ENG |
Paris is a city so layered in time, limited in space, and rich in architectural history, that, by definition, to build in Paris is to build on architecture. The recycling of existing sites, situations, and buildings has always been fundamental to the renewal of the city in its evolution and expansion from Gallo-Roman town to fortified medieval capital, 19th century world city and 21st century metropolis, from the absorption of former Roman structures in the development of the medieval city to the recent conversions of the Great Mills of Pantin and the MacDonald warehouses in the northern periphery of Paris. Architecture is never new, never pure but assimilates, transforms and reuses what already exists, drawing on the old to create the new.
Using an existing building as the ‘site’, this studio will explore this process of renewal through the lens of architectural cannibalism. The interventions, whether characterized as addition, subtraction, grafting, or parasitism, will attach themselves to an existing building in a specific manner, and will thus be structurally ‘foundation-less,’ since the existing structure itself will transfer the loads to the ground. Gravity redefines itself in this search for a dynamic structural equilibrium between the old and the new.
Two primary methods of architectural cannibalism will be investigated: spatial parasitism, in which a new element is inserted into a host structure with varying degrees of colonization of the existing structure and infrastructural systems, and structural symbiosis, in which a new element is grafted onto an existing structure.
In spatial parasitism, a new structure inserts itself into an existing building, relying on elements of the existing building (structural, mechanical, etc.) to construct itself. Often used in historical preservation, this strategy results in a building-within-a-building. In reality, the host structure is often rendered an empty shell and gutted in order for the new structure to insert itself.
Structural symbiosis implies a graft that once inserted, strengthens, heals, or transforms its original host. In architecture, grafts are often applied to improve the functionality of the host structure, to address a lack in program or space, or to keep a structure from becoming obsolete.
