DESARZENS François-Xavier Atelier d'architecture Sàrl (Morges)

Our approach is to seek a synthesis, a point of balance:

Between integration and innovation: Each site has its own history, tectonics, orientation, main views, and particular natural or built environment. We want our new intervention to enhance its intrinsic and specific qualities. A dialogue must develop with it.

Between inside and outside: We pay close attention to transitions: how to get in, how to get out. In the case of a window, what do you want to show, how do you frame it, what kind of light does it bring? The thickness of the wall becomes a means of creating a new space between inside and outside.

Between practicality and aesthetics: The practical, functional aspect is very important. We carefully design our plans to meet the client's specific needs. At the same time, we strive for a "silence" in our constructions, an economy of means, a reduction to the essential, a use of materials and colors conducive to producing "beauty", meaning and perhaps emotion, the hallmarks of architecture.

Between optimization and generosity: While we work on optimizing surfaces and volumes, it's the generosity of spaces, the impression of grandeur, that we're looking for, by developing sequences of spaces that allow you to see a first, a second, a third space, and so on. A bit like a Japanese garden, with vegetation organized in successive planes, giving the impression of being in the middle of a large park despite its small size.

Between sustainable and economic: Sustainable development in its three aspects (ecological, social and economic) is at the heart of our preoccupations in order to create a healthy environment, favoring social links, with a concern for general economy. The best way to do this is first and foremost to limit built surfaces and volumes by optimizing them as much as possible, reducing or eliminating distributions in favor of interconnected spaces. This saves on materials, grey energy and heating costs. Secondly, construction must be efficient in terms of energy consumption and the grey energy used to build it.