Inaugural Week 2023-24

Workshop led by Adrien Comte and Adrien Meuwly (COMTE/MEUWLY)

Assisted by Maria Clara Castioni, Valentin Calame, Robin Delerce, David Viladomiu, Cécile Diama Samb

During the inaugural week, students had the opportunity to act on the city, developing a series of actions and devices built as part of the event Les Pâquis sont à la Rue.

The projects enable us to understand public space as a place for experimentation, made up of devices and performances. The city becomes a field of experimentation, a source of possibilities.

"Unlike buildings, which almost always belong to someone, streets belong in principle to no one."

George Perec, Espèces d'espace, 2006

Each device is composed of 3 axes, intrinsically linked and interconnected, in no hierarchical order.

1/3 CONTEXT

Considered in the broadest sense (uses, interactions, built and unbuilt elements, etc.), the context is meticulously inventoried in order to extract its challenges and potential. The aim is to develop an opportunistic approach, in the best sense of the word.

2/3 MATERIALS

Each group has been assigned a selection of materials commonly regarded as scraps, leftovers or waste, salvaged from various (de-)construction sites across the canton. The ambition is to give them a new reading, a new interpretation, to discover potentials, through a series of meticulous assemblies and diverted uses.

3/3 ACTION

What's going to happen? Who will be involved? To what end?

Through their activation, the devices function as prostheses for the city, taking into account and using existing elements to suggest future uses. These actions form a direct and intimate link with the places in which we work, the wider context, the environment in all its complexities.