Languedoc Roussillon Region Pavilion, La Grande Motte Public Building, French Architecture, Images

Sailing Cube in La Grande Motte

FAV Pavilion in southern France: French Architectural Installation – design by Atelier Jérôme Lafond

page updated with new photos 24 Dec 2016 ; 6 Aug 2014

Sailing Cube – Pavilion du FAV 2014 à Montpellier

Breath Box – activates senses for the Festival of Lively Architecture along shoreline of La Grande Motte France

Design: Atelier Jérôme Lafond

Festival des Architectures Vives presentation

The Festival des Architectures Vives aims to raise public awareness of the wide range of architecture. It seeks not only to highlight the work of a young generation of architects, landscape architects and urban planners but also to discover unexpected urban areas.

Through two urban courses, one in the historical heart of Montpellier’s town and a second in La Grande Motte, the public can discover works of contemporary architecture in unique sites and sometimes unknown from people. In Montpellier, courtyards of private hostels, usually closed to the public, open their doors during the festival.

In La Grande Motte, the festival offers an urban course in the heart of Jean Balladur’s architecture, which characterises this seaside town, recently approved “Heritage of the XXth Century”. In 2014, the Festival des Architectures Vives invested 20 sites in total with 18 installations + 2 pavilions.

Many works allow interaction with visitors. Leaving no physical trace, the festival seeks to make an impression, to initiate a global reflection on architecture and its development in existing urban context and finally, to create a dialogue between contemporary works and heritage. Mediators are present on each site.

These mediators are students at the School of Architecture of Montpellier and they endeavour to strengthen appreciation of the works of the visitors. The event is free, this reflects the desire of opening architecture to the greatest number.

FAV is organized by Elodie Nourrigat and Jacques Brion, architects in Montpellier.

Pavillon of FAV presentation

Since the 2011 edition, we have implemented the realization of a FAV pavilion. This pavilion allows public reception and diffusion of information about the FAV, before and during the festival. Easily identifiable, it is also the starting point of the course. The pavilion is a meeting place and a forum for all visitors. People are encouraged to come back to this point of the course, at the end, to vote for their favorite work. Visitors can get informations about the past editions and leaf through the books of past editions of the FAV.

Realization of pavilion is entrusted to young architects exercising in the Languedoc-Roussillon region, where takes place the festival. In 2014, Pavilion of FAV in La Grande Motte was realized by Atelier Jérôme Lafond, made up with Jérôme Lafond and Marion Pujol.

Project presentation

At the place where the sea meets the city, where the infinite horizon changes in skyline of Conques and Canopy, where the geometric rigor of a dock disappears into the mirror of water of the harbor , where the sound of halyards tapping on mats boats accompanies iodine breeze and the sun bathed in a blue sky shows the shaded squares. The reception pavilion is » resonance » with this imaginary place, this interleaving scales ranging from a large landscape to the concrete dock. It plays with different scales and unfolds according to several readings. From afar, a white cube abstract, is revealed gradually as one approaches. The picture looks disturbed by the moirage effects, transparencies and shadows that make the tense lines the walls of this volume distorted by interiorities. A few inches from the pavilion, braided rope on a metal structure staging subtly all our senses , awakening before the meeting works on the theme of sensuality.

Agency presentation

Jerome Lafond is an architect and town planner in Montpellier and graduated from the Ecole d’Architecture de Clermont Ferrand in 2006. Therefore, he joined the agency Obras architects in Paris as head of architectural and urban projects. In 2008, he participated and wan with the Collectif MILIEUX architectes, the international EUROPAN9 competition in Andenne, Belgium. In 2009, he founded the Atelier Jerome Lafond and collaborates with other agencies such as Atelier Marc Barani, Studio Muoto architects or SOA architects.

The philosophy of the Atelier resides in the ideology where architecture, urbanism and landscape are inseparable from the reflection of the project, interweaving scales thought gives clear and consistent rule of bias reasoning in across the territory of the architectural detail. Meanwhile, Jerome Lafond teaches studio at Ecole d ‘Architecture de Clermont-Ferrand from 2006 to 2010 and since 2012 in Montpellier. This is accompanied by Marion Pujol urban architect they realize the pavilion host of the second edition of FAV at La Grande Motte.

Sailing Cube in La Grande Motte – Building Information

Official project name: Sailing cube – Pavilion du FAV 2014 à Montpellier
Location: La Grande Motte (FRANCE)
Architects / designers: Atelier Jérôme Lafond // Jérôme LAFOND & Marion PUJOL
Date of the project: Juin 2014

Photography: Paul KOZLOWSKI © photoarchitecture

Sailing Cube in La Grande Motte images / information received from Atelier Jérôme Lafond

Location: Montpellier, f the Hérault department, Occitanie region, southern France