Annuel Optimiste d’Architecture 2009
French Touch
The third issue of the Optimistic Architecture Annual focuses on architectural production in France in 2009.
The annual, produced by the French Touch collective, consisting of 16 agencies*, has made a significant impact on the French architectural landscape, as well as on architecture journals and books, while maintaining its radical optimism. In just two years, it has become an international showcase for French architectural production.
Read more: Annuel Optimiste d’Architecture 2009The momentum from the first annual in 2007 continued at the 2008 Venice Biennale with the “Générocité” exhibition, designed with Francis Rambert. One of the aims of this exhibition was to provide a comprehensive perspective on the diverse questions explored by recent projects.
This work, where analysis and scenography were pursued simultaneously, provided French production with new international visibility through its successive transformations in 2009, from the Cité du patrimoine in Paris to the São Paulo Architecture Biennale in Brazil. This publication summarizes the choices, desires, and enthusiasms of the French Touch collective members regarding French architectural production in 2009.
About sixty projects out of the 160 received are featured. Each project is discussed and evaluated before being selected or rejected by majority vote. Each project is visited and commented on by a collective member to encourage readers to experience the presented architectures themselves.
As with the first two issues, we invited a diverse group of authors to offer a critical and independent perspective on the French architectural situation: this year, Lukas Feireiss, Martine Bouchier, Hou Hanru, and Jacques Lucan.
Program
Edition
Editing and production
French Touch
Schedule
2009
