Barré Lambot Architectes

In 2010, after two decades designing housing complexes, public buildings, and civic programs, patiently refining their uncompromising architecture, Barré and Lambot have finally broken into the world of major real estate projects. This fall, as an equivalent project in Paris struggles to get off the ground, the Nouvelle Vague housing complex between Nantes railway station and the Malakof district will welcome its first residents.

Rich beginnings have left their mark in the form of an unfailing respect for place and texture, for materials and how they are used, while their most recent projects have awakened an ambition to circumvent the stereotypes routinely incorporated into major buildings. They have always eschewed the dominant paradigm, skirting round it without ignoring it, acknowledging its presence while guaranteeing the soundness of their work. Despite their seemingly reserved manner, Barré and Lambot never do anything by halves. Now aged 52 and at the head of an agency with a dozen staff, the pair have remained true to a tradition of how projects should be approached and conducted, while in no way shirking the major issues of the times.

The materials, models, iconographies, maps, and geographies assembled in this exhibition encapsulate the agency’s imagination. Disciplines cut across territories, while objects belong to everyone: architecture will always lie at the crossroads of precarious and ill- marked trails, with every project an invitation to push our explorations to disparate horizons.

Jean-Louis Violeau, 21/07/2014