Urban mix and thresholds
Les Grands-Chênes, Céligny (GE) © bunq architectes
Cyril Lecoultre, associate architect of bunq architectes in Nyon, was the guest of Prof. Emmanuel Rey’s studio at the Laboratory of Architecture and Sustainable Technologies (LAST) to talk about his work as an architect through a selection of projects. Entitled "Mixité et seuils", his lecture allowed students to discover collective housing projects confronting the specific challenges of periurban areas.
Cyril Lecoultre, an architect who graduated from HES, founded bunq architects in 2007 with Laurent Gaille and Julien Grisel following winning competition projects in the Lake Geneva region. He is also a project teacher for second-year bachelor students at the Haute école du paysage, d'ingénierie et d'architecture (HEPIA) in Geneva.
The projects developed by bunq architectes refer to the place they transform. They are nourished by the discovery of a site and by this knowledge that is gradually acquired while building. The conference highlighted these office's motivations through two projects: the Grands-Chênes housing complex in Céligny (GE), which is part of a small constellation of buildings built in the fields, and the transformation of an old rural building in Lavigny (VD) to accommodate an activity center and training rooms, in addition to a boarding school and two housing buildings.
Resonating with the issues addressed in the studio RELIEFS URBAINS, the conference allowed to put into perspective the didactic approach, from the urban project to the construction detail as a relevant process for the transformation of urban territories in transition.