Fruits and vegetables have been in vogue in tableware for a while now. This is evidenced by the silver artichoke from luxury house Buccellati, the cabbage-inspired ceramics from Bordallo Pinheiro, and Monoprix's current collaboration with Scottish illustrator Vicki Murdoch, whose naturalistic drawings elevate broccoli, lemons and radishes to the status of tableware.
To dig a little deeper into this subject, we interviewed Fanny Parise, our anthropologist specializing in the evolution of lifestyles and consumption, to better understand how food design reflects society.
Feeding the soul and anchoring food as a spiritual tool.
There's undoubtedly a spiritual dimension to this reintroduction of nature into our homes, and more specifically of food. In a world where food consumption has largely lost its symbolic and ritual meaning, decorative fruits and vegetables offer a way of rediscovering the sacredness of food. As Claude Lévi-Strauss pointed out in his work, food is more than a biological necessity; it conveys profound cultural values. Here, by freezing fruit and vegetables in an artistic setting, we recreate a spiritual relationship with food, as offerings and rituals once did. This sacralization of food, even as a decorative object, becomes a means of transcending everyday consumption and turning it into a tool for contemplation and symbolic connection.
To freeze perishable nature as a symbol of earthly life and its fragility.
Temporality plays an important role in this trend towards decorating with fruit and vegetables. The idea is to capture an ephemeral moment, to freeze nature in a perennial object, a practice reminiscent of the vanitas of Flemish painting. These pictorial compositions evoked the inevitability of death, while celebrating life in all its excess. By decorating our homes with fruit and vegetables, we make a similar gesture: attempting to master time, to celebrate nature while being aware of its perishability. This juxtaposition of abundance and fragility reflects contemporary concerns about the environment and our complex relationship with nature, while reaffirming the beauty of the ephemeral.
Explore its artistic nature, in reference to the still lifes of Flemish paintings or Arcimboldo's surrealist style.
Flemish still lifes and Arcimboldo's surrealist works have had a profound effect on our collective imagination. By integrating fruit and vegetables into our interiors, we're not just imitating an aesthetic of the past: we're creating our own version of these compositions, becoming contemporary artists of our domestic space. This gesture is in line with a desire for continuity with the history of art, where still life becomes not just a setting, but a medium for personal expression. Every arrangement of fruit and vegetables on the table or in the living room can be seen as a modern reinterpretation of these classic works, in which the individual reaffirms his or her creative capacity and role in the transmission of an ancient aesthetic.
A need for peps that calls for vitality.
Beyond their artistic symbolism, fruit and vegetables also evoke visual energy. The bright colors and organic shape of these objects are associated with vitality, freshness and health. By incorporating these elements into our decor, we aim to inject a dose of positivity into our daily lives. This need for visual “vitamins” reflects a quest for emotional well-being and dynamism, in a context often marked by stress and fatigue. So, beyond their aesthetic appeal, these objects have an emotional function, bringing a note of freshness and energy to our interiors.
A need for concreteness that reassures against the abstraction of the world.
In an increasingly digitalized and abstract world, where human interaction is often mediated by screens, the use of fruit and vegetables in decoration could meet a need for a return to concreteness. As Marc Augé notes, we live in a world saturated with non-places and virtual spaces. By exhibiting objects drawn from nature, we seek a physical, tactile connection with our environment. These objects embody a certain realism, a form of reassurance in an often dematerialized everyday life.
A return to vintage, symbolizing a quest for authenticity.
The return of fruit and vegetable motifs in decoration echoes a nostalgia for the past, particularly for eras perceived as simpler and more authentic. Vintage, often associated with durable materials and timeless designs, reconnects us to an aesthetic where the object had a deep and lasting meaning. By integrating objects inspired by the past, we reconnect with traditional symbols, seeking to regain psychological comfort in a world of constant and rapid change.
reading: 12 mins
We also looked at the return of silver metal to tableware. Luxury craftsmanship bears witness to this with Buccellati's silver artichoke, but also the re-edition of designer Axel Chay's “Folies” for Monoprix. This cheerful, colorful collection, released last February, was such a success that the brand and designer decided to reissue it, this time with chrome-plated pieces. So what can we say about this decorating trend?
Steel and silver, with their shine and sturdiness, mark a return to solid, durable materials in decorating. These materials embody both modernity and durability, qualities sought after in an age when the ephemeral often dominates. The use of materials such as silver, particularly in luxury collections like Buccellati's, evokes a taste for discreet prestige and timeless quality.
As Pierre Bourdieu points out, material choices in decoration can reflect strategies of social distinction. Here, steel and silver represent a form of luxury that is not ostentatious, but refers to a quest for lasting, aesthetic values, a need to anchor oneself in objects that stand the test of time.
And the symbolism of the artichoke: complexity and revelation?
The artichoke, with its multi-layered structure concealing a tender heart, is a metaphor rich in symbolism. It embodies the idea of progressive discovery and inner richness. As a vegetable, it may seem banal, but it actually represents the hidden complexity of nature and, by extension, of human life. Anthropologist Mary Douglas would no doubt have interpreted the artichoke's duality as a reminder of the social strata and different layers of identity that each individual carries within. In silver, the artichoke takes on an even more precious dimension, symbolizing the tension between fragility and durability, between what is visible and what is hidden.
When it comes to decorating, choosing a silver artichoke can be seen as both an aesthetic and a philosophical act. It's an object that, through its form and material, tells a story of transcendence from the banal to the precious, a revelation of depth at the very heart of apparent simplicity.
More on Buccellati's artichoke in CURIOSITY!
Vicki Murdoch & Monoprix / Axel Chay & Monoprix
The Buccellati artichokes
At 2024 Milan design week, we had the chance to meet Manuela Szewald, creative and managing director of the lighting company Kaia, and the designer John Whelan, founder and leader of the GSL Works collective (The Guild of Saint Luke).
Together, they collaborated to create "Empyrean", an innovative chandelier inspired by Art Deco and sacred geometry. So, naturally, we wanted to know what the fruit of this encounter was, and above all how spirituality had shaped this collaboration, straddling the line between art craftsmanship and avant-garde design, two notions dear to these luminous creators. And it was around a dedicated immersive installation at Galleria Rubin, via Santa Marta in Milan, that we met them.
But first, let's get back to Kaia. In Greek, "Kaia" means both light and shadow, perfectly reflecting the brand's ability to play with contrasts in a quest for geometric perfection. Kaia's aim, of British and German origin, is to combine timeless, high-quality design with functional beauty, in a spirit of sustainability and responsibility. All of Kaia's products are handcrafted, with components carefully selected and assembled in a traditional, family-run workshop near Munich, Germany.
GSL Works is a collective of architects, craftsmen and artists founded and led by British designer John Whelan, best known in Paris for his revival of the "Parisian brasserie" concept.
"Empyrean" is the brainchild of these two European creatives with a passion for art and beauty.
How did the "Empyrean" collaboration come about?
J: We'd already worked together with Kaia on several projects, and it's a brand I love! We've done a lot of historical interiors, and for wall sconces, for example, if you use historical sconces, it quickly becomes a pastiche. So with Kaia, which has a very minimal, high-quality design that you can adjust easily, it's ideal!
That's how I met Manuela. After that, we had a nice, frank exchange about the artistic direction of the brand, and one day she suggested that I collaborate with her. I had some ideas for lighting fixtures inspired by Art Deco techniques from the 20s, or rather the 30s, and I thought it would be perfect for the brand.
Why did you call this luminaire "Empyrean"? There's a rather mystical notion in that word!
Definition from Le Robert dictionary: 1. the highest part of the sky, where the gods dwell, in mythology / 2. heaven, supraterrestrial world, dwelling place of the blessed, in literature.
Overall, my work is very much inspired by esotericism. I love the mystery of the divine. Empyrean means the highest point of heaven, Paradise, and in this chandelier there's something "top of the top" about it! It's a perfectly geometric piece, perfectly impressive, with a grandiosity, a breadth. There are also elements of sacred geometry in its design, as seen in the illustrations by Gustave Doré (editor's note: French artist born in 1832, famous for his constellation).
Which elements of the chandelier are derived from sacred geometry?
Gustave Doré's illustration of Dante is an exploding sun, and in many esoteric or freemasonic drawings, the rays of light symbolize the mystery of the divine, while light represents intelligence and knowledge. This idea is echoed in the star motif of the "Stardust" chandelier. It's a bit arty, high-level when you put it like that, but sometimes, when you're making an installation, it's good to elevate things and discuss things other than simple leds!
And we're in Milan, so of course we're a little inspired by Milanese post-modernism, like the rubber on the floor or the perforated metal used by Mario Botta, for example. So for Milan, it's perfect to present something like this.
As for the faceted mirror in this installation, I'd like to thank Manuela enormously for having invested in it! Originally, it was inspired by the designer René Proux, who made a famous piece with facets like this, and we mirrored them a little to reflect the chandelier infinitely, in the idea of transcendence and eternity, which goes well with the name Empyrean. It all makes sense, and the attention to detail is no accident!
More on kaialighting.com & gsl.works
Empyrean installation at Galleria Rubin, via Santa Marta, Milan © Kaia
reading: 4 mins
The current craze for raw, natural materials distinguishes lava stone as a resource with outstanding aesthetic and sustainable qualities, as well as stimulating virtues.
To support our curiosity about this magmatic, eruptive material, we talked to Giovanni Ranieri, CEO of the family business that bears his name, Ranieri, and whose DNA celebrates the beauty of nature through the non-uniformity and uniqueness of imperfection.
Heading for the gates of Vesuvius, to Terzigno near Naples, where Ranieri innovates, perpetuates age-old Neapolitan know-how, and excels in the artisanal transformation of volcanic rock into high-end contemporary expressions. Whether in art, architecture or interior design, lava stone offers a total symbiosis with nature, where creativity, recently spearheaded within the company by designers and architects Francesco Meda and David Lopez Quincoces known for modernizing Italian icons of architecture and design, is flawless.
What about your next collection? Can you tell us more?
We are developing a collection of products from the bathroom world, amongst the many new projects and initiatives we are making. We’ll unveil it soon, but what I can tell you is that we will follow and enhance even more what we have begun with Odissea.
What are the advantages and inconveniences of lava stone? Is marble the main competitor of lava stone?
Any type of stone is an alternative, rather than competitor, of lava stone: granite, quartz, slate, you name it. Our Italian lava is more resistant than other types of lava, as it is heavier. Generally speaking, its birth renders lava, resistant, hard and versatile, allowing it a greater range of technical possibilities than marble or ceramic, and thus making it ideal for a wide variety of tiles and wall claddings, bar counters and kitchen countertops, outdoor furniture, bathtubs, sinks, bars, reception desks, spa and wellness areas, outdoor environments and, as the stone naturally retains heat, swimming pools. The special nuances and chromatic differences that result from its naturally varied surface offer richer results than the industrial uniformity of ceramic tiles too.
You work with extracted lava from Vesuvius. Is it easy to date lava stone and say you've got a piece of prehistoric rock in your kitchen?
That’s quite right actually. It is difficult to date, but with Vesuvius and Etna (where our lava comes from) we are talking about hundreds of years ago. It differs with each element, as each piece of lava bears witness to a very specific moment of volcanic formation preserved in the rock. One could consider it a poetic and solidified expression of the earth’s movements.
THE MAGIC OF COLORS
You get lava stone color effects with traditional techniques of Vietri ceramics, right? Could you explain this traditional know-how?
Our techniques were informed and inspired by the tradition of Vietri, but we’ve developed completely new production methods, which concern both cuts and color applications. In a sense, we expanded the capabilities of Campania’s (south-western Italy, editor's note) historic craftsmanship with lava, and we highlighted the stone’s heterogeneity, quality, and rich surfaces. Our approach represents a break from long-held limits in how lava was used — either raw or completely obscured by enamel — and unleashes vast new design possibilities for the stone, respecting its natural state.
With the boom in natural materials (natural wood, straw, clay, seashells...) what do you think about the color in decoration and architecture in the coming years: are our interiors "condemned" to becoming all the same, natural and neutral colors (beige, off-white, creamy, terracotta…)?
We like to keep things interesting and offer our clients a vast array of possibilities, with natural and organic materials as well as bolder options. I think a trend is just a trend, and in that sense it has a specific timeframe to exist. And even further than that, we live in a time where numerous and very disparate trends constantly coexist simultaneously. Today there is a boom in natural materials, but at the same time a strong desire for bold colors and shapes. We operate in all dimensions.
"Our Italian lava is more resistant than other types of lava, because it is heavier. Generally speaking, its birth makes lava resistant, hard and versatile, allowing it to offer a wider range of technical possibilities than marble or ceramic."
Artistic directors Francesco Meda & David Lopez Quincoces © Alessandro Oliva
THE INNOVATIVE CRAFTMANSHIP
To what extent is your lava stone innovative? What is the particularity of the new Odissea collection (2D/3D)?
We are the first to enhance, rather than hide, what others call the “flaws” of lava. This stone features unique properties and an incredibly variegated surface, which derive from its formation in fire. In our many years of experience we have developed pioneering treatments of this stone, to reveal even more the peculiarities of minerals and magma - to us, its true and natural preciousness. Odissea was designed by our new creative directors, architects and designers Francesco Meda and David Lopez Quincoces, with the same intention: to present lava in an unedited face. It is a collection of 2D, 3D, and flooring elements that can be combined in homogeneous or varied compositions. Odissea is an innovative creation that speaks of a new era of lava, introducing choices that only Ranieri is able to create and which express our celebration of volcanic stone’s natural essence.
THE TRENDS
"Innovation, territory and artistry" are a kind of global actual trend. Ranieri's DNA try to highlight the beauty of nature through imperfection. This echoes the era of sincerity people aspire today, such as spirituality and selfcare…
Why is lava stone the current trend in architecture and decoration?
Once you come to know lava stone, its aesthetic appeal and high functionality is very powerful as it represents something that has rarely been seen in the world of interiors. It is a higher expression of nature, and when treated properly it truly becomes an artistic endeavor that becomes part of a living space, beyond its functionality.
How do you think raw materials for design and architecture will evolve?
What we are all witnessing is an eagerness to explore and embrace unique and distinctive materials. We’ve seen many developments within this approach, looking for unedited and innovative ways to treat these materials; interestingly, the desire I am seeing is to do it with a way that respects and doesn’t damage the material itself, which is of course one of our main priorities.
Could lava rock become tomorrow's design "diamond"... with the right storytelling?!
I believe it can be, which is the reason why I’ve invested my whole life in it. With its unprecedented aesthetic and flexibility, if treated properly, it can achieve expressive results that have been unattained thus far. Our aim is to transform this unique expression of nature into the highest quality of contemporary art, architecture and interior design. The applications can truly be endless.
THE CONTEMPORARY ART
Ranieri transform volcanic rock into top-end contemporary expressions of art, architecture and interior design. Nature is your artistic partner.
You were a part of the last edition of EDIT Napoli 2023 with the site-specific installation "A Matter of Perspectives". What did you want to highlight through this exhibition? To what extent volcanic rock is art and how do you define that kind of art?
The many and, still to most, secret faces of lava. Interestingly, in our collective imagination we tend to think of lava not as a precious item; but it is, indeed. It is one of the most beautiful artistic faces of nature, exactly as it is born. Being able to treat any natural material in a way that enhances its existing property is a form of art.
©Eller Studio and Alessandro Oliva
© Eller Studio, Edit Napoli 2023
Architecture moves us. That's a fact. It can also be perceived as elitist, even though we are all affected by the buildings, space, colours and shapes that surround us. One of the roles of the architect is to think about the place in such a way as to make us feel emotions, using codes that are based on a certain conformism of thought. Sometimes, some of these codes are deviated from their trajectory in order to disturb the spectator.
To illustrate this point, we talked to Rodrigo Armas and Julio Kowalenko of the Venezuelan architecture and design duo Atelier Caracas, who have fun sprinkling their experimental creations with non-conformist codes inspired by pop culture, and whose Magritte-style motto, "This is not architecture", is thought-provoking.
THE EMOTIONS
At Fenster's, we love Luis Barragan's disruptive architecture (who built a pink ranch in the U.S. in the 1950s, highly provocative and avant-garde for its time) and the emotional architecture he engendered. What is the place of emotion in architecture in 2023?
Nostalgia.
More generally, what is the emotional power of architecture, and why does it move us?
We would like to quote John Hejduk for this one. “The fundamental issue of architecture is that does it affect the spirit or doesn’t it? If it doesn’t affect the spirit it's building, if it affects the spirit it's architecture”. In the end, architecture materializes our deepest thoughts into spatial experiences, emotion is key.
What are the particularities of Venezuelan architecture and how do you inject your Venezuelan way of life in your project?
Being constantly exposed to social and political turmoil since we started practicing, has led us to think of our work as an hermetic bubble, a place where inhabitants can transport themselves to parallel universes as a sort of meditative retreat from reality. We like to create spaces with narrative ends where gravity nor any social or political turmoil applies.
What is your vision of radicality?
Gravity is overrated.
THE PSYCHOANALYSIS
Which building would define you?
A garage. Our architecture has a very machine/mechanical thing to it.
Which place calms you and which makes you feel uncomfortable?
Museums calm us. We find human’s mastery of fine arts very soothing.
Nightclubs make us uncomfortable. Mornings matters.
What color soothes you and which makes you uncomfortable?
Pale baby blue calms us. Jazz is in every shade of blue.
Orange makes us uncomfortable. Too hype.
Do you use your own fears as an outlet for your projects?
Every chance we have of internalizing our ideas is a creativity booster. Facing one’s fears is the only way to transcend.
Le Corbusier used to say: "Construction is about holding things together. Architecture is about moving." You said that architecture should have the power to make people feel uncomfortable. To shake the codes in a way. How do you play with codes, with a detail, like the skull and crossbones in A spa Odissey, for example?
If we state that architecture should be uncomfortable, is because we think that monotony and routine can cause a stagnant state of contentment. In the end, psychological conformity is what we like to disturb through our designs. Obese-cartoonish structures, unnecessary columns, volumes of weird proportions, stairways that lead to nowhere, an Alvaro Siza approach if you may, is what we usually apply in our architectural standards while designing a space or an object. Through these architectural anomalies one can really redefine humans relation with order, form and scale.
THE INFLUENCE
Your Fun maze project reminds us of the futuristic house in Jacques Tati's Mon oncle. What cinema inspires you and what film would represent your world?
First of all, thanks for the comparison, we absolutely love Mon Oncle. In the end it all depends on the exact mood we’re in when embarking a new project. Right now we usually find ourselves navigating Pedro Almodovar’s narrative power, Wes Anderson’s mascaraed depth or David Cronenberg’s anatomical anomalies.
If one film would represent our world it would have to be Wes Anderson’s Rushmore. We like to think we are always inside one of Max Fischer’s plays.
THE FUTUR
What's the role of architecture in 2023 and beyond?
Role: Reminding us that the future is primitive and that analogic procedures evince the beauty of error.
Challenges: AI as a placebo.
Constrains: Natural Resources.
Innovation: Logic.
THE POP CULTURE
Architecture can sometimes be seen as elitist, when we're all concerned by the buildings, spaces, colors and shapes around us. In New Coherency, you use 'banal' pop culture objects. Is this a way to defend the idea that architecture is pop culture?
Like everything, it’s not a matter of what is a matter of how. With that being said, we do not consider architecture as an elitist entity. For us, architecture is the way in which we construct our own reality. Thinking, imagining, and dreaming are not elitist principles, they’re things that money cannot buy. New coherency is an ongoing research that consists in a series of visual provocations exploring the limits of how, once decontextualized, mundane objects, design icons and popular memorabilia can fiddle with the idea of becoming architecture…quoting Hans Hollein, “Everything is Architecture!”
Fun Maze
New consistency
To enlighten our special Street-culture file, we met Stéphane Malka, founder of the eponymous architecture studio, architect, designer, theoretician… and graffiti artist! Portrait.
From museums to architectural happenings via “Modular Folies” (ultra-ecological vertical village in Montpellier), Stéphane Malka builds. Author of two books, "Petit Paris" and "Crossed Utopias", he experiences the city from the inside, questions the impact of "non-places" and the place of culture and citizen movements in the capital, with passion. Native of Belsunce, in the city center of Marseille, he started, as a teenager, with the art of graffiti.
And Paris was his first source of urban inspiration. "It was a shock to see the subways tagged! I found it super fun, I liked it right away. My playground was the depots and vacant lots on weekends, and the subways during the week."
Already, around the age of 10, it was in New York where part of his family lived that he perceived the energy of the city. A few years later, he began to conceive of public space as a common space, a negative of private space. Then begins a certain notoriety in the world of graffiti, between Paris and Marseille. "I didn't hesitate to climb on the roofs, paint facades, under bridges, with hollow teeth because I respected the limit of the private, which stopped at your window. The rest was the domain of even if these are private buildings on the land, they are visible to all".
Influenced by alternative cultures (in particular hip-hop, at the beginning of the 80s), it was after having tried the Fine Arts, from where he was kindly thanked when he arrived with his photos of tags perceived as “illegal”, that he takes the path of architecture, in Paris. Interview.
© Stéphane Malka architecture: Dunk house in Los Angeles and Les abris furtifs in Marseille.
What is your relationship to town planning?
For me, the city is rather organic. Architecture and town planning must leave room for reality, for life, provide flexibility. Otherwise we find ourselves, at best in a museum, at worst in an abandoned place!
Speaking of town planning, how did the aesthetics of large ensembles come about (towers, concrete slabs, etc.)?
The beginning of the 20th century was a kind of architectural apotheosis, especially with art nouveau, which used materials such as iron or concrete for stylistic purposes. Then the so-called “international” movement (resulting from the modern movement, editor’s note) was built with the desire to make a clean sweep of the past, to eliminate the details and the superfluous of an aesthetic considered too “bourgeois”. But this movement, which accelerated in the interwar period, did not give architects time to develop their style and get to the bottom of things. We put a red carpet on something experimental that deserved to be developed better.
Who invented building towers concept? Le Corbusier, with his Plan Voisin?
It's almost a maieutic, like a system that probably gives birth to itself. We didn't wait for new times to make concrete, the Romans were already doing it, and much better than us. The resurgence of this concrete has been linked to times when it was quickly realized that stone buildings were heavy, expensive and did not fit with post-war reconstructions. Le Corbusier was in that vein.
Can we speak of an oriented, controlled architecture?
Oriented, control, it is inherent in architecture. Architecture is a tool of massive alienation. It is essential for me to remember this. It makes it possible to control and alienate all the masses, hence the fact that it is an environment considered as elitist. We have every interest, if we want to park people, that they are not too interested in it, whereas on the contrary everyone should have a point of view on architecture!
Why is cities architecture so popular today? What does this reflect of the era of time?
I can only give one point of view. We are in a hegemony of street culture. The rougher it is, the rougher it is, the more it gives an authentic side. That's why fashion houses want to shoot in historic places, all the way to the Pyramids! We take the authenticity and power of an old building and transcribe it into a new, totally ephemeral world. I don't throw stones, I worked very early in fashion, in the 90s, for Thierry Mugler, I designed the catwalks.
Coming to the bars, it's fine if you do one or two, but a whole crown or whole areas, it's problematic. Just like the budgets allocated to the maintenance of these areas, even if today there are aids which make it possible to settle there. But for too long the idea was only to park, let's be clear, in very poorly maintained places. The question is more to know “how do we bring not only life but first and foremost the city to these areas, how do we communicate between the city and the suburbs, the suburbs and the city”.
What influence does the construction of the cities have on the creativity of the artists who come from them?
I'm not sure it's related, that concrete has more porosity to bring creativity. There are people that it breaks or that it boosts. These lyricists who write completely crazy texts, it's not because they come from the Bronx, and if they were born in the sewers it would be even better! Creative potential is everywhere and creativity is inherent in everyone. It is an ability to be able to marvel and open up, which we can all have in a transversal way. Then there is rabies, the eye of the tiger. I had come to fight it out in Paris, I really wanted to develop my architecture, try as much as possible to build it, at least to think about it, think about it and transmit it. There is also a culture of reaction, of urgency / instantaneous, and the fact that you have to develop and assume financial responsibility.
In architecture, what did it bring?
Nothing. Because she is still stuck in the 1930s and cubism!
Afterwards, if we take the example of hip-hop, a global phenomenon, I like to see the birth of this movement as a plant emerging from the asphalt, from a fault, where nature takes back its rights. What interests me is that with not much we can do something. That's how I came to understand architecture and how I started upcycling about fifteen years ago. This term did not yet exist, I called it “architectural diversion”. I took elements that were not all from the world of architecture to transfer them to the world of architecture.
Precisely, "nature takes back its rights", can we draw a parallel between the art of graffiti and nature?
This is the subject of my book, Le Petit Paris! All these destitute and abandoned places in the city are the ones you want to paint as a tagger. Not just because they are in disrepair, but because they are real places in their own right. This is why, in my book, I called it an “architectural Kamasutra”, with chapters entitled “above” (for “on the roofs”), “below” (for “under the bridges"), “in-between” (buildings). The graffiti is really a spotlight on the urbanity of the city, in a given timing. Nature has another time scale.
Is there a parallel between the suburbs buildings built to respond to emergency constraints and the ecology of emergency?
Today in architecture, ecology is a question of label, of money. So much the better, it allows policies to evolve quickly. But you have to be vigilant. Today, if we want to build ecologically, we don't need an old vision consisting in making a clean sweep of the past, but rehabilitating as much as possible. This is necessary. And it's not because we work in a hurry that it's ecological.
How do you work on your ecology?
I try to work on flexibility, modularity and mobility. This trio makes it possible to have any change of program in the architecture and the layout. Let's imagine a modular building, made up of housing units, we can add or remove housing if necessary. This mobility brings flexibility. I designed offices converted into housing because everything I had designed was mobile, not commercial. These strategies are important. Today, we have gone around the rigid architecture as it was designed in the 20th century for factories. We know that architectural thought, if it is not pragmatic in all uses, does not work.
What does this notion of modularity bring?
An economy of means, and not just an ecology of means. There it is, the real ecology. It's not creating a new wooden eco-district, which we're going to destroy in 15 years. It's better to have a conscientious architecture, in which each element has the possibility of evolution. It is fundamental. I also have this approach on existing buildings. At the agency we have projects for existing facades, such as putting back developed loggias into a prefabricated system, which can even be transported elsewhere if people move. So there's a little more research and detail to do, but at least there's the satisfaction of always having something custom-made, no matter where you install it. The loggias, also make it possible to make a thermal buffer, it is important because the standards make lower the sizes of the windows, and increase the thicknesses of insulation.
©The Modular Folies of Stéphane Malka. An ultra-ecological vertical village.
Located in the heart of the St Roch district of Montpellier, the objective of this project is to create an alternative creation center associated with self-managed places of life, giving birth to a new iconic and cultural destination. All in an ultra-ecological logic and an innovative architecture, without destroying anything or impacting the floors of an additional construction. This storey elevation retains the entirety of the existing 19th century building that it crowns.
Is the policy of the city of Paris and eco-districts well thought out or “greenwashed”?
A bit of both, on a case-by-case basis. What is tricky is that we only have the announcements, but as long as it is not done... Let's imagine a "positive energy and low carbon footprint" building, has the import of materials or the destruction been taken into account?
You have to judge on the spot. To be clear, as long as we do heavy classical architecture, we won't succeed. An ecological architecture is measured by weight, the heavier it is, the more it requires the transport of materials, etc. Ecological building? Let's build light!
In height?
Yes we can. But let's take the example of Los Angeles. It's very low, and it's not eco-friendlyat all ! Because we cannot create an urban space. Everyone has their car. In Los Angeles, we concrete we tar, to the sea! You have to be realistic, all these suburban areas are ecologically horrible. Urban sprawl is dramatic for the planet.
There is no perfect buildings?
Yes, the aborigines! We have this crazy idea that we're going to live through eternity, but it doesn't make sense. We love changing clothes every month! And in architecture, we like old stone because we tell ourselves that we will live a long time, when it is useless. Today, in an old building, it takes hours to drill a hole in a wall, it's not consistent with the way of life we have. The interest in doing light architecture can completely redefine the city. Let's imagine: “If your architecture is light, and you want to settle in a neighborhood where artists live, you go there, with your transportable house and vegetable garden, and a spontaneous community is created! Six months later you change if you wish!”.
The temple and the dwelling are confused. Today we don't have to live in places that are there for eternity. Especially since access to purchase is very complicated. If you don't inherit, it's very hard to have access to housing. So when you have enough to create housing that could cost 20,000 euros, for X time… It's a different city policy but it's playable. Programs are emerging today, co-living for example. Library, shared kitchen, space with swimming pool and shower around, we can recreate living together, and even if it's done initially out of necessity, we realize that it works very well. You have to have the social mix you want. On the other hand, the houses in the trees excite the imagination, it's a return to origins! It is in the collective unconscious of our first shelters as the history of humanity. Genes have memory. Shelter was necessary and fundamental for cold, heat and shelter, but today there are no more predators, no wars, we no longer need to live on such solid structures.
Like the tag, your architecture allows you to campaign in the urban space, in particular with Auto-Défense (2006). Can you tell us more ?
There were evictions and lots of demonstrations for undocumented migrants. So I said to myself that we had to build shelters for the dissident people in the system, the stateless people, the utopians, that they needed a shell, and storm the places to bring something positive and create a new social scenario other than “It manifests, it breaks, we get gassed”.
It would in fact be necessary to federate these energies and to elaborate scenarios accepted by the State, or not, and to make an insurrectionary pocket in the city. This would bring back people who have common ideals. Because today, it is the confrontation of the blocks, inside society itself! Vaccines VS anti-vaccines, demonstrators VS police, we would need a round table to discuss all that, hence the idea of the project called Auto-Défense.
Is architecture pop culture?
Architecture and pop culture are thought of as a common entity. I am the product of pop culture, completely uninhibited! I grew up with Goldorak, my walkman and my pair of sneakers. And it's super important to reinject that into the architecture. I try to do this in all my projects. For some it's heresy, for me it's a coherent way to bring architecture to the general public. So some will say that they grew up in a wooden cabin without watching TV, why not, it was trendy at one point to say that, but most of us don't, let's be realistic. I am that child, through hip-hop and Sydney shows, like “H.I.P.H.O.P”. You have to assume your decomplexion. In his way of working, of dressing, and his art.
"I am the product
of pop culture, completely uninhibited!"
" These lyricists who write completely crazy texts, it's not because they come from the Bronx, and if they were born in the sewers it would be even better! "
"The temple and the dwelling are confused. Today we don't have to live in places that are there for eternity. "
To shed light on our special file on the Monte Verita, we met Fanny Parise, socio-anthropologist, specialist in the evolution of lifestyles and consumption.
Author of the books "Spoiled children, anthropology of the myth of responsible capitalism" and "The myth of responsible consumption: towards a new golden age of the hyperconsumption society", to follow on @madame_lanthropologist!
At the beginning of 1900 in Germany, the Lebensreform was born, a social reform movement aiming for a minimalist, sober and close to nature way of life, from which the Monte Verita, founded around 1900, was inspired. Healthy and ascetic life in the open air, in huts, close to nature, where spirituality and veganism reign. Almost prophetic!
Are the upper social classes of today the heirs of the Lebensrefom, and by extension, of Monte Verita?
Fanny Parise, specialist in contemporary worlds @madame_lanthropologue and author of the books "Spoiled children" and "The myth of responsible consumption", answers us:
“It seems that the people who followed this movement werehippiesbefore the hour. Like the communities of the 1960s and 1970s, the tension between the desire to withdraw from the world and the need to find an economic balance, in particular by relying on that of the rest of society, testifies to the ambivalence of these alternative ways of living. inhabit the world.
We want everything to change so that nothing changes. Like today withcapitalism responsible, history repeats itself: it is always a question of a fraction of the upper classes which, in reaction to societal changes and helped by their initial capital (heritage, inter-self, culture) decides to build another society . A world that is fairer, but above all that allows them to stay away from socio-cultural upheavals. It is a classic socio-anthropological phenomenon: the upper classes are always fighting to impose a new legitimate culture,in a top-down manner and which allows them to reconcile the preservation of their privileges with the prism of the inevitable changes in society.
Thanks to their start-up capital, they are in the best position to deal with the shock of the upheavals to come and they are good indicators of thecultural transformation: following a magnifying glass effect, they allow a more detailed analysis of the issues of a moment in society."
And from an architectural point of view, who are the heirs of Monte Verita?
“The architectural heirs are numerous. I am thinking in particular of all thealternative habitats : like habitats light, mobile, vernacular or small areas(tiny house) echoed by the press. I am also thinking of experiments on the scale of a residence or a territory, as with theeco-hamletsor different life experiences. But we must also not forget that our society is currently traversed by new forms of living: pooling in social housing, versatility of apartments in residences, etc. All these architectural evolutions testify to the adaptation of the building to the evolutions of society (flat sharing, single-parent family, local solidarity, etc.).
Architectural developments that adapt to price and environmental constraints: because not everyone can withdraw from the world, but on the other hand, each person aspires to more interiority(psycho-spirituality, personal development, etc.) on the scale of his accommodation."
"Each person aspires to more interiority (psycho-spirituality, personal development, etc.) on the scale of
their home."
THE PYRITE
" Maestro Renzo Piano takes skiers on board in a glass case like a giant, crystalline pyrite, open 360 degrees..."
THE ANTHROPOLOGIST
"Who are the architectural heirs of Monte Verita?"
"Are today's upper social classes the heirs of the Lebensrefom?"