CONSTRUCTING ESCAPE: FREE SPACE, TRANSFORMATION, INHABITING

You are cordially invited to attend the following events:

CONSTRUCTING ESCAPE: FREE SPACE, TRANSFORMATION, INHABITING

Anne Lacaton & Jean Philippe Vassal / Film by Karine dana

OPENING : 17 November, 18:00 – 20:00
Welcome by Jeffrey Hou, Head of the Department of Architecture
In Dialogue with Lacaton & Vassal

Venue: SDE3 LV 1 main gallery

Lacaton & Vassal Options Studio Review: 19 November, 9:00 – 13:00

Venue: SDE3 LV 1 main gallery

Exhibition: 22 November – 31 December, 10AM to 6PM

Venue: SDE3 LV 1 main gallery, SDE3 LV 2 garden gallery

In each of our projects, we aim to create spaces for expansion and transition from the inside, with close connections to the outside. This could be an unexpected view of the sky from the roof of a school, a sudden shift to the vast landscape of the city from a bay window in a block of flats, or an opening onto the open sea after a vertical ascent in a lift along a façade.

These moments of architecture are characterised by suddenness, reversal, an unpredictable escape from an enclosed, interior spaces. They are made possible by the process of transformation through architecture. Architecture takes the inhabitant from the street, isolates them, holds them back, and delivers them when, from the inside, they discover an unthinkable relation with the outside. An outside that is different to what they thought they knew. Architecture enables fabulous escapes to be produced. From the inside, it enables the city to be transformed, enlarged, raised, amplified.

Anne Lacaton and Jean Philippe Vassal are distinguished architects recognized for their innovative and sustainable contributions to contemporary architecture. 

Anne Lacaton, born in France in 1955, graduated from the School of Architecture of Bordeaux and holds a diploma in Urban Planning from the University of Bordeaux. She has held numerous prestigious academic positions worldwide, including Professor Emerita at ETH Zurich and visiting professorships at renowned institutions such as Harvard GSD, EPFL Lausanne, and the University of Sydney.

Jean Philippe Vassal, born in Casablanca, Morocco in 1954, also graduated from the School of Architecture of Bordeaux. He brings extensive experience in urban planning, notably in Niger, and has served as a professor at UDK Berlin and as a visiting professor across Europe and Australia.

Together, Lacaton & Vassal have received numerous international honors, including the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the Soane Medal (2023), the EU Mies van der Rohe Award (2019), and multiple lifetime achievement awards. Their work is celebrated for its commitment to sustainability, social responsibility, and architectural innovation.