New Riches

Editions Fourre-Tout of the Atelier d'Architecture Pierre Hebbelinck and Pierre de Wit, in association with the AJAP14 collective and OBRAS, were selected as curators for the French Pavilion at the 15^th Venice Architecture Biennale 2016. In this Framework, they designed and realised, together with the collective, the publication dedicated to this exhibition.

The result of collaboration between many partners (professionals in the field, photographers, video makers and national academies of architecture), the Nouvelles richesses project steps inside the areas of everyday life where a wide range of architectural solutions are being experimented with, to bring hope, human contact(s) and a wealth of experiences. Whether they are in the urban fringe or on rural or industrial sites, these areas where trivial everyday life is seen to unfold hold multiple resources brought to light by the architectural styles adopted. This project is a celebration of these architectural approaches that are every bit as remarkable as they are varied and innovative.

This work is the echo chamber for these journeys into the heart of these little-known areas. Designed as a travel journal, it draws a new map of the places, agents and networks that work together to improve our living environment. Thanks to a very substantial body of documentation, it reconstructs the sheer depth of the experiences on offer at the French Pavilion, highlighting the way in which – all across France – new organisations are emerging and redefining the potential of rural and urban fringe areas. This kind of architecture is not aimed at designing grand iconic buildings; instead it focuses on everyday life. The architect is an involved witness to a transformation of the land and people's living spaces, in which a lot of other stakeholders – politicians, citizens, businesses – are involved.

The catalogue is first and foremost editorial published formalisation of an issue that goes beyond designing stage sets – it is a status report on peri-urban France, and of the transformation of its everyday life. This status report is particularly clear in a campaign of reviews of architectural projects by local agents, with particular reference to the National Academies for Architecture, allowing the book to approach a kind of critical mass - in all, almost 150 projects are documented in the catalogue - that also allows a critical discourse on the general topics of the exhibition.