Contextualizing Liberté D’Usage

Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal have been at the forefront of European architecture for decades, as attested by numerous awards throughout their careers and culminating in the receipt of the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 2021.   Although much has been written and said about their relationsh...

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Main Authors: Alberto Geuna, Claudia Mainardi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: TU Delft OPEN Publishing 2023-03-01
Series:Footprint
Online Access:https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/footprint/article/view/6060
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author Alberto Geuna
Claudia Mainardi
author_facet Alberto Geuna
Claudia Mainardi
author_sort Alberto Geuna
collection DOAJ
description Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal have been at the forefront of European architecture for decades, as attested by numerous awards throughout their careers and culminating in the receipt of the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 2021.   Although much has been written and said about their relationship to the notion of openness in architecture, in this essay we explore the cultural context surrounding a particular aspect inherent in their way of working and conceiving the project: the desire to favour the maximum freedom of use, or liberté d’usage, particularly of – but not limited to – domestic spaces. Liberté d’usage is a declination of openness that brings forward the aspects of flexibility and adaptability suitable to contemporary architectural space, while engaging with its imaginative, atmospheric and emancipatory characteristics. This article elaborates on this view of freedom in architecture, pinning it against its cultural backdrop, and particularly the largely forgotten figure of Jacques Hondelatte, Lacaton & Vassal’s professor and mentor.
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publisher TU Delft OPEN Publishing
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spelling doaj-art-0aae6481b4264dd38e7c67d9138c52ca2025-08-20T03:55:27ZengTU Delft OPEN PublishingFootprint1875-15041875-14902023-03-0116210.7480/footprint.16.2.6060Contextualizing Liberté D’UsageAlberto Geuna0Claudia Mainardi1Politecnico di MilanoPolitecnico di Milano Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal have been at the forefront of European architecture for decades, as attested by numerous awards throughout their careers and culminating in the receipt of the prestigious Pritzker Prize in 2021.   Although much has been written and said about their relationship to the notion of openness in architecture, in this essay we explore the cultural context surrounding a particular aspect inherent in their way of working and conceiving the project: the desire to favour the maximum freedom of use, or liberté d’usage, particularly of – but not limited to – domestic spaces. Liberté d’usage is a declination of openness that brings forward the aspects of flexibility and adaptability suitable to contemporary architectural space, while engaging with its imaginative, atmospheric and emancipatory characteristics. This article elaborates on this view of freedom in architecture, pinning it against its cultural backdrop, and particularly the largely forgotten figure of Jacques Hondelatte, Lacaton & Vassal’s professor and mentor. https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/footprint/article/view/6060
spellingShingle Alberto Geuna
Claudia Mainardi
Contextualizing Liberté D’Usage
Footprint
title Contextualizing Liberté D’Usage
title_full Contextualizing Liberté D’Usage
title_fullStr Contextualizing Liberté D’Usage
title_full_unstemmed Contextualizing Liberté D’Usage
title_short Contextualizing Liberté D’Usage
title_sort contextualizing liberte d usage
url https://journals.open.tudelft.nl/footprint/article/view/6060
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