Interview with the director of the Braillard Architects Foundation, in the context of the “Utopian coffees” organised for the 30th anniversary of the AUPB (association des usagers des Bains des Pâquis).
ARCHITECTURE AND THE NEW SUSTAINABLE UTOPIAS
In 2016, we celebrated the 500th anniversary of the publication of Thomas More’s book “Utopia”. The English humanist would probably not have imagined to what extent this new word would find a privileged place in the language of architecture and urbanism. Despite its setbacks, inflections, twists and failures, Utopia remains the term used to qualify all our attempts to build a better collective future. Across borders, cultures, and disciplines, Utopia has become one of the great sources of inspiration for many an emancipatory project.
How to reconcile our need for a new life close to nature with our humanist project? How to transform the principles, manifestos and programmes which inspired the modernity of the 20th century into driving forces of the ecological transition? What are the characteristics of the new sustainable Utopias?
The Braillard Architects Foundation recognizes the current challenges posed by the Anthropocene era to the built environment, a subject open to multiple expertise, practices and professions. These include architecture — art, craft and discipline. Its methods, processes, projects and achievements constitute a body of discipline that is essential for the design of future ecologically sustainable lifestyles.