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Approach

TERRENEUVE claims a plural culture, engaged in a process of critical questioning and cross-analysis of the specificities of the territory: geographic, human and cultural.

Our collective practice teaches us every day to design by adapting to local practices, often with great economy of means. We try to overcome the ambiguities and contradictions of the initial requests in order to achieve the evidence of the architectural response.

Basing on the postulate that each building contributes to the development or transformation of the site or the city in general, the shape of the project results from an analysis of the issues on a larger scale and not from a predetermined stylistic research. In our opinion, this is the first condition for sustainability.
As the design of each project also draws on past experiences, the agency has chosen to work on very different themes, scales and places in order to stay alert and to design in a reflective manner, freeing itself from habits and style.


simplicity / complexity
Synthesizing the complexity of the data is the first condition for rendering it in a simple and clear form. This involves the early integration of construction and the technical constraints of the project into the design. We seek the clarity of this answer more than the simplicity of the architectural writing itself.

materiality / construction
The choice and use of materials accompany the sensitive experience of building practice. Materiality, beyond structural and constructive choices, also refers to the available resources, to the lifespan of the construction, its relationship with the place, its way of taking light, and of dealing with climatic conditions.

sustainability / interactions
Sustainability is one of the major components of the project, but must be considered in a very broad sense. A sustainable project is "right" not only in its scale, architectural or thermal design for example, but in its ability to influence its physical and human environment. Designing efficient devices at different levels is one of our main criteria for validating architectural choices; valuing "low-tech" experiences makes it possible to understand what is essential.

scales / dimensions
As for the choice of programs, to work on the various scales of a project -from the territory to interior fittings and furniture- makes it possible to assess the appropriateness of the response provided to a given situation.

style / singular experiences
In an approach based on the understanding of a broader context and a long-term vision, architectural writing is not claimed as a signature but as a result of the particular story of the project, the form of which being the narration.

local / places
Building in different places is to experience the local and not the exotic. It is about understanding / learning through different cultures what makes the relevance of the project at a given time and place. If forms and techniques vary from one place to another, experiences are reinforced and make it possible to renew the thinking by re-examining what one thought to be acquired.