Atelier PNG places architecture at the bedside of town centers
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In 2021, the Equerre d’Argent went neither to a particularly spectacular building nor to a renowned architect. This prize, which is sometimes presented as the equivalent of Goncourt, rewarded a set of public facilities made in the center of Neuvecelle, a small town in Haute-Savoie. Atelier PNG, project manager of the operation, was surrounded by architects Emilien Robin and Julien Boidot, and landscapers from L’Atelier des cairns. “We worked collectively.Explain Nicolas Debicki, founding partner of PNG, without dividing up the programs. If a team held the pencil on one building, it assumed the critical position on another. »
Since its creation, in 2007, by three young architects who worked for major agencies, Atelier PNG has developed a civic approach to architecture, at odds with the egotistical culture of major projects that federated the profession, in France, until beginning of the 21ste century. A branch in Paris, another in Voiron, in Isère, the small team works mainly on “ordinary” programs, in territories that tend to be neglected by architecture with a capital A.
Attention to what already exists, to local resources, to sectors and the enhancement of the link with actors in the field are the pillars of an approach that they had the opportunity to stage at the Venice Biennale, in 2016. They were part of the group of winners of the AJAP 2014 (Albums of young architects and landscape architects, which reward the hopes of these two professions), in charge that year of curating the French pavilion. The exhibition was coolly received. We resented them for presenting the national architecture in such a less than flamboyant light.
Five years later, the Equerre d’Argent is a great revenge. You just have to go to Neuvecelle to see how much the PNGs are hitting the bull’s eye. The competition program, which they won in 2016, included a primary school and a kindergarten, a gymnasium, a library, a school restaurant, an extracurricular area, a car park, as well as two elements which, for budgetary reasons, have not yet been completed (a relay for childminders and a care center for the elderly). For the town hall, the project owner, it was a question of responding to a demographic boom that is affecting many municipalities in the department. The need to expand the school led to thinking about all the needs of the citizens, and the other programs flowed from this, which would transform the city and its functioning – and in particular lead to the municipalization of extracurricular services.
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