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Stream 02

STREAM 02 tackles the challenges raised by the major evolution of our work conditions. The globalization of economies, as well as the permanent revolution of communication and information technologies, the rise of environmental concerns, and finally the current financial crisis, are all factors that could fundamentally transform our relationship to work as well as the design of workspaces. At a time when new technologies lead to the dematerialization of work and values of individual autonomy are rising, the environmental crisis raises the question of sustainability of the traditional office building. What is the “after-office” world like?

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Furniture on the wake of change

Isabelle de Ponfilly

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Furniture on the wake of change

Office furniture is an essential part of the workspace. Design editors must anticipate new uses, respond to business demands, and ensure good marketing. In branding, the Swiss publisher Vitra has developed relationships with prolific designers and architects Andrea Branzi, Arik Levy, and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. Between anticipation and brand strategy, design of office furniture systems offers adaptability and flexible configurations to meet the specifies of each society. Isabelle de Ponfilly is the CEO of Vitra France.

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Contemporary memories

Bertrand Julien-Laferrière

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Contemporary memories

Using an amount of grand office building rehabilitation projects, to artists Per Barclay and Alain Bublex, Société Foncière Lyonnaise conducted a reflection on the transformation of a place of industrial heritage of the 20th century to a contemporary live-work environment. This former factory in Boulogne-Billancourt, converted into offices in the late 20th century, underwent a new transformation to fit the needs of businesses today. For Bertrand Julien-Laferriere, the challenge is to define a new archetype of building services including design, functionality, and comfort of work areas which will foster innovation and talent development. The friction of cultures and artistic creativity with economic activities gives meaning to those who live and work in this environment a second thought. Bertrand Julien-Laferrière graduated from École Centrale, Paris, University of California, Berkeley, and Insead. He is Head of Real Estate at Ardian, a leading Alternative Asset Manager in Europe.

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The emergence of a new sense of spatiality

Philippe Rahm

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The emergence of a new sense of spatiality

For Philippe Rahm, architecture and space, the office building and the workspace, can be considered ecosystems. The emergence of embedded technologies and the dematerialization of architectural productions are faced with the question of changing our relationship to space. By focusing on the physical and chemical properties of materials, space, and its users, the experimental architecture of Philippe Rahm leverages data which is invisible to the scale of a building and reveals many possibilities. Philippe Rahm is a Swiss architect. He is the director of Philippe Rahm Architects and teaches at the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture of Versailles and at the Graduate School of Design of Harvard University.

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Interview with Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec

Ronan et Erwan Bouroullec

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Interview with Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec

Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec : After graduating from the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the École Nationale Supérieure d’Arts of Cergy-Pontoise, the two designer brothers joined forces and created their own studio. Their field of activity extends from furniture design to architectural projects. Studying space and its layout is a constant of their work. Their productions aim at formal precision, balance and freedom of use. (interview with Lucia Allais)

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Does the business need the workplace anymore?

Julien Eymeri

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Does the business need the workplace anymore?

A consultant within the Eurogroup Consulting firm, Julien Eymeri questions the levers of business development in a global cost reduction. Having focused for many years on structural, organizational, financial and human subjects, the time has come to tackle the problem of space by approaching it with fresh eyes, to think of the workspace as a subject –its utility– rather than an object –its surface– and make the company a platform to make connections and facilitate lifelong learning; a source of innovation and performance but also of attractiveness and talent retention. A new organization of space must facilitate the time between connection and exchange and that of concentration and taking a stand back—a breath now essential to all forms of creation. Julien Eymeri advises large companies on their strategy, organization and management culture. He is the co-founder of he consulting firm Quartier Libre.

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The office and the city: twelve propositions

Frank Duffy

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The office and the city: twelve propositions

For Frank Duffy, specialist of the development of work spaces, the revolution of New Technologies of Information and Communication requires rethinking the office building as an architectural style and urban component, to conceive of a profound design mutation similar to that which accompanied the industrial revolution. Co-location and the synchronization of key 19th century factories and 20th century offices are no longer indispensable in their fluid exchange of information and interactive tasks specific to careers in the knowledge economy. But the rise of the virtual world does not reduce the the importance of real contacts. The city of the future will be focused on interaction and socialization. Office buildings must mutate into smaller areas, spaces should be more flexible, and more generous circulation space should be implemented to encourage serendipitous meetings. The selection of properties, currently dominated by a logical transaction, is still too far from these reflections on the uses and functions of space. Frank Duffy is a British architect and founder of DEGW, an international architecture, design and urban planning agency, specialized in workplace strategy and office design.

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The « office-form »

Clément Dirié

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The « office-form »

Representing workspace, this figure shows real space and mental space simultaneously; a cerebral organization and its material translation. From the Renaissance to the 21st century, from the aesthetic documentation to ambiguous utopia, the following images are some incarnations of the «office-form.» Clément Dirié is an art historian and art critic, curator and editor specialized in contemporary art.

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The Legacy of The Modern Movement

Hilde Remøy

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The Legacy of The Modern Movement

Is the legacy of the modern movement of the present city an obstacle in making changes in workspaces and office buildings? New ways of thinking about work and collaboration are subsequently effecting the emergence of new forms of the office building thereby weaving into the fabric of the modern city. Modern zoning is fading as the boundaries between work and home disappear. Hilde Remøy is an architect, associate professor at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.

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Interview with Arik Levy

Arik Levy

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Interview with Arik Levy

An industrial design graduate of the Art Center College of Design of La Tour-de-Peilz, Arik Levy is an artist and a designer. Arik Levy now directs the Arik Levy Art and Design Studio, specialized in a multidisciplinary approach. He also teaches at the École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle / Les Ateliers in Paris and leads design workshops in various design schools across Europe.

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Building tall: the vernaculars of capitalism

Carol Willis

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Building tall: the vernaculars of capitalism

The development of a city is influenced by many economic regulations, policies, and technologies. The space reserved for work shapes a city’s image. Through the comparative study of the development of Chicago and New York from 1890s to 1940s, Carol Willis explains her theory of the vernaculars of capitalism, where rules and urban factors produce various three-dimensional expressions. Carol Willis is an urban planning and architecture historian, a specialist of the history of building American cities. Jesse Seegers is an architect, journalist, architecture critic and graphic designer. (Interview by Jesse Seegers)

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From «design capitalism» to cognitive capitalism

Yann Moulier-Boutang

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From «design capitalism» to cognitive capitalism

Art plays the role of a true matrix in cognitive capitalism; says the economist and philosopher Yann Moulier Boutang. Claimed creativity in management dictates the need for autonomy and self-production for «salaried employees» and for businesses alike, which together stand as the creators of a new aesthetic today. This evolution is explained by a global competition that forces an innovation that is permanent, accelerated, constant and is directing entrepreneurs towards economic segments with higher value: the intangible. It was at this threshold between the explicit and implicit, the merchant and the non-profit, and the interactivity of multiple agents, that innovation would be played. Like the analogy of bees in their «reproductive system,» their utility and their price are more related to the pollination of fruits and vegetables to the production of honey. Yann Moulier Boutang is an economist and essayist. He teaches at the University of Technology of Compiègne, at the Binghamton University of New York, and at Shanghai’s UTSEUS Complexcity laboratory.

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Creative ecosystems

Muriel Fagnoni

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Creative ecosystems

Muriel Fagnoni, vice President of the advertising agency BETC, talks about their move to a converted department store in eastern Paris in 2002. They left behind the neighborhood in western Paris for a more popular and multicultural context which imposed on open space and revealed a response of over 700 people leading to the reorganization and de-compartmentalization of space. Wallpaper Magazine marks this as “one of the most exciting places in the world to work,” because this space has sparked an attraction and retained the loyalty of creative youth that are seduced by the neighborhood and proud of their working environment. In recent years, BETC has climbed to second in the world of the most creative agencies. Thought of as a living ecosystem and open to the cultural context of their new neighborhood, BETC offices are considered one of the key drivers of success to the agency. Muriel Fagnoni is the deputy CEO of the advertising agency BETC Euro RSGC. (Interview by Julien Eymeri and Philippe Chiambaretta)

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Refuse-Notes on artistic work as social waste

Nicolas Bourriaud

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Refuse-Notes on artistic work as social waste

Following the art critic and theorist Nicolas Bourriaud, if we apply the contemporary creation of rudologie, the study of waste and decommissioning, would we see how art and its meanings are a supplemental part of this world, an equilibrium between its unproductive character and its claim to social utility? How these works are part of a production system and expand the work of artists, “among other professions,” in the ordinary flow of production? Finally, how the workplace is no longer a symbolic referent for artistic practice but its daily substrate? Nicolas Bourriaud is an art historian, art critic, theorist and exhibition curator. Since 2016, he is the director of the future Montpellier Contemporain (MoCo).

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The workplace as a tool

Jan-Peter Kastelein

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The workplace as a tool

The spatial planning of an office must be synchronized with the managerial model within the company. Drawing inspiration from architectural field research done for medical facilities, evidence-based design provides a method to connect to all players in the workspace to find design solutions tailored to each organization. Involving various disciplines such as environmental psychology and the study of economic behavior, this method practiced by YNNO, an agency stratigizing design options for businesses, is the origin of the workspaces. Jan-Peter Kastelein is a managing partner and environmental psychologist at YNNO, a leading workplace consulting company based in The Netherlands.

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Relational Industry and The Economy of Contribution

Bernard Stiegler

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Relational Industry and The Economy of Contribution

The current Fordist model of the product-consumer, established in the 19th century and developed in the 20th century, is paving the way for a third phase of industrial capitalism. This is what the philosopher Bernard Stiegler calls the «hyper-industrial period» and coins the terms «intangible economy» or «knowledge industry.» New relational technologies are at the core of this revolution, and they rely on self-production and indexing (on the network), this establishes new social relations based on a logic input. The contributing figure emerges like a major economic player who is an amateur in the world of culture, comprising of this typology. The contribution of this new economy carries over the metamorphoses of work, including a reaffirmation of a libidinal economy that sustains the dissolution of boundaries between work and «life outside of work.» Bernard Stiegler is a philosopher and specialist of mutations due to technological development. He is head of the Centre Pompidou’s Institut de Recherche et d’Innovation (IRI).

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The rise of the cool office

Stream Lab

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The rise of the cool office

The office includes both a piece of furniture and space dedicated to work, it is also defined in opposition to the private sphere of housing, it opens as social and cultural scene. Many businesses in the new digital economy to communicate their workspaces. The atmosphere that emerges is an open place, where everyone is free, cool and fun. Cool Office of the trend allows companies to retain employees and ensure the best conditions and beyond the workspace, to convey an image of benevolent enterprise. The Stream Lab is PCA-STREAM’s research and development laboratory, editor of the book-magazine Stream.

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Osrever

Nicolas Moulin

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Osrever

OSREVER is an anagram of the translation of online software Reverso. The artists Nicolas Moulin, Marie Reinert, and Eric Stephany compiled theoretical texts on the desktop and then translated them via the online software from one language to another, to return to French. Autonomous and anticipated scenarios illustrated by a collection of referenced images, personal or stolen by the artists, OSREVER proposes a critical review of the fringes of the abandoned office building. Nicolas Moulin is a French artist working through photography, video and sculpture. Marie Reinert is a French artist working on the borders of performance. Her work is characterized by infiltration and parasitizing various contexts. Éric Stephany. Trained in law, art history and architecture, Eric Stephany develops a work of photography and sculpture, following the traces of the German romantic concept of Einfühlung (empathy), which seeks to emphasize the way we project our emotions on the architectures that surround us.

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Is the office the new studio? Some artistic experiences in open space

Clément Dirié

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Is the office the new studio? Some artistic experiences in open space

Some selected cases of artist residencies in business draws a panorama of the possibilities of an immersion of the arts into the world of economy. If one wonders about the profusion of these experiences, just think that art has continued to push its boundaries. The canvas on the wall, of virtual realities and of open spaces. While providing a new space for a creation that echoes the economic sphere, these residences are rich in knowledge for understanding today’s business. The information they generate are made of flesh and not numbers. Clément Dirié is an art historian and art critic, curator and editor specialized in contemporary art.

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Creating hotspots for the knowledge economy

Marty Van de Klundert

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Creating hotspots for the knowledge economy

The increasing role of knowledge in the economy fundamentally changes the expectations for contemporary work environments. Everywhere, with varying success, utilizes the “Campus Parks and Innovation” typology. Marty Van de Klundert and Willem Van Winden identify four strategic criteria of success: maximize the transference of knowledge by a selection of targeted individuals, manage the transition of business collaboration in the exploration phase and the competition in the operating phase; facilitate the emergence of on-site affiliates and start-ups; promote dissemination of knowledge both active (events, conferences) and passive (physical organizations on campus). If the effectiveness of these innovative parks stays uncertain, the fact remains that the intangible qualities of a work environment – image, design neighborhood – appear to be strategic in the knowledge economy.

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Anomalies construites

Julien Prévieux

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Anomalies construites

A new stage of reflection from the artist Julien Prévieux on labor and management in the age of digital reproducibility, “Anomalies construites” is a work both fascinating and frightening. Materializing the way machines continue to mock us, this video presents us with the surface of the screen and depth of current change in the modes of creation, production, and exploitation of knowledge. Julien Prévieux is a French artist whose work questions the working world, management, economy, politics and controlling devices. Clément Dirié is an art historian and art critic, curator and editor specialized in contemporary art.

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Talking Data

Caroline Goulard

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Talking Data

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.

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AI doesn’t replace architects but supports them

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AI doesn’t replace architects but supports them

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.

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Co-creating a learning society

François Taddei

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Co-creating a learning society

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.

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AI facing complex urban environments

Hubert Beroche

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AI facing complex urban environments

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.

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Complexity, multiplicity, and adapatation within ecosystems

Alisa Andrasek

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Complexity, multiplicity, and adapatation within ecosystems

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.

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Vidéo

Modeling the City Using Proteins

Claire Lesieur

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Modeling the City Using Proteins

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.

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Demystifying and Repoliticizing Urban Data

Jérôme Denis & David Pontille

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Demystifying and Repoliticizing Urban Data

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.

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stream voices

Eager to share more generously the results of its collaborations and research, PCA-STREAM publishes STREAM VOICES, its online magazine!

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