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Doina Petrescu and Constantin Petcou will present and discuss the work of atelier d'architecture autogeree(aaa) in Paris. She is also a lecturer in architecture at the University of Sheffield and a co editor of the recently published "Architecture&Participation" book.
" The atelier d'architecture autogeree / studio of self-managed
architecture (aaa) is a collective platform which conducts actions
and research concerning urban mutations and cultural, social and
political emerging practices in the contemporary city. The
interdisciplinary network was founded in 2001 in Paris by
architects, artists, students, researchers, unemployed persons,
activists and residents.
We develop urban tactics to accompany micro-processes and enable
rifts within the standardised urban contexts, which are regulated
by private economic interests or centralised policies. These
policies are incompatible with the global, informal and
multicultural mobilities that characterise the present-day
metropolis. We encourage the re-appropriation of derelict spaces
and the creation of new forms of urbanity by local residents
through reversible designs and lived everyday practices, which make
use of their skills and knowledge. These spaces conserve a
potential of accessibility and experimentation by resisting the
increasing control of the urban context.
Our approach involves not only critical analysis but also the
process of making and acting through shared competencies and
collaborations. We valorise the position of the resident/user as
political condition
and develop tools cooperatively to re-territorialise their spaces
of proximity and empower their decisions and actions within the
city. These tools include among others trans-local networks,
catalyst processes, nomad architectures, self-managed spaces and
platforms for cultural production.
A “self-managed architecture†provokes assemblages and networks
of individuals, desires and different manners of making. It is a
relational practice, which is not always consensual but at times
conflictual, and it is the role of the architect to locate
confrontations and accompany subjective productions. Such an
architecture does not correspond to a liberal practice but asks for
new forms of association and collaboration, based on exchange and
reciprocity.
Our architecture is simultaneously political and poetic as it aims
above all to "create relationships between worlds".
