Motifs, from housing to city
Projet LoNa+, Nantes © Pierre-Yves Brunaud / sophie delhay architecte
Sophie Delhay, of the office Sophie Delhay architecte, was the guest of Prof. Emmanuel Rey’s studio at the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) to present her architectural approach. Entitled “Motifs”, her lecture allowed the students to understand the issues of use and quality of space in the development of housing projects in dense urban contexts.
A graduate of ENSAP in Lille, Sophie Delhay created her own firm in Paris in 2010. The architectural approach of sophie delhay architect is centered on a reflection around uses, particularly within the manufacture of housing, as a lever for projects. Her latest achievement, the Unité(s) Project in Dijon, won the 2019 "Équerre d'argent" Award in the Housing category. Teaching since 2012 at the National School of Architecture in Nantes, she joined the one in Versailles in 2014.
Illustrating the firm's creative approach to the issue of habitat, the conference focused on the theme of motifs through six different projects. The motif is a small characteristic element of a composition: it is the smallest common denominator and ensures its unity and overall vision. In French, the motif is also the reason that links the individual elements in the construction of the collective. Finally, the motif is a combination of situations offered, as free and unexpected as possible. The firm defends the idea that the city can be imagined from the very small (the room for example), from its daily and event-driven uses, or from specific situations. From one step to the next, neighborhood relations reconfigure public space and the city itself.
Resonating with the issues addressed in the studio URBAN RHODANIE, the conference allowed to put into perspective the didactic approach, from the urban project to the construction detail as an innovative process for the transformation of urban territories in transition.