(Laboratoire de curiosités)
The curiosity laboratory
Atelier d'architecture Patrick Chavannes
Kornhamstorg, Suède, Stockholm
Octover-December 2019
“Choose what you would like to do or watch someone else do it”, echoing with the Fun Palace imagined by Cedric Price, the Wood Factory translates the want to transfer and make accessible and visible culture, art and crafts for all. A real curiosity laboratory, the Wood Factory really intermingles diverse and various programmes, going from a calm space to a place full of sounds, combining calm environments and intense work spaces. The building is therefore a reflection of everyday city life, with its sounds, its odors, people who meet each other, combining different personalities, interests and jobs. The philosophy of the place is based on participation, openness to the public, exchanges and apprenticeship working on appropriation. During a simple stroll, one can discover activities and therefore observe people working with wood, reading on the calm square, making the most of a cup of coffee, seeing an exhibition, like an always moving machine that would come alive through its uses. The open plan of the building allows the programmation to evolve that we can imagine different according to different times and transformations in our society. The building is experienced thanks to ramps, that cross the structure, inside and outside. These inclined plans are inspired by the theorisations of Claude Parrent on the oblique function, letting the visitor flow freely, following a walking pace, making them use their bodies and “feeling the architecture”. This will make them more receptive to the project.