Sensual City Studio

Interview between Jacques Ferrier, Pascal Delannoy and Jean-Christophe Ogier.
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Sorry, this entry is only available in French.

Sorry, this entry is only available in French.

Sorry, this entry is only available in French.

Sorry, this entry is only available in French.

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Thresholds are an–often overlooked–anthropological constant found in every era and every culture. From the spatial understanding of Greek antiquity to the establishment of the private sphere in the 18th century and the transparency of modern architecture, the threshold has always been a central architectural element. Like a visual symbol of a boundary or a transition, thresholds divide spaces, but are also a connecting element, opening up ways through and across, which have a subtle influence on one’s own perception of space.
It is only in recent decades that thresholds have lost significance as part of our everyday experience with architecture. What remains is a growing emptiness between people and the spaces in which they live.
Sensual City Studio not only provides an inspiring overview of this important architectural stylistic feature from all eras and cultures, but also shows in particular : thresholds can and must be rethought and rebuilt. In this respect, our book A History of Thresholds: life, death & rebirth, is a plea for the renaissance of the threshold and therefore also a manifesto for a human architecture.

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Scenography │ Aahrus │ Denmark │ 2017

The never-ending expansion of urban spaces compels us to rethink the way we wish to experience our towns and cities. The world is now made up of layers of complex, superimposed infrastructures, whose daily operation is made possible only by the omnipresence of technology – which, while enormously useful to us, has nevertheless become an authoritarian component of our lives, forcing us to adapt to new spatial practices that lead us to feel more and more passive, and less and less like actors and stakeholders. (…)

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MiNDWALKS in Shanghai. For Shanghai is an experience, an image that you carry around with you. Far from the cliché of the generic city, this is a vibrant metropolis – as vibrant as its inhabitants. But in order to truly understand it, you have to discover it on foot, to go out on a limb and experience places in terms of their physicality. The various sensations, sounds, smells, sights, movements and contacts of these places wash over us, plunging us into a reality that becomes clearer with each step, conjuring an increasingly intense image as our journey continues. In these hitherto little-known neighbourhoods of Shanghai, stories seem ephemeral and eloquent, tracks and traces reveal themselves, figures become established – all of which are points of entry that offer us the opportunity, in turn, to form part  of the urban scene. Between August 17 and September 14, 2015, we went on eight walks, each taking place within a clearly defined area measuring 2,000 metres by 500 metres – that is, precisely one square kilometre. The aim was to immerse ourselves in a portion of Shanghai in order to absorb its atmospheres, images and stories, and recount them in a graphic narrative form. With this in mind, we invite you to discover eight maps of a new kind that combine characteristics of street plans, narratives and sensory maps. Their aim is not so much to objectively locate topographical elements as to recount how these places were experienced and portray their multiple dimensions: the rhythms, impressions, perceptions and representations associated with them. Here, subjectivity is a means of tempering the detachment between the metropolis and its inhabitants and promoting a more human form of urbanism – and reminding us that a city is perhaps nothing more than an emotion. Sensual City Book Publisher, R-Diffusion, 2016.

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Delivered │ Paris │ France │ 2012

With the launch of the international consultation for stations in the Greater Paris area, the Studio found the ideal context for the deployment of its philosophical concepts associated with the sensual city. The scheme was intended to define stations according to the specific features of the environment in which they are located, to deliver efficient and user-friendly spaces for the use of travellers, which are both open to the city and marked by common characteristics for the entire network. While the quality of public facilities and their incorporation into the urban environment are of fundamental importance, the scheme will also sow the seeds for the achievement of a new and urbane quality. Based upon the pursuit of atmospheric urban development, the Studio therefore couched its proposal in terms of the humanistic perspective which informs its policy. This position provides a response to the apparent contradiction in the brief, which emphasizes the creation of a specific and shared identity for stations on the GPE, whilst requiring compliance with the commitment to local municipal authorities that each station should be rooted in its respective territory. By transposing the formal recognition of facilities into an approach based upon the perception of space – the quality of air, light, sounds, smells and textures – the JFA-SCS group has expressed the all-encompassing qualities of the network in terms of shared ambiances and sensory experiences, rather than in terms of form. This approach gives a substantially free rein to the creativity of the future designers, who will be guided in their decisions by three charters which are intended to ensure the standardization of all stations on the future metro network: the architecture and development charter, the spatial design charter, and the facilities integration charter, established by SCS.

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Delivered │ Shanghai │ China │ 2010
with Jacques Ferrier Architecture, Agence TER, Scénos Associés, C&E ingénierie

There’s a bit of everything in a world expo: a lot of pavilions are designed like exhibition stands, others as tourist attractions or even giant sculptures. It’s rare to find a pavilion that is designed to be an architectural prototype. This is clearly the aim of the French pavilion. The architectural design originates in the pavilion’s theme – the sensual city – a theme that was defined during the design competition. The design of the interior exhibition spaces is indivisible from the development of the architectural project…

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Everyone has his or her own image of a Mediterranean city. Above all, it is a series of sensations: the intense blue sky, the sparkling sea, the pine trees swaying in the breeze, the laundry hanging from the corners of apartment windows, the particular sound of the wind, the clacking of petanque balls, the too-noisy motorbikes, the conversations that float through the air until late at night, the smells that waft amidst the streets. Impressions such as these do not easily find a place in manuals of urbanism. They are, however, what makes Mediterranean cities so unique and beautiful. Well beyond their territorial and administrative divisions, cities in the Mediterranean arc share similar cultural and experiential features. From Genova to Barcelona, through Nice, Marseille and Montpellier, the ten million inhabitants of the area each embrace the same landscape—that is, one that faces the sea, and is most often flanked by the pronounced reliefs of the hinterland. They bask in the same climate that creates similarities in their rhythms and their daily preoccupations.

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“Memory’s images, once they are fixed in words, are erased” Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

A sensitive portrayal of one perspective of Asian cities. Cities are landscapes that are created by how we look at them. The spectator cuts out, frames and combines the disparate architectural motifs into a coherent whole through their own unique perspective. The pleasure derived from the city lies not so much in its magnitude as in this act of composition. We get a special form of enjoyment out of viewing the city as a stage and as a landscape, through the contrast between the context of one’s own situation and the sprawling scenery the city lays out before us. The triptych emerges and dissolves, is subtly discovered and disappears in the blank pages of the history of the city which has yet to be written… A Triptych by Pauline Marchetti, drawing inspiration from Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities. Edition Studio Marant.

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Dyptich for the exhibition Impressionismus, Architektur Galerie Berlin, 17/03/17 – 17/04/29

In 2010, from May to November, the French Pavilion brought to life the ‘sensual city’ along the main walkway in a series of video projections making up a vast moving landscape along the ramp. This spectacular scenery was divided into eight major sequences. The images immerse visitors to the pavilion in urban French landscapes and highlight the pavilion’s themes: a human-centric city – with public spaces and community life – in harmony with the natural elements – seasons, water, skies, landscapes.

Video by Pauline Marchetti and Philippe Simay done during its residency at the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine in Paris, France, 2014.

© Pauline Marchetti, Philippe Simay │ 2014

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Delivered │ Shanghai │ China │ 2015

Fenêtre sur le climat is an invitation to slow down, to stop your body and to meditate and rest before starting again your crazy day… It is a sensitive device that reacts with climate, light, sky and the circadian rhythm made of ceramic and stainless steel. Real-time shadows outside and sunlight inside. Walk around. Imagine the colors of the sunset. Walk inside. Frame the sky. Nightscape:  a lantern symbolize the transformation of the city at night. Welcome to the intelligent city: not much a technological city but a sensual one, where all your senses gives your body and mind emotions and feelings. In a brand new district, with remarkable architectures, it symbolizes our wish for a brighter future..

Delivered | Paris | France | 2012

Why SCS loves We love green?

Given the depletion of natural resources, it is now necessary to do more with less and to invent a new economy of sharing. Sensual Studio City joins We Love Green to promote sustainable design architecture, based on the reuse and recycling of materials.

We Love Sensual City is an installation consisting of metal hoops and sheets on which are printed photographs. What first seems to be a photographic exhibition on the Asian city turns out to be a sensitive trip in Asian cities. Walking through the sheets, an interpretation of cloth hanging from the windows, the visitor is invited to experience the sounds, textures, light and wind while discovering what makes the quality of the landscape urban Asia. In this sensitive evocation, this metropolis no longer appears as the symbol of the generic city, cold and standardized, but rather as a source of inspiration to merge contemporary and vernacular.

Wide sequence shot. Dominant colour: WHITE.
Exterior │ Day then night │ Paris.
Beginning of the loop.
Lit by the milky white light of the depths of winter, Ile Saint-Louis is filmed by a long tracking shot taken from a Bateau Mouche riverboat cruising down the Seine riverbanks. The mansion houses and Ile Saint-Louis quaysides slide by under a thick blanket of snow. Day slowly gives way to evening on this white shrouded landscape. Night falls and street lights begin to illuminate the city. In the distance, a window lights up on a building façade. The silhouette of a child appears behind the glass. In deepest silence, the snow falls increasingly heavily, forming an uninterrupted white screen. End of loop.

Sequence shot, accompanied by zooms.
Interior │ Evening │ Paris.
Beginning of the loop.
The sky is suddenly covered with thick clouds. A torrential spring rainstorm falls on the city. Place de la Concorde is filmed in the rain from inside a car driving round the Place. The rain can be seen in the golden glow of the headlights. Surprised by the downpour, smiling pedestrians rush to take shelter. Just a loving couple remains, kissing in the rain at the foot of the obelisk. Water flows in all directions: on the facades of buildings, bouncing off umbrellas, rushing down gutters.
The city lights can be seen through the rain streaming down a car’s windscreen. Water slides along the camera lens, distorting and blurring the image.
End of the loop.

Static sequence shot.
Exterior │ Middle of the afternoon │ Paris.
Beginning of the loop.
In the heat of the summer sun, the dazzling light blurs contours and throws sharp-edged shadows over the ground. The base and 1st floor of the Eiffel Tower are filmed using a close-up static shot.
Visual of visitors entering and leaving through one of the Eiffel Tower legs.
Time seems frozen. But the sun can be seen to be slowly setting, changing the reflections and vision of the city.
End of the loop.

Consultation │ France │ 2015

France plays host to the world.

There is little doubt that an awareness of a less formal, more human-oriented architecture will be in the ascendant over the coming years. Expo 2025 must translate this new way of thinking into building better urban environments. With this in mind, the Global Village pavilions, temporary structures, the same size for every nation, are an important opportunity to foster emulation that calls for intelligent, relevant constructive solutions, rather than mere spectacle. Each nation’s resources will be better distributed between the content and the context: the shows, meetings, and interactive activities being the main goal of each pavilion to draw in visitors. These new types of national pavilion work as both autonomous entities, hosting the exhibition and the events programmed by each nation, and as a group of countries which, together, carry a shared message on the theme of the exhibition. The compact nature of the site encourages a sense of closeness between nations on a scale not previously seen in universal exhibitions.

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Anna Ferrier’s artistic and sculptural intervention for the interior of the French Pavilion restaurant.

First screen: Macroscopic point of view.
Exterior │ Late afternoon │ Chosen location.
Beginning of the loop.
Dandelions pushing their way up between two concrete slabs. The small yellow flowers tremble in the wind. A bee comes to rest on the pistils.
End of loop.

Second screen: Close-up tracking shots.
Exterior │ Midday │ Choice of location.
Beginning of the loop.
The hands of a housewife watering the geraniums on her balcony. The shadows of the plane trees gently move across the ground of a sunlit square where a game of pétanque is taking place. A bird sings loudly from a branch. Lying behind, a slightly blue-tinted urban landscape. The sun which first brightens these colours then becomes blinding, crushing.
Fade to white.

Third screen: Succession of medium shots.
Exterior │ Nightfall │ Choice of town.
Beginning of the loop.
– Fade in from black –
A large park in the upper reaches of the town at nightfall. Strollers are making their ways to the exit gates. The park’s street lamps light up one after another. In the playground, the slides are empty. Sprays turn on and begin watering the vast lawns and colonies of narcissus. Everything is quiet, nothing moves apart from the rhythmic movements of the water jets. The silhouette of a peacock suddenly emerges from the night. Dreamlike, it slowly crosses the landscape. It cries out, the sound echoing through the silence of the park. The city lights glisten in the distance.
A new day. The park lawns gradually fill to become a giant solarium.
– Fade to black –
End of the loop.

Delivered │ Rouen │ France │ 2017

Delivery of entrance hall, indoor furniture and signage for Métropole Rouen Normandie.

In progress│ Sète │ France │ 2016
with Jacques Ferrier Architectures and C&t ingénierie

In progress│ Sète │ France │ 2014
with Jacques Ferrier Architecture and C&t ingénierie

First screen: Close-up.
Exterior │ Midday │ Marseille.
Filmed in very tight close-up, the reflecting and surging sea glistening in the mid-summer sun is almost surreal.

Second screen: Tracking from a Bateau Mouche riverboat.
Exterior │ Midday │ Paris.
Fade to black.
The line between water and sky remains in the centre of the image. Succession of views over the bridges of Paris and discovery of the city from the river.
Fade to black

Third screen: Static wide shot.
Exterior │ Night │ Marseille.
The image is divided horizontally, with the lower half of the projection occupied by water.
Beginning of the loop.
The Marseille coast is filmed during the day, allowing the city to be discovered along its length as it extends down the Mediterranean coast.
End of loop.

Fourth screen: Succession of wide shots.
Exterior / late afternoon / Marseille.
Beginning of the loop.
View of the sea from Marseille. On a street corner, from the city heights, between two houses, etc. Discovery of the sea, the horizon and perception of the city.
End of the loop.

Scenography | Berlin | Germany | 2017

Scenography of the exhibition Impressionismus of Jacques Ferrier, Architektur Galerie, Berlin from 2017/03/17 to 2017/04/29.

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Competition | New York | USA | 2015
with C&t ingénierie

“You walk for days among trees and stones. Rarely does the eye light on a thing, and then only when it has recognized that thing as the sign of another thing: a print in the sand indicates the tiger’s passage; a marsh announces a vein of water; the hibiscus flower, the end of winter. All the rest is silent and interchangeable. Trees and stones are only what they are.” Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities, 1972.

Our ‘wall without a wall’ is a space for speaking, to openly share the political and democratic questions of the city.

First screen: Succession of general shots filmed from a high level.
Time lapses.
Exterior | Day then night | Paris and Marseille.
The framing is organised in such a manner that the sky’s horizon line is always in the middle of the screen and draws a line separating the image in two.
Beginning of the loop.
Paris and Marseille are filmed throughout the day and through to nightfall. The chimney stacks and city rooftops appear in all their diversity. They are cut horizontally by a vast sky imprinted with almost unimaginable colours: the pastel sky of dawn, the hard blue tint of the mid-afternoon sky, the blood red of the sky as the sun sets, through to the anthracite blue night sky.
End of the loop.

Second screen: Succession of medium shots.
Exterior | Day | Paris.
Beginning of the loop.
The sky is reflected almost everywhere in Paris: on the tinted glazing of skyscrapers in La Défense, on car windscreens, in a puddle, on the windows of tall Parisian buildings, on the zinc-covered tables on bar terraces, in the glass of a wineglass, in the mirror of a woman checking her makeup, in the splashing water of a fountain, in the opaque water of the river Seine, on the windows of an overhead metro as it speeds by, on the windows of a bus or the shop windows of a store. Finally, the sun’s dazzling glare in the reflection on an opening window. The screen fades to white.
End of the loop.

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Third screen: Wide shot followed by succession of close-ups.
Exterior | Day then night | Paris.
Beginning of the loop.
The Eiffel Tower rises majestically to the clear sky above. A succession of close-ups of different parts of the Eiffel Tower, filmed from the base of the monument right through to its uppermost point, and beyond to the sky above. The sequence is completed by a view of the open sky.
End of the loop.

In progress | Shanghai, Manilla, Singapour, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur… | since 2015

Creating an itinerant exhibition in the shape of ten boxes inspired by Marcel Duchamp’s Boîte-en-valise (Box in a Suitcase).

First screen: Tracking from a car.
Exterior │ Day │ choice of city.
Beginning of the loop.
Spectacular arrival in Marseille along the A55 urban motorway, commanding view over the railway lines running alongside the Joliette Port.Southeast bypass around Paris along the Périphérique ring road, crossing over the river Seine and views over the tracks of the Gare de Lyon main line station.
– Black –

Second screen: Static close-up shot filmed at ground level.
Exterior │ Day │ choice of city.
Beginning of the loop. Cyclists pedal by at top speed. Close-up shot of their feet of they fly by: a pair of fashionable trainers, a pair of high-heeled shoes, children’s feet, well-polished town shoes. A crowd of pedestrians cross a Parisian street. Skateboarders rush by on their boards at full speed and then come to a screeching halt.
– Black –

Delivered │ Rouen │ France │ 2017

Delivery of a chandelier for the Métropole Rouen Normandie.

Delivered | Paris | France | 2011

For the ‘La Parisienne’ event presented at the Galeries Lafayette, from 1 April to 4 June 2011, the Gallery of Galleries invited Sofia Achaval and Thibault de Montaigu to imagine the apartment of a fictional Parisian woman. The couple brought together a team of writers to recreate the story and personality of this Parisienne. The novelist and art critic Catherine Millet will choose her art collection; the artist and writer Valérie Mréjen will capture her thoughts by leaving a number of messages scattered around the apartment; composer Bertrand Burgalat will imagine her musical choices; sculptor Laetitia Benat will reveal her artistic side, while Annelies Strba will revisit her past and an actor will lend his famous voice to romantic answerphone messages. The whole scene will be composed by scenographer Pauline Marchetti.

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Delivered | Paris | France | 2014

Galerie des Galeries has come up with an innovative exhibition concept, with contributors from various artistic fields jointly developing a project exploring the worlds of art, fashion and design. Visitors will find themselves immersed in a scenography whose starting point is the art work itself. Around each multiple, contributors construct a composition of fashion items and assorted objects, reminiscent of the Surrealists’ “exquisite corpses”. Everything is up for sale. For this collegial project, art books and multiples editors Mélanie Scarciglia and Christophe Boutin have selected eight multiples. Based on these works, stylist Victoire Simonney will interpret the world of each artist through a choice of outfits and accessories from thirty different brands. Lifestyle specialist and objects spotter Jean-Bapstiste Charpenay-Limon will provide a range of eclectic objects and create an intimate space. These combinations will laid out by architect Pauline Marchetti in a way that maintains the specificity of an art gallery but infuses it with the kind of warm atmosphere one expects in a shop. Each item is uniquely connected to the multiple, which radiates its light on surrounding objects. Invited by the artspace director Elsa Janssen, the contributors will respond to the work of eight different French and international artists: John Armleder, Pierre Bismuth, Elvire Bonduelle, Daniel Gordon, Jonathan Monk, Rafaël Rozendaal, Josh Smith and Pier Stockholm.

Pauline Marchetti is a DPLG certified architect and a graduate of the Paris Belleville school of architecture. She led with Jacques Ferrier the French Pavilion project for the World Expo 2010 of Shanghai. In 2010, they both set up the Sensual City Studio which serves as a framework to develop and champion the concept of Sensual Cities. The Studio seeks to improve this sensitive, humanist approach to architecture and city scape. The physical relationship to space is fundamental to her practice. She is a Professor at the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs of Paris since 2016.

Jacques Ferrier works in France and abroad. He created his own studio in 1990 in Paris and his works now include the design of major cultural buildings, prestigious buildings, public facilities, research centers and urban development. JFA’s output is all based on the same philosophy: the creation of architecture and a city for a sustainable society. In 2010, he associated with Pauline Marchetti to create Sensual City Studio, a new structure allowing them to jointly develop and assert the Sensual City concept.

Philippe Simay is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture of Paris Belleville. After graduating with diplomas in philosophy and anthropology in France, he conduced post-doctoral work at Oxford University in England and at the Illinois Institute of Technology Archives in Chicago. Specialized in the study of urban and architectural questions, his work reflects on the intersections between art, the city, and technology in a metropolitan society.

Estefania Mompean develops a conceptual vision for the experimental team Sensual City Studio since 2011. Involved in the exploration of urban development from her researches in the Why Factory at TUDelft University and at Urban Emergencies in China. She graduated from the University of Alicante in 2011 and received a bursary from the Arquia College of Architecture in Spain for her academic career.

Estefania Mompean, Architect, Urbanist, Graphic Designer,  Project Leader

Elisa Alvarez, Architect, Project Leader

Fabien Goutelle, Graphic Designer

François Gastesoleil, Architect

Clémentin Rachet, Architect

Polina Moroz, Architect

And:

Laura Ulloa, Architect

Vincent Langrenay, Trainee

Pierre Bayol, Designer

Han Hui Qing, Designer

Thomas Havet,  Architect, Trainee

Solène Petit, Plastic art, Trainee

Gianni Villa, Architect, Trainee

Morgane Damez, Architect DE

Alexandru Senciuc, Architect, Trainee

Gianni Villa, Architect, Trainee

Marion Nielsen, Architect, Urbanist, Ph.D in Architecture

Pauline Delmotte, Architect, Trainee

Youen Chene, Designer

Juliette Guichard, Architect, Trainee

Melissa Lalanne, Architect, Trainee

Matt Piker, Architect

Pierre Delpech, Architect, Trainee

Hugo Badia, Architect

Hélène Bechet, Geographer, Urbanist

Guillaume Bloget, Designer

Mathilde Benhamou, Architect

Mahault Remusat, Designer, Trainee

Manuela Sauvage, Scenographer, Trainee

Camila Leone, Graphic Designer, Trainee

Jean-Baptiste Cochet, Architect, Trainee

Mathilde Van Steenkiste, Architect

Annika Skaaning, Architect, Trainee