International Architecture residence : winners

Wallonie Bruxelles-Architectures and the Maison de l'Architecture des Pays de la Loire in Nantes are pleased to announce the names of the winners of the first Franco-Belgian residence, which aims to develop actions on the theme of "urban densification and contemporary architecture in the suburbs" in two defined areas: Saint-Jean-de-Boiseau, a town in Nantes, and Walcourt, a Walloon town in the Province of Namur.

Virginie Pigeon architect and landscape architect, Anne Ledroit architect and Eric Valette visual artist were selected on the Belgian side. They will be associated with the French team composed of Etienne Duval and Jean Chauvelot.

The multidisciplinary Belgian team is about to discover the territory of Saint-Jean-de-Boiseau and its inhabitants. They will propose a delicate reading, co-constructed, attentive to built and unbuilt forms, to the identities conveyed, to the modalities of appropriation, to the desires and to the imaginations. As a backdrop, they will promote the river, a strong and universal experience. The river as an elsewhere, a carrier of fantasy, of the idea of travel, of danger too. The watercourse, as a link between the two villages selected for this residence, Walcourt being located at the confluence of two rivers. Over time, the team will use walking, maps and drawing to produce an idea of the place and highlight its most sensitive components. On the French side, Etienne Duval and Jean Chauvelot meet in Metz in 2012. They get to know each other instantly, and as they quickly collaborate on small audiovisual projects, the desire to work together on a larger project becomes apparent. Etienne is an architect, he lives and works in Luxembourg. He founded the YO studio there in 2018. As much interested in architecture as in communication, he places at the centre of his concerns the interaction with other humans - or humans between them. Jean is a comic book author, born in Donjeux in Haute-Marne, he lives and works in Paris. Despite the terribly monastic reality of his profession, he turns out to be an extremely social animal, and shares Etienne's obsession with people. In these hermit jobs, opportunities to reach out to other humans are rare, so the idea of meeting them at home makes them happy; meet them and tell them.