We recently started work with aaa on a 3 year long EU funded project called Life+, which takes place across two neighbourhoods: the suburb of Colombe in Paris and Hackney Wick in London. It addresses issues of urban cycles of ecology, economy and culture, and aims to result in four prototype buildings fit for local communal living, trading and recycling. A first workshop in Paris takes place on the weekend 15th and 16th September, combining ad hoc on site design from reclaimed material with some presentations of work in the Wick and research in recycling and architecture.