Flavien Menu et Frédérique Barchelard

Frédérique Barchelard is a qualified architect (ENSAPLV) and painter. She works on metropolitan and urban scales, as well as on more artisanal and artistic projects. Her work focuses on how architects can create new conditions for living together, articulating research and operationality, foresight and everyday domesticity. She creates living spaces that combine painting and architecture, and works on projects linked to innovative real estate strategies. She teaches at the Architectural Association in London and is a regular contributor to cultural and academic institutions such as the Royal Academy of Arts and London Metropolitan University.

Flavien Menu is a qualified architect (ENSAV) with a double degree in Urban Affairs from Sciences Po Paris and the London School of Economics. He works at the crossroads of the political, economic and architectural worlds, articulating the realities of territories with urban development issues (Office for Cities). He actively participates in debates on urban innovation and living together through numerous articles and conferences (Harvard Kennedy School, Architectural Association, Tate Modern). His first book, New Commons for Europe, is a dialogue on the spontaneous ways of making the city that emerged after the 2008 financial crisis. His commitment to the European question led him to become actively involved in the votetogether.eu campaign, which focuses on the importance of voting in the democratic process.

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PROTO-HABITAT

Following on from research carried out during their residency at Villa Medici, Frédérique Barchelard and Flavien Menu (Wald.City) have designed the Proto-habitat, an eight-meter-high modular pavilion made entirely of wood from Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Occitanie. The Proto-habitat is a nomadic, eco-friendly dwelling that can be assembled and dismantled in just five days. The pavilion is created from modules that can be assembled in a variety of configurations, making it “a living room, an office, rooms for living, working as much as for entertaining friends, and which can evolve over time.” (F. Menu). This modular habitat is in the vein of so-called “social” architecture, such as that of Jean Prouvé and his demountable houses, which place people and the environment at the heart of their projects.

The Proto-habitat models were presented as part of the exhibition“Dans le tourbillon du tout-monde” at the Villa Medici (July-September 2020), curated by Lorenzo Romito, as well as the exhibition “Les vies minuscules”, presented at the Collection Lambert in Avignon, France, curated by Cécile Debray, as part of the ¡Viva Villa! Festival (October 24, 2020 – March 15, 2021). The life-size Pavilion was then inaugurated on October 6, 2020 at the Jardin Public in Bordeaux, as part of the Woodrise meetings.

News :

• The exhibition “Proto-habitat. Fabriquer autrement, du prototype à l’habiter”, dedicated to the project, is on show at the arc en rêve architecture center from October 6, 2020 to August 29, 2021. See the video Proto-habitat, from manufacturing to dismantling the prototype.
  More information at this link.
• During the Artocène festival, the Proto-habitat will be on display at the entrance to the town and on the edge of the woods. It will then become an ephemeral art center for the exhibition Forêt intérieure, featuring a selection of young international artists (Antoine Carbonne, Laetitia de Chocqueuse, Charlotte Gautier Van Tour, Ellande Jaureguiberry, Théo Massoulier).
  Artocène
  Festival Art, Architecture, Environment
  August 14 to September 19, 2021
  More information at this link.
• For the fourth season of the Villa Carmignac in Porquerolles (Fondation Carmignac), the exhibition The Imaginary Sea transforms its spaces into an underwater natural history museum, exploring the interactions between our civilization and the underwater world. A series of paintings by Frédérique Barchelard is exhibited in the gardens of the Villa Carmignac for this event, curated by Chris Sharp and running until October 17, 2021.
  More information at this link.