By Mathilde Yence
How to open the building to the canal view (east side, morning light) and keep the head in the trees?
This sailing boat design office wanted an eco friendly image, different from the high tech look it usually shapes.
The loose soil where the building is anchored needs micropiles 18m deep and a light wooden framework on stilts, 2 x 100m2.
The beams extension generate a cantilevered terrace on the east side, and create sun breakers to control the light getting in the offices. The pivoting slats along the façade give a visual vibration from the canal when arriving by boat.
The architect’s first material is your dreams, then comes reality. From dreams to reality and from reality to dreams, there is a thread between the two...
Playing with the tension of this thread is what makes spaces come alive!
Because we cross through spaces from one to another, we physically experience sequences. Spaces are made of sequences, they are never isolated.
The context of the project’s surroundings goes into the design. So the way I identify the context becomes part of my project. That’s how I begin a design, by trying to make it simple, efficient and bright.
Architects and designers play a role in transforming the global economy from a linear to a circular model.
Our designs should support a system which generates no waste or pollution, it should support spaces in the making, evolving environments.
Because we create so many buildings, we need to insist on materials that can be reused or converted again and again, developing by themselves.
We need to promote passive houses and energy-plus buildings, we need to use raw earth, green roofs, biosourced materials, natural light… all of this means circularity rather than linearity.