LUX Xmas 2018

20 Having recognised the firm as Most Innovative Architecture team – France in our prestigious 2018 Leading Designers Awards, we profiled the firm and explored the secrets behind its success. Created in Paris in 2004 by Laurent Gravier and Sara Martin Camara, FRES Architectes has since flourished, and today works alongside a range of clients. Today the work of the office focuses on the production of space in the broad sense, including urbanism, public space, architecture, and design. The office develops projects with different programs and scales, sharing the same approach. Each project is therefore a field of research, with a specific context and specific problematics in which generic themes reappear such as density, urbanity, mixed-use, diversity, and sustainability. The answer is nevertheless unique and specific for each project, with the aim of valuing the qualities of the site and taking advantage of peculiarities of a program. The firm’s projects take the shape of architectural, urban and environmental strategies. Strategies that lay down rules, bases of the project, leaving many opportunities within the same concept. This approach allows the project to absorb the changes related to the process, while affirming its core principles. The project is developed in close collaboration with the client and project team, which allows to integrate all their constraints and turn them into potential; with this approach, the concept of sustainable development is integrated in the early design phases. Alongside its recognition with LUXlife Magazine, the firm has been the recipient of many prestigious accolades over the years. In 2012, the office was nominated for the “Prix de la Première Oeuvre”, a French award for the best first-completed work for the construction of 23 social dwellings 1810LU01 in Béthune (FR). This project has been distinguished and nominated for several national and international awards: distinguished for PRIX AMO 2013 (Architectes et Maîtres d’Ouvrage), shortlisted for Ugo Rivolta European Social Housing Award 2013, shortlisted for WAN Residential Award 2013 and First Prize for the Archi Design Club Awards 2013. In 2014, FRES ARCHITECTES won the international limited competition for the development of the hub station of Renens in Lausanne (CH). In 2016, the 50 social housing units rue Binet, in association with Atelier Kempe-Thill, were nominated at the “Equerre d’argent” award. Looking ahead, FRES Architectes is excited to be completing one of its most invigorating projects, the Nouvelle Comédie Theatre in Geneva. Traditionally a theatre is the place where artists and public meet during performances. For the Nouvelle Comédie, the wish was to create a place that is more convivial, more alive, plural and dynamic at any time, where people work on the creation of productions on the everyday. The building offers a unique façade profile to the urban space, like a skyline, giving it a strong identity. The public space of the esplanade penetrates into the theatre, dissolving the limit between the life of the theatre and the life of the city. The Nouvelle Comédie is composed of two main theatres: an Italian theatre, and a black-box conceived for experimentation. The facility is also a place dedicated to creation. Theatre sets and costumes are fabricated in ateliers in the building, making the theatre a factory for artistic creation. It is a theatre in the city, and a city in the theatre, and its completion is expected at the end of 2019, with FRES Architectes set to enjoy great critical acclaim for the final outcome. Company: FRES Architectes > Laurent Gravier + Sara Martin Camara Contact: Nicolas Marillaud Address: 20 Rue Primo Lévi, 75013 Paris, France Phone: 00 33 1 45 42 44 99 Website: www.fresarchitectes.com FRES Architectes : Shaping the Future Style