29 July 2015

They both graduated from 1980. They were engaged in town planning in West Africa, in Nigeria. Anne Lacatton has been teaching in EPF Lausanne,Harvard GDS Kenzo Tange studio, ETSA Madrid, while and Jean Philippe in Architecture School of Versailles, Tu Berin, EPF Lousianne, and UDK Berlin. Their architecture is celebrated for their social purpose, economy of means and a critical understanding of sustainability.

They have been widely awarded, among which Design of the Year 2013, finalist two times for Mies Van der Rohe Award,and awarded with Grand Prix National d’Architecture 2008 in France. A number of publishings celebrating their work have been made: Monographs from El croquis, 2G Books, A+U, DNK, Plus, Druot Lacaton & Vassal and others.

The conditions for a city are based on the combination of two objectives: to produce quality for living, situations for a great comfort and densify the territory.

These ambitions have to remain interdependent and simultaneous. It is no longer possible to claim the evolution of the city without questioning the reasons to live and stay there. Defending the pleasure of living seems for us eminently political today. The spatial generosity is the starting point of a possible social life. To transform the city is first to transform the way we look at it It means to look at it as a collection of capacities and energies to expand, and not as an inert mass for modeling. It is to think the city as an aggregation of activities and living spaces. It means to provide "extraordinary" responses in terms of quality of housing.

The unit of urban measurement is housing: Not housing in general, but 1 house or 1 flat -it means a continuous attention to its inhabitant- multiplied 10000 times, 50,000 times, 1 million times.