Architecture as Environment

Founded in 2009, Paris-based PARC Architectes has risen to prominence, winning awards and accolades in its native France and beyond. Just as important as its design work is PARC Architectes’ research on contemporary architecture and urbanism, laid out in the theoretical essay Le parc planetarire (The Planetary Park), published in the firm’s own journal, PRAGMA, and on its blog, CRAPZINE. This first book to focus on PARC Architectes, Architecture as Environment features fifteen foundational designs by the firm, chosen to reflect the firm’s credo that the environment has to become a matter of architecture. At the interface between art and science, PARC Architectes’ designs are installations rather than mere structures, enabling adequate responses to contextual and conceptual issues in the construction of contemporary human environments. In addition to brief essays, the book also includes 150 illustrations, including many in full colour.