Archinect - News

It's high time for an adaptive reuse revolution, says Oliver Wainwright (and everyone else)

2022-08-23T10:00:00-04:00

The timing couldn’t be more urgent. As Lang notes, 80% of the buildings projected to exist in 2050, the year of the UN’s net zero carbon emissions target, have already been built. The critical onus on architects and developers, therefore, is to retrofit, reuse and reimagine our existing building stock, making use of the “embodied carbon” that has already been expended, rather than contributing to escalating emissions with further demolition and new construction.

Tonkin Liu’s Stephen Lawrence Prize-winning Water Tower project is cited as one of many examples of the growing influence of adaptive reuse in the market as evangelized in Ruth Lang’s new book Building for Change, which is due out in September from the German publisher Gestalten. In a follow-up to his influential op-ed from January 2020, Wainwright takes up the cause for adaptive reuse via the disputed Marks & Spencer department store demolition, turning to last year’s Pritzker Prize winners for validation of an idea which has rapidly gained popularity across the UK.

“Demolishing is a decision of easiness and short-term. It is a waste of many things — a waste of energy, a waste of material and a waste of history,” Anne Lacaton told The Guardian critic. “Moreover, it has a very negative social impact. For us, it is an act of violence.”

'It is important for the world to know that people like you exist': Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal formally awarded 2021 Pritzker Prize

2021-09-15T13:18:00-04:00

Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal have been formally awarded the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize at a special ceremony which took place on September 14th. The French architects were announced as recipients of the prestigious prize in March in recognition of their contribution to the built environment, particularly their commitment to sustainability through the use of pre-existing structures.

Ceremony highlights. Video courtesy Pritzker Architecture Prize.

During their ceremony acceptance speech, Lacaton and Vassal stressed the importance of creating habitable spaces with a positive relationship to the climate and starting from a principle of retaining, rather than demolishing, existing structures. “In this respect, the heritage of modernity and experiments with free plan, spatial generosity, transparency and light for all, offer many valuable lessons,” they said.

“Considering the existing as a present material deeply modifies the way we envisage the city, which is always a...

Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal named 2021 Pritzker Prize Winners

2021-03-16T10:38:00-04:00

French architects Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal of Lacaton & Vassal have been awarded the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize, widely considered one of the industry's highest honors.

Transformation of G, H, I Buildings, Grand Parc, 530 Units, Social Housing (with Frédéric Druot and Christophe Hutin), photo courtesy of Philippe Ruault

The prize jury praised the architects' ongoing commitment to sustainability through their reverence for pre-existing structures, "conceiving projects by first taking inventory of what already exists."

53 Units, Low-Rise Apartments, Social Housing, photo courtesy of Philippe Ruault

The 2021 jury citation states, in part: "Not only have they defined an architectural approach that renews the legacy of modernism, but they have also proposed an adjusted definition of the very profession of architecture. The modernist hopes and dreams to improve the lives of many are reinvigorated through their work that responds to the climatic and ecological emergencies...

BIG, SANAA, Lacaton & Vassal pre-qualified to compete in designing new Aarhus School of Architecture

2015-11-17T14:06:00-05:00

The Aarhus School of Architecture in Denmark is set on revamping itself with the construction of a brand new school building, and the search to find the architect to design it is underway. According to the School, a total of 42 teams worldwide responded to the first phase of the competition. Along with the Danish Building & Property Agency — the contractor of the project, the School selected three pre-qualified teams from a strong field of candidates. They are:

BIG (Denmark) along with Transform + Rambøll + SLA
SANAA (Japan) along with B+G Ingenieure + Sasaki and Partners
LACATON & VASSAL (France) along with Powerhouse + Kristine Jensens Tegnestue

However, there are still three spots left. When the next phase starts in December, the Danish Building & Property Agency will launch an open international design competition welcoming all architects and architecture students, from which the last three candidates will be chosen.

All six pre-qualified candidates will then advance to the restric...

Via Domus; Intelligent architecture for current times

2012-02-03T22:30:00-05:00

The project of Lacaton-Vassal-Druot is a brilliant contemporary example of working within built-up heritage, solving with an exceptional industrial and even adaptable solution the problem which many European cities face.

While European cities present very low demographic growth today, they have extraordinarily urban and even agriculturally built environments. Adding to these circumstances circumstances certain environmental and social sustainable values, and bearing in mind the current economical situation, you can reach the conclusion that the re-use existing built patrimony – obsolete after new and continuous social, economic and technological changes – is a need. In this context, French architects Anne Lacaton & Jean Philippe Vassal have been developing an uncommon philosophy marked by their interest in preservation and social living improvement refurbishments, very far from the professional positioning of most reknown architects.