[Herald Design Forum] Create spaces with purpose, respect, curiosity

From left, moderator Moon Hyeong-geun, French architects Anne Lacaton, Jean Philippe Vassal and Jean-Michel Wilmotte talk at a roundtable session during the Herald Design Forum 2024 held in Seoul on Tuesday. (Im Se-jun/The Korea Herald)

Three French architects -- Anne Lacaton, Jean Philippe Vassal and Jean-Michel Wilmotte -- shared their core philosophies that have guided their decades-long careers during an architecture roundtable and Q&A following their presentations at the Herald Design Forum 2024, held in Seoul, on Tuesday.

“The most important thing will be for whom we are doing this work,” said Lacaton, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect who received the award with Vassal in 2021.

“Architecture is a very complicated and difficult form of art. We are getting into an endless relationship with various areas of disciplines like urban planning, policy and climate,” she said, stressing that the ultimate outcome of architecture is space where people inhabit.

“What kind of extra benefits do we want to provide to our residents? We need to think about this purpose,” Lacaton said.

Wilmotte echoed these sentiments, adding that his most important value is “respect.”

“(My architectural) philosophy is wanting to do something for others, not for myself. I think this is really important,” said Wilmotte.

“We must respect everyone involved -- the clients who entrust me with the work and the colleagues who we work with," he said.

Vassal added that architects should maintain "the eyes of a child" -- a sense of wonder that fuels creativity and curiosity.

“Saying this is amazing all the time, discovering small details, nurturing our curiosity, and finding unique things -- as architects, we accumulate a lot of experience but if we don't have the dreaming eyes of a child, all that experience could lead to nothing,” said Vassal.

The three unanimously agreed that inspiration has no limits.

“Inspiration can be found everywhere,” said Vassal. “The sources of inspiration are boundless. If we maintain our curiosity, we'll discover many different sources of inspirations around us.”