French studio Lacaton & Vassal, which was today named the winner of the Soane Medal, demonstrate how architects can work with, not against, communities and existing buildings, writes Edwin Heathcote. When architects Lacaton & Vassal were commissioned to improve the Place Léon Aucoc in Bordeaux in 1996 they didn't do much at all. In fact
What we lose when we tear down a building
Updated / Thursday, 22 Apr 2021
08:30 In 2016, Apollo House in Dublin adopted a new place in our building culture, not by design but because the building itself emerged as a logical site of direct housing action.
Analysis: Buildings are intangible culture, enabling social and spatial exchange with other people and places near and far. However, recent political, economic and cultural policy in Ireland has framed them primarily as commodities.
In March, Ann Lacaton and Philippe Vassal were announced as Pritzker Laureates for 2021, an award in architecture comparable to the Nobel Prize. A popular choice, the architects are becoming confirmed leaders of a very contemporary kind of architectural resistance.