Stream is a transdisciplinary magazine founded by Philippe Chiambaretta in 2009. By bringing together philosophers, sociologists, artists, engineers, biologists, economists and architects, it crystallizes a kaleidoscopic, forward-looking vision of the urban issues it tackles. It’s a way of doing research, by confronting expertise, at the crossroads of knowledge!
Etienne Riot, urban planning researcher, and Pauline Detavernier, architecture researcher, are at the heart of applied research and innovation at PCA-STREAM. Together, they talk about the different facets of this research, from a CIFRE contract, to the setting up of a university chair project, to the subjects explored by the collaborators.
Philosopher, researcher and architecture school teacher Chris Younès advocates the implementation of “regenerative synergies” to learn to collaborate, respect the dynamics of nature and seek a new form of harmony – not simply aesthetic but also ethical and political – to improve the manufacture of inhabited environments. An attitude advocated by many architectural researchers!
Bertrand Julien-Laferrière, former CIO of the Société Foncière Lyonnaise, collaborated with PCA-STREAM on the design of #cloud.paris. This building, located in the heart of Paris, combines work spaces that coincides with the aspirations of the creative classes and the employees of high value-added industries, which are turning away from the single-use business centers of the periphery. As part of the documentary “PCA-STREAM: From research to action”, we asked him to reconsider the development of this project. Here, he goes into more detail about the relationship between the client and the architect in the French context.
PCA-STREAM takes its inspiration from its research on new workspaces, which are gathered in the second issue of the Stream book-magazine, “After Office,” in order to design its premises in the Marais, on the site of a former printing house. Designed as an ecosystem that brings together a variety of spaces for the use of a large multidisciplinary team, this place is the spatial embodiment of PCA-STREAM as well as a manifesto of its innovative vision of the work space.
True to its urban vision of a sustainable, desirable, and inclusive city, PCA-STREAM is involved in Café Joyeux’s vocational center for the rehabilitation of people with mental and cognitive disabilities on the Champs-Élysées. As part of this solidarity-based partnership, the studio has designed a pop-up venue on the “world’s most beautiful avenue”, showcasing its staff’s capacity to provide quality service. The interior space, which is adapted to the special needs of its staff, has a welcoming and colorful atmosphere, providing a warm and friendly venue. On the walls, Café Joyeux’s adventure is displayed, while the prep space is open to the public in order for all the staff to be made visible, as this is not just a place of meeting and interaction, but also an awareness-raising project.
François Taddei is a geneticist and co-founder, with Ariel Lindner, of the Learning Planet Institute (formerly known as CRI). Conceived as a school for the 21st century, the institute combines artificial intelligence and collective intelligence to reinvent ways of learning, teaching and doing research.
Anthropologist and geographer Sonia Lavadinho has been working on issues related to sustainable mobility for the past fifteen years, and in particular on the way urban planning can improve walkability. She believes shifting from the “functional city” to the “relational city” will primarily stem from our relationship to time.
From virtual canteens to connected fridges, a whole range of innovations is gradually being introduced in office buildings. They are part of a fundamental movement that is shaking up our lunchtime practices. It’s no longer just a question of space, but now also of experience. As is often the case, these innovations are provoking change as much as they are responding to our changing needs. Will the company restaurant be able to respond?
Rob Hopkins is the instigator of the international “The Transition Towns” movement, which supports many environmentally responsible initiatives carried out by both municipalities and citizens. Its primary goal is to unleash our imagination in order to inspire the desire and the courage to act.
“ Every citizen on the planet is a gardener. ”
“ Every citizen on the planet is a gardener. ”
Gilles Clément coined the concept of the ‘planetary garden’ which invites everyone to take care of the Earth as they would a garden. Having all too often been confronted with the sheer ignorance of how ecosystems and the living world operate, he, therefore, proposes creating a Ministry of Knowledge to lift us out of the ‘Stupidocene.’ Read transcript A PCA-STREAM production Coordination: Jasmine Léonardon Editing: Mattéo Caranta Music: Alexandre Desplat
“ Building the City, Deconstructing the Method. ”
“ Building the City, Deconstructing the Method. ”
Through the act of building, architect and Grand prix de l’urbanisme 2019 laureate Patrick Bouchain reconsiders public procurement and puts it to the test of reality. He outlines his experimental Université Foraine project of an itinerant university promoting open, citizen-centric programming. Read transcript A PCA-STREAM production Coordination: Jasmine Léonardon Editing: Mattéo Caranta Music: Alexandre Desplat
Researcher in complex systems, robotics and artificial intelligence, Carlos Moreno is a pioneer and specialist of the Human Smart City. Far from blind enthusiasm or total rejection, he builds a critique of the techno-centric and universalist smart city. He advocates a model based on consultation and co-construction. In this talk he also develops his vision of a new model of international governance, driven by a coalition of metropolises.
Gilbert Emont is director of the Palladio Foundation, a think tank focusing on urban space founded in 2008, which promotes research and exchanges in real estate and urban planning, in order to better meet the challenges of urban space construction. He describes how the Foundation defines what the urban society is, and how the city and its builders must adapt to this paradigm shift.
As part of the documentary “PCA-STREAM: From research to action”, we interviewed Jean-Louis Cohen, architect, historian of Architecture and professor at the Collège de France. He depicts a profession that is concerned about its place in the world today, and describes how architects are reinventing themselves in order to face the social, technical and environmental challenges of the 21st century.
Caroline Goulard is a data journalist and co-founder of Dataveyes. She turns collected data into digital experiences to make it more understandable for everyone. Thanks to new ways of visualization, it is now possible to understand a population’s needs and to develop services that anticipate new uses.
Researcher and data scientist Stanislas Chaillou investigates how AI can enable architects to support and enhance their practice. A small sampler of a new book published by Éditions du Moniteur in March 2021.
François Taddei is a geneticist and co-founder, with Ariel Lindner, of the Learning Planet Institute (formerly known as CRI). Conceived as a school for the 21st century, the institute combines artificial intelligence and collective intelligence to reinvent ways of learning, teaching and doing research.
Hubert Beroche is the founder of the Urban AI think tank, dedicated to the field of urban artificial intelligence. He is the curator of the Eyes on the street lecture series, run together in partnership with the SCAI (Sorbonne Center for Artifical Intelligence), and explains here how urban AI can help us understand the city.
Contemporary architectural research is often fascinated by biological life but with an approach that goes beyond simple organic metaphors thanks to recent technological developments. Alisa Andrasek discusses the link between biology and her architectural practice, and her interest in the distribution of information in natural processes—a complexity that she tries to approach via big data. Her work in computational design is influenced by the convergence between information and materials, in an increasingly complex and open synthesis which enables it to go beyond the production of form and address the dynamic processes of matter itself. Alisa Andrasek is an architect, director and founder of the Biothing laboratory. She teaches at the Architectural Association of London.
Researcher Claire Lesieur works at the CNRS Ampère Laboratory on the Go Pro project, which applies a computational model developed for protein folding to urban environments. The shape-changing properties of proteins are put to use in an attempt to map out the opportunities for urban growth that don’t involve urban sprawl.
In the face of the promises of the prophets of artificial intelligence and the marketing of those major economic players promoting the smart city as a solution to urban ills, Jérôme Denis and David Pontille remind us of the irreducible materiality and fragility of cities. Demystifying what they perceive as a form of “neopositivism” of data, they point out that data doesn’t exist per se, and in fact must be generated and then maintained at a significant cost. As a result, data is never neutral and takes on a fundamentally political dimension. Understanding this framework leads them to promote a paradigm of maintenance and fragility, instead of the more common one of sustainability and resilience, when approaching urban realities.
stream voices
Eager to share more generously the results of its collaborations and research, PCA-STREAM publishes STREAM VOICES, its online magazine!
