Paris 18
+33 (0)617536175
ABOUT
FUST.AAAAAH is a Paris-based architectural practice.
From apartment renovation to urban-scale projects, the work of this office is the perfect match between technical knowledge and context adaptation. International experience is a common practice.
Since its foundation, the aim has been to collaborate with multidisciplinary profiles: urban planners, scenographers, art curators,
creative directors, book editions and architects.
AR-01
ARCHITECTURE
01_SBG
W/ ESTUDIO CASI
The municipality where the project is located, Sant Bartomeu del Grau (Vic), has been affected by the occupation and destruction of its context by a local chief whose factory occupies, since the 60s, the village's territory up to 90% of the urban land.
Our project focuses on the reuse of the waste left by the factory after its closure in 2003. In particular, we are interested in the workers' housing block, due to its precarious and abandoned state. Only 8 of the initial 70 residents still live there, in precarious conditions, both in terms of comfort and in legal terms.
The decontextualization that a collective housing building implies for the morphology of a rural municipality, together with the abandonment of the institutions and the lack of response to the problems of the former factory workers, make this architecture a global challenge.
The block is an urban, political, and social problem.
Our project, betting on the reuse and non-creation of architecture, understands the waste from an angle of logical and spatial use. That is to say, from the point of view of the use of space that has already been created. We believe, then in the possibility to propose a quality architecture without the need to destroy or create: transforming the existing. Thus, the project becomes an opportunity to return to the municipality part of the debt that its own creation has caused.
New typologies and new users, a space of opportunity for uses linked to the town and a clear intention of occupation by the collective (space).
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ARCHITECTURE
03_Zurich MAAG Live
The project is the continuation of the inner metamorphosis of Maag area in Zürich. It is marked by emblematic projects and occupations:
- The Swiss Prime Tower, recently built;
- The 1941 Maag factory building, to be preserved, with the listed building K; - The 1968 hall recently occupied by the Tonhalle and the Maag Music Hall.
It is marked by its proximity to the railway station and the multiple activities around.
It is particularly important to consider the richness of the actual occupations related with the history of the city, the uses, the habits and pleasures of its inhabitants. Precisely, its what is activated by groundfloors, streets around, urban nature, all what is already living there. Plus all its memories, the souvenirs.
All this should constitute the ferments for the new life.
LINK TO PROJECT
R-01
RENOVATION - 01 RUE RAMPAL
This apartment was a former caretaker accommodation. The owner wanted to create two independent apartments to rent.
The space was too degraded. A demolition was already ongoing.
The project consist on a clever division to optimise the space and create two proportioned apartments with good ventilation and a good natural light.
This strategy allowed the owner to rent at a higher price, separating the property in two.
Location: Paris XX
Surface: 62 m2
Price: (private)
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URBAN SCALE
01_PLAZA DE ESPAÑA
W/ HOLA.CAMPORROBLES
Rural contexts develop a deep connection with their context.
Public spaces have a main role in the social life of the inhabitants: this is where life happens.
In April 2022 the City Council contacted us to carry out the ideation project for the Plaza de España so we decided to make this collaboration called Hola.Camporrobles.
From the beginning it was clear to us that it should be a global project, taking into account the problems of the town, its cultural legacy and integrating existing and future actions.
In order to meet the requirements of sustainability and integration, we need to answer the following questions:
- Reducing the heat island effect, which occurs when the surface of a material, in this case asphalt, raises its temperature when the sun hits it. This is improved by creating shaded and landscaped areas, as well as by paving the rest of the surface of the square.
- The recovery of rainwater and residual water from the fountains to irrigate the new green areas.
- Universal accessibility, allowing both the elderly and those with mobility problems to use the space without difficulty, as the paving will be at the same level.
The first idea we thought of was to introduce the landscape into the square. The idea of the project is therefore based on introducing the type of native plants into the urban centre.
Camporrobles is located on a plain between two mountain massifs (the Diente del Quijar and the Molón), on the plain. This characteristic makes the landscape very varied. The landscape of the plain is easily recognisable by the vine, almond and olive groves, while the mountainous landscape is recognisable in the orography of the Molón. The native shrubby vegetation that covers our mountains, such as rosemary, lavender and cloves, among others, is also recognisable.
We believe it is important to pay tribute to the village's crops, as they are what sustain the local economy. In the first image we can identify the crops closest to the village: mainly vines and almond trees.
If we move a little further away from the centre of the municipality, we can see that the crops have taken over from the hills.
Finally, the landscape itself: the mountain, with its mountainous landscape. The image, taken near the Molón, shows a rugged terrain full of native shrub vegetation.
LINK TO PROJECT
AR-02
ARCHITECTURE
02_ARQUIA CONTEST
JURY: JORDI BADIA
Following the Arquia Becas’ program, proposed by Jordi Badia, this project aims to include a Laic Chapel in the urban context of Barcelona .
EL HUMBRAL
Boundary
The limit of the city is defined by a line, a boundary.
This limit becomes diffuse if we move away from the tangible and think about the time of the city:
What is the threshold that separates the city from nature?
Cultivated fields and walls: before; Industry and highways: now.
In any case, modified landscapes that take us away from nature.
Contact with the purest nature, contact with the essence, is necessary. With the Self. Away from physical and psychic contamination.
To isolate ourselves from the city.
To cross the threshold.
THE CHAPEL
The Chapel is presented as a shortcut.
A farce that allows to deceive the senses.
Nature behind the threshold of the city.
The chapel is understood as a device, as a tool to leave behind the sensory pollution produced by the city. It is a route that does not focus on one point, since it is not necessary to worship. A semi-buried circular space is proposed, which is reached unexpectedly. The references of the senses must be lost. The user of the chapel will have to go through a purging process to be able to appreciate the sensations in a pure way.
Noise will give way to silence.
LINK TO PROJECT
I-01
INTERVIEW
01_YÛKI KOSHIKAWA - TADAO ANDO AT POMPIDOU CENTER
The Pompidou Center in Paris devotes an important retrospective exhibition to the Japanese architect Tadao Ando: TADAO ANDO, LE DEFI.
This exhibition is part of Japonismes 2018 celebration that proposes acts, exhibitions and events organized last year to commemorate the brotherhood between Japan and France.
Taking advantage of the excuse of said exhibition, we talk with Yüki KOSHIKAWA.
historian and co-curator of the exhibition.
Japanese art historian, Yoshikawa, specializes in French Culture and has been collaborating with the Pompidou Center for more than 13 years as a research manager. She works as an associate curator of architecture exhibitions together with Frédéric Migayrou.
LINK TO ARTICLE
SPECIAL THANKS TO VALENTINA MOIMAS
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SCENOGRAPHY
01_VENICE BIENALE
W/ LACATON & VASSAL ARCHITECTES
At the invitation of Yvonne Farell and Shelley McNamara, we have endeavored to understand and define “free space” in the light of our projects. We have endeavored to locate where free space is found and to pinpoint how to make it emerge in design, and what volume it occupies.
What is “free space”?
The memory of the desert, a search for the horizon, no walls or barriers, the feeling of freedom, space that slips away, that let’s escape the air, the light, the sight, and the imagination ...
The impression that space is a prisoner, behind bars, closed facades,
insulating walls and thicknesses, behind economic constraints, programs, architecture, town planning today...
Free space is:
space that is not constrained,
space under pilotis,
space of balconies and winter gardens,
space on accessible roofs,
deep inner space, which never exists in standard spaces as it is considered too deep or useless, extra space, which makes the “programmatic” space smoother, more fluid, less expensive, space free of program, eluding a specific de- fined function,
space that avoids rules and regulations,
space that isn’t asked for, but that we find in-dispensable,
space that is created additionally but that doesn’t cost more, space that costs nothing...
Our approach:
making do with
In all circumstances, starting off from what exists Never demolishing or removing, but making the most of existing resources, making do with the poetry, fragility, qualities and defects, shortcomings, the natural ground,
Considering existing situations as capacities and project materials.
Creating greater surface area by using less territory.
creating the double space: filled space / free space
A simultaneous process of condensation-dilatation, densification-extension
To shake free from budgetary constraints, mini- mum-standard programmes, efficiency coeffi- cients, urban regulations.
making floors like ground,
on pilotis to release the natural ground,
on open frameworks of posts and floorboards; The largest possible, to provide the program with space around
Linking these floors with staircases, elevators, slopes, gentle flows.
Until the last ground – the roof, always accessible.
Domino house, the polykatoika in Athens, Thinking about the subtle relationships put to-
gether Cédric Price, The Invisible Sandwich
releasing space on every ground,
from the inside towards the limits of the floors and simply filtering out through transparent sliding bay windows, curtains, blinds, depending on the climate or season, through winter gardens, balconies,
No walls, so no windows. Moving from the outside to the inside and finding again the outside from inside out.
the Villa Katsura, the Case Study Houses,
separating indoor space with light, removable partitions
Independent of structural elements
enlarging, dilating, extending, doubling
Constructing double with the project’s given budget, without spending more,
to generate space to the program and for usage.
LINK TO ARTICLE
PHOTO CREDITS: KARINA SACHER
TEXT CREDITS: ANNE LACATON
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SCENOGRAPHY
02_MEXTROPOLI_CDMX
W/ LACATON & VASSAL ARCHITECTES
Espacio Libre, Transformación y habiter opened at the Museo de la Ciudad de México, as part of MEXTRÓPOLI 2024.
Since the late 1980s, the work of Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal has been characterized by generosity, precision and the use of industrial materials and techniques, such as greenhouses, focused on creating quality architecture. Paying special attention to the environment in terms of climate and analysis of the existing, they have managed to bring to the table important issues such as the valorization of social housing, the importance of context, attention to the economy or the democratization of architectural quality.
Rol: co-curator & exhibition coordination
LINK TO ARTICLE
PHOTO CREDITS: ARQUINE
SPECIAL THANKS TO: ARQUINE