Studio led by Ahmed Belkhodja (fala atelier) & Camille Bagnoud (COCI studio)

Assisted by Robin Delerce

This semester, the studio continued its exploration and critique of domestic interiors as conceived by generic real estate development. After addressing large 'mixed' housing complexes in Geneva, we observed smaller-scale buildings – terraced houses that played on the appeal of individual homes in supposedly less urban contexts. The 'sprawling' of the territory to which these buildings contributed became one of the bases for reflection in the projects, in which the aim was to propose greater accommodation capacities than current standards.

The Swiss contribution to the Venice Architecture Biennale 2018 had consisted of a labyrinth of unfurnished domestic interiors, "highlighting a hidden surface behind the promise of rationality and control of the plan." These generic domestic spaces were ubiquitous throughout the country and beyond. They reduced the domestic realm to a container for objects and people, where the illusion of neutrality primarily served to ensure easy compliance with market standards. Since it was inevitably intertwined with a myriad of forms of life and intimacy, the residential interior could then be seen as the most significant battleground in the commodification of our built environment.

By proposing alternative and dense solutions in this context, we were led to radically rethink the very spatiality of housing, as well as the necessary balances between the intimate and the communal, between the shared and the private. We then questioned the very material from which our apartments were made, and their multiple potentialities. In this context, the “decorative” signified a transgression of "rationality and control," a sign of vitality, diversity, and intentionality on the part of interior architects.