never mine, never given to me, I have to conquer it. »

Fifty years after it was first published (Galilée 1974), Georges Perec’s Species of Spaces is more relevant than ever. Space doubts : rocked by the subprime crisis, tsunamis, giant wildfires, droughts, and epidemics, the start of this century has witnessed a shift in societal and environmental issues and so, too, in architectural concerns.

A symbol of stability and permanence, the art of building must now contend with an unpredictable future. While the cla