Imperfection - Atelier Stephane Fernandez

French architect Stephane Fernandez creates a ‘silent architecture’ that invests the landscape as much as it takes shape. He is a minimalist in expression and maximalist in attention to detail. He models rough, thick and fragile monoliths by digging, by movement of bodies and the generation of tensions between masses. Fernandez articulates his work around a permanent search for materials, the accumulation of models, sketches, plans and words. This first monograph on Stephane Fernandez features five of his realised designs that are emblematic for his approach: a childrens’ pavillion (Saint-Raphael, 2005), a media library (Carnoux, 2007), a students’ residence and laboratory building (Banyuls-sur-Mer, 2013), a cultural centre (Vertou, 2015) and a primary school (Cannes, 2018). An essay and a conversation with Stephane Fenrandez by architectural historian Rleonore Marantz as well as a manifesto by the architect himself complement plans of the buildings and photographs of the five buildings by Berlin-based photographers Schnepp Renou. Preface is by Jean-Christophe Quinton.
Text in English and French.
AUTHOR: Stephane Fernandez graduated from the Ecole Nationale Superieure d'Architecture de Marseille and EPFL’s School of Architecture in Lausanne, Switzerland. He runs his own studio in Aix-en-Provence and also works as a teacher-researcher at ENSA Marseille’s Department La Fabrique. Building Paris is a Paris-based art direction and design studio founded by Benoit Santiard and Guillaume Grall.
102 colour, 36 b/w illustrations