The Architects’ Journal Architecture News & Buildings
Dominique Gauzin-Müller is the curator of TERRAFIBRA, an exhibition at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal in Paris, on show until February 27. In this episode, she champions the hybrid use of materials, arguing that every material must be used where it has the most ‘competence’.
We also speak to French structural engineer and ACAN member Frédéric Bourgeon about France’s new embodied carbon regulations which took effect in January 2022.
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About Dominique Gauzin-Müller
Author of numerous books on bio-renewable materials and former editor of French journal Ecologik, Gauzin-Müller was a proponent of timber architecture long before it became the material of choice to tackle climate emergency. She is a co-author of France’s frugal architecture manifesto, launched in 2018.
She recently founded the global TERRAFIBRA Awards to recognise and promote what she calls post-carbon architecture – buildings made with regenerative materials such as earth, straw, bamboo and hemp. She teaches at the Strasbourg National School of Architecture and is an honorary associate professor of the UNESCO Chair of Earthen Architecture, Building Cultures and Sustainable Development.
About Frédéric Bourgeon
Bourgeon is a structural engineer based in Rennes, Brittany. When Climate Champions caught up with him, he was on site at an adobe brick factory. He previously worked for Agence DVVD and Freyssinet. He is a member of ACAN and a co-ordinator of Engineers Declare.
With Joe Giddings, he recently co-authored an ACAN blog on recent changes to the French building regulations.
Show notes: Projects and resources mentioned in this episode
Immeuble de 15 Logements by North by Northwest Architectes, 2021, Boulogne Billancourt, France. This 15-unit building is comprised of a reinforced concrete skeletal frame with a secondary timber structure enclosed with Fermacell and infilled with 220mm of hemp concrete and then an external lime render
TERRAFIBRA ARCHITECTURE exhibition, Pavillon de l’Arsenal, Paris (exhibition catalogue, in French and English)
Luc Floissac, La Construction en Paille (Terres vivante, 2012)
Performing Arts Centre, Mazan DE-SO Architectes (2014)
Olivier Gaujard, Gaujard Technologie (structural engineer specialised in timber)
Groupe Scolaire Louise-Michel et Boulodrome, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Bernard Dufournet associé (2013) School with 6000 Straw Bales
Réseau Français de la Construction en Paille
Residence Jules-Ferry, Saint Dié des Vosges, ASP Architecture (2013)
Immeuble de 15 Logements, North by Northwest Architectes (2021)
Office Building, Nantes, Forma6 (2017) Office building with thatch cladding
TERRAFIBRA ARCHITECTURE exhibition at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal, Paris
Enstib, Epinal, Masters for wood construction
Anna Heringer, Episode 6
ACAN blog on French embodied carbon regulations
MP Duncan Baker Carbon Emissions (Buildings) Bill
Credits
Climate Champions is produced in association with ACAN, the Architects’ Climate Action Network
Podcast produced and edited by Concept Culture
Music: Edmilson do Pífano, Forró de dois Amigos. Interpretation: Felipe Tanaka e banda Balaio de Baião
