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Architects Directory 2009

 

Group 8

Switzerland

BIOGRAPHY AND PRACTICE

Perversely, it took nine partners to set up Group 8 architects; Laurent Ammeter, Adrien Besson, Tarramo Broennimann, François de Marignac, Manuel Der Hagopian, Grégoire Du Pasquier, Oscar Frisk, Christophe Pidoux, and Daniel Zamarbide. Born between 1969 and 1972, all graduates from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne (EPFL) and University of Geneva. Sourcing inspiration from almost everywhere – from vernacular architecture, nature, popular culture, music and technology, to material world, people and art – they see architecture as something fundamentally complex, where everything can be potentially interesting.

THE HOUSE

"What is the future of a single unit housing? None. Indeed, the preciousness of soil has become such that "upwards" is the direction. Brownfields and recycling are nowadays the future opportunities, as collective and high-density housing is the new habitat model to be developed." With this statement, Group 8 introduce the "weph" house, explaining how they began to explore recycling and piling, and what it means for their architecture. The result was a vertical volume, stacked accommodation that suggests an entirely new type of experimental urban housing for the future.

THE FUTURE

Group 8's main ambitions include further exploration of the idea of sustainable architecture. They acknowledge the practicality of digital production and new technologies, and hope that these will free projects from preconceptions and standardization. The research for new ways in which materials, patterns and textures could communicate both lightness and weight is the way forward for the team, as is the use of solar, passive and low energy systems.

www.group8.ch