(La fabrique en folies)
The Folly factory
Projet de Licence 3 réalisé avec alexandra gardner-o'brien
Atelier d'architecture sous la direction de Philippe Madec
Campus de Beaulieu, Rennes, France
January-May 2020
On the Beaulieu campus, we want politics to be mixed with artistic issues. These teachings, vectors of expression, are intimately linked and can feed off each other. We have chosen to rehabilitate building n°13, a building that is currently almost unoccupied. The main flaw of building n°13 is its interior layout made of a multitude of partitions organized to define a single central circulation. Thus, in our project, the architecture of building n°13 is then stripped, with exposed posts and beams, revealing the very essence of the building. We wish to make the spaces fluid thanks to the use of curtains, folding walls, and doors arranged in a row allowing the spaces to be opened and closed at will. The classes can then be practiced in a very free way. In order to allow the students to express themselves and speak, we designed a series of wooden pavilions, transportable and dismountable, favoring different ways of expression. These micro-architectures or "follies" are placed throughout the building, and can be used on an ad hoc basis, in groups, in class or alone. In addition, we have introduced a rift that splits the existing building in two. This allows one part of the building to be dedicated solely to learning; the other, more private, part will be reserved for student housing. We wanted this interior modularity to translate naturally into the façade. It is animated from the outside according to the hours of the day thanks to a framework of wooden shutters and blinds fixed to the façade. Thus, as a real space in follies, this new factory of ideas comes to animate the campus reflecting its free and ephemeral character to the outside.