Beyond Context: The Work of Atelier Arcau Architects

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The architects of atelier Arcau are always sensitive to the elements of the contexts where they are called on to work. This could be almost the firm's hallmark, if it were visible, but it is a quality that precedes all visibility. The practice does not produce chameleon architecture, with every project tinged with a local character. Atelier Arcau's architecture is not versatile, but neither does it rest on a hard line which produces a style identifiable at first glance. It not only sets itself firstly and necessarily in the service of its first function, or simply submits to it, but enhances its value. • Xavier Fraud – You can't get away from the contextual reading. On whatever terrain it may be, even if it's really ordinary, our questions will always be the same. How will the project be installed on the site? What will it be able to say? What sense should we give to our intentions? How will the residents and users live in it? All the dimensions of this new arrangement are concerned. Architecture, city planning and landscape are inseparable, and we believe that their combination lead to harmonious places. • Julien Veyron – In the ongoing relationship between things urban and architecture, each way of thinking informs the other. What interests us is getting to know the site and who we're dealing with… The studio approach is first of all anthropological. The logic of projects does not have to do with the form of projects. It has to do with the urbanness you have to reckon with, and the urbanness that we want to develop. Concept is virtual, process is pragmatic. • Xavier Fraud – We've never confined ourselves within a response mode or plan. Does the Arcau studio have a style? I don't think so. It doesn't concern me. The architectural expression which has to come out of it can't be predetermined, so as to preserve always more desire and more freedom.