B3 Designers

Festival des Architectures Vives, or the Lively Architecture Festival, ran for the sixth year in a row in the city of Montpelier. For the five days that it ran, it transformed the city into a space of encounter (which was also the theme of this year’s event – The Encounter), that aimed to make architecture more accessible to the public. The organizers selected 11 proposals from 120 submissions, and these were installed in spaces in the city.

MOBA Studio produced an installation called ‘Between Doors’. The designers selected doors from a series of demolished buildings, each door with a unique history and installed them in a courtyard to encourage interaction, both with building elements and with other members of the public.

Angela CO installed oversized silver balloon disks, called ‘Floats’ that invited visitors to inspect the shape of the installation and allowed the designers to investigate the effect of ephemeral installations on architectural space.

Hold Up Architecture created ‘Souffle’, which is French for breath. Visitors could temporarily get into what looks like a box that dropped into the courtyard. Inside they could influence projections on the ceiling by using the microphone provided.

Remy Roux received the Special Award for his installation ‘Balade Sensorielle’. Timber boxes partually obscured the visual connection between spaces, making visitors more reliant on sounds, encouraging a game of guessing who is on the other side of the walls.

The prize of the public went to Plux.5 for their installation ‘Ma Cour dants ta cour’, its colourful, playful execution facinated visitors to the festival. The aim of the installation was to investigate the encounter between the apologue of the Quebecois courtyard and the image of the courtyard in Montpellier through its archetypes.

The Jury Prize went to ‘Expo d’expe’ by the GoaGroup. Huge white cylinders, that invited visitors to wander and hide, where installed. In addition to the physical interaction it encourages, visitors are allowed to draw on the cylinders leaving traces of their encounters.

Universite D’AALTO installed a textile sculpture named ‘Will’. The elegant installation was brought to life by wind and sunlight.

‘Le Mur Du Mou’ consisted of multiple mirrors, reflecting and distorting its surroundings and the image of the visitors exploring the it. Designers Yok Yok intended the installation to play with visitors’ perception of architecture.

(Images via Yatzer)