In Conversation With 2020 Designer of the Year, Franklin Azzi
This year's Maison & Objet Designer of the Year envisions cities on a human scale and puts durability first
Agnès Carpentier
1 July 2020
If he hadn’t been an architect, Franklin Azzi would have been a surgeon, following in the footsteps of his doctor grandfather. However, architecture is not that much of a departure because, in the 45-year-old architect’s words, it “aims to study the symptoms and find remedies”.
After graduating from high school, he chose to enter the École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris, France, where lectures by the likes of French philosopher Paul Virilio and architects Frédéric Borel and Rudy Ricciotti left a lasting mark on his work. Aferwards Azzi traveled, from Scotland where he studied at The Glasgow School of Art, to New Delhi in India and Ankara in Turkey. Upon his return to France, he joined Architecture Studio, where he spent nine years on the ground “learning the subject” in a studio famous for projects such as its collaboration with architect Jean Nouvel on the Arab World Institute in Paris. After this, he directed a subsidiary of this agency for two more years before founding his own studio in 2006, at the age of 31.
After graduating from high school, he chose to enter the École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris, France, where lectures by the likes of French philosopher Paul Virilio and architects Frédéric Borel and Rudy Ricciotti left a lasting mark on his work. Aferwards Azzi traveled, from Scotland where he studied at The Glasgow School of Art, to New Delhi in India and Ankara in Turkey. Upon his return to France, he joined Architecture Studio, where he spent nine years on the ground “learning the subject” in a studio famous for projects such as its collaboration with architect Jean Nouvel on the Arab World Institute in Paris. After this, he directed a subsidiary of this agency for two more years before founding his own studio in 2006, at the age of 31.
Franklin Azzi; image by Noel Manalili
Azzi found a space for himself and his 60 collaborators in a former Boussac fabrics warehouse, a cast-iron and glass building that he renovated. It was a first manifesto for his vision for architects, distancing him from, as he puts it, the artist-architects who start from a blank page and “make gratuitous gestures”. He tells us that he prefers to rebuild rather than making a blank slate of the past to invent the city of the future.
Azzi has just been named 2020’s Designer of the Year by Maison & Objet, which will be held digitally in September this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is nonetheless through his architectural projects that Azzi has left a mark in the last few years, with his work including the renovation of the Alstom Warehouses and the Higher School of Fine Arts in Nantes, France; the Beaupassage gastronomic and wellness complex in Paris; fashion boutiques around the world (including Bali Barret, Isabel Marant, and Jérôme Dreyfuss); and many office spaces.
He will also be involved in the upcoming renovation of the Tour Montparnasse as part of the Nouvelle AOM collective, comprised of Franklin Azzi Architecture, Chartier Dalix architects and Hardel and Le Bihan Architects.
Azzi spoke to Houzz about his humanist vision and commitment to his field.
Azzi found a space for himself and his 60 collaborators in a former Boussac fabrics warehouse, a cast-iron and glass building that he renovated. It was a first manifesto for his vision for architects, distancing him from, as he puts it, the artist-architects who start from a blank page and “make gratuitous gestures”. He tells us that he prefers to rebuild rather than making a blank slate of the past to invent the city of the future.
Azzi has just been named 2020’s Designer of the Year by Maison & Objet, which will be held digitally in September this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is nonetheless through his architectural projects that Azzi has left a mark in the last few years, with his work including the renovation of the Alstom Warehouses and the Higher School of Fine Arts in Nantes, France; the Beaupassage gastronomic and wellness complex in Paris; fashion boutiques around the world (including Bali Barret, Isabel Marant, and Jérôme Dreyfuss); and many office spaces.
He will also be involved in the upcoming renovation of the Tour Montparnasse as part of the Nouvelle AOM collective, comprised of Franklin Azzi Architecture, Chartier Dalix architects and Hardel and Le Bihan Architects.
Azzi spoke to Houzz about his humanist vision and commitment to his field.
Jérôme Dreyfuss boutique in London, UK; image by Alexandre Tabaste
What does it mean to you to be recognised as Designer of the Year 2020?
I was pleasantly surprised to have been distinguished by a fair, which usually recognises the careers of designers [as opposed to architects]. It underscores our firm’s broad approach, in that my collaborators and I develop projects on different scales from urban development to architecture, from interior architecture to design. We are first and foremost architects, who conceive of projects and see them through.
Thinking of renovating? Find an architect near you on Houzz
What does it mean to you to be recognised as Designer of the Year 2020?
I was pleasantly surprised to have been distinguished by a fair, which usually recognises the careers of designers [as opposed to architects]. It underscores our firm’s broad approach, in that my collaborators and I develop projects on different scales from urban development to architecture, from interior architecture to design. We are first and foremost architects, who conceive of projects and see them through.
Thinking of renovating? Find an architect near you on Houzz
Image by Aethion
What will you present at Maison & Objet in January 2021*?
The theme of the fair is ‘WORK!’, devoted to work space, which echoes our agency’s projects in the tertiary sector and retail. The fair has given us 300 square metres of space in which to express ourselves, which we hoped to use pedagogically, like a fresco of workspaces across the eras, from closed to open-plan offices.
We found it interesting to highlight the relationship between the evolution of the workstation and that of architecture, especially in the current context of the pandemic, which has provoked a fundamental reflection about the place and space for work. We have done very thorough research into images … We have extended this work in a book on the subject.
*Because of the pandemic, the next in-person edition of Maison & Objet is currently scheduled to take place in January 2021.
What will you present at Maison & Objet in January 2021*?
The theme of the fair is ‘WORK!’, devoted to work space, which echoes our agency’s projects in the tertiary sector and retail. The fair has given us 300 square metres of space in which to express ourselves, which we hoped to use pedagogically, like a fresco of workspaces across the eras, from closed to open-plan offices.
We found it interesting to highlight the relationship between the evolution of the workstation and that of architecture, especially in the current context of the pandemic, which has provoked a fundamental reflection about the place and space for work. We have done very thorough research into images … We have extended this work in a book on the subject.
*Because of the pandemic, the next in-person edition of Maison & Objet is currently scheduled to take place in January 2021.
Renovation of the Alstom Warehouses in Nantes, France, which now host the Nantes Higher School of Fine arts, completed 2017. Image by Luc Boegly.
What is your vision for architecture?
The era of the artist-architect as we knew it in the ’80s is over. With humility, the architect should keep in mind that “banal architecture”, as architects Herzog and de Meuron called it, comprises 99 per cent of a city and that patrons of extraordinary commissions are rare. Starting from a blank page on which one makes gratuitous gestures without studying the local context forces us to always revisit the same architecture, with the same construction materials – especially concrete – from Paris to Bilbao, from Chicago to New York.
Far from the search for an egocentric signature, I think that the architect has transformed into a super technician – without any negative connotations. Architects should open up to in-depth scientific contextual studies in order to build less expensively and more durably, or to choose to renovate. I am not one of those who prefer to make a blank slate when it is possible to recycle, even if the building is disparaged, like the Tour Montparnasse [in Paris, France] where we will attack the renovation with the AOM Collective. I think that a building is beautiful when it is good, that it offers happiness to its occupants through the functionality that it provides them and in the long run.
What is your vision for architecture?
The era of the artist-architect as we knew it in the ’80s is over. With humility, the architect should keep in mind that “banal architecture”, as architects Herzog and de Meuron called it, comprises 99 per cent of a city and that patrons of extraordinary commissions are rare. Starting from a blank page on which one makes gratuitous gestures without studying the local context forces us to always revisit the same architecture, with the same construction materials – especially concrete – from Paris to Bilbao, from Chicago to New York.
Far from the search for an egocentric signature, I think that the architect has transformed into a super technician – without any negative connotations. Architects should open up to in-depth scientific contextual studies in order to build less expensively and more durably, or to choose to renovate. I am not one of those who prefer to make a blank slate when it is possible to recycle, even if the building is disparaged, like the Tour Montparnasse [in Paris, France] where we will attack the renovation with the AOM Collective. I think that a building is beautiful when it is good, that it offers happiness to its occupants through the functionality that it provides them and in the long run.
Deskopolitan in Paris, France; image from We Are Content(s)
Do you think the pandemic will impact architecture?
Completely. With COVID-19, we have drawn a line between the health crisis and the environmental crisis. These are not connected but interdependent phenomena. The fear that has grown from the recent health crisis has resulted in a stronger will to listen to environmental values. I hope that this will bolster consciences and concretely move the needle, because clearly we cannot continue as before.
In terms of construction, nothing has changed since after the war. The construction industry is [one of] the most polluting in the world – along with the automobile industry – because we build a lot with concrete, a supply chain that was created to respond to a need to build quickly and in large numbers after 1945.
In the current context, it is urgent that the state intervene firmly in order to regulate the very powerful concrete lobby … In Haussmann’s [a 19th-century town planner] era, Paris was rebuilt in stone because the Paris basin had quarries. We should restore this good sense of contextualising construction and privileging local materials and short supply chains in order to build sustainably.
Do you think the pandemic will impact architecture?
Completely. With COVID-19, we have drawn a line between the health crisis and the environmental crisis. These are not connected but interdependent phenomena. The fear that has grown from the recent health crisis has resulted in a stronger will to listen to environmental values. I hope that this will bolster consciences and concretely move the needle, because clearly we cannot continue as before.
In terms of construction, nothing has changed since after the war. The construction industry is [one of] the most polluting in the world – along with the automobile industry – because we build a lot with concrete, a supply chain that was created to respond to a need to build quickly and in large numbers after 1945.
In the current context, it is urgent that the state intervene firmly in order to regulate the very powerful concrete lobby … In Haussmann’s [a 19th-century town planner] era, Paris was rebuilt in stone because the Paris basin had quarries. We should restore this good sense of contextualising construction and privileging local materials and short supply chains in order to build sustainably.
Raspail in Paris, France; image from Luc Boegly
Do you have favourite materials?
I have no religion when it comes to materials. I am in favour of complete flexibility depending on context. The carbon footprint of a building is calculated from the extraction of the first materials to its dismantlement and recycling. However, materials transport is what weighs most heavily on its carbon footprint. I do not like concrete, which is very polluting. I privilege dry construction, by introducing wood or metal. This depends completely on the situation of the construction in relation to local resources.
Renovations also grow in number and become obligatory with new thermal norms and, there again, you do not need litres of concrete to renovate. We can use light, assembled structures. The major actors in construction are moreover starting to marshal their skills in order to comply with the obligation to recycle within the framework of RE 2020 [the International Requirements Engineering Conference], the new thermal regulation for buildings.
9 Principles of Effective Passive Solar Design in and Around the Home
Do you have favourite materials?
I have no religion when it comes to materials. I am in favour of complete flexibility depending on context. The carbon footprint of a building is calculated from the extraction of the first materials to its dismantlement and recycling. However, materials transport is what weighs most heavily on its carbon footprint. I do not like concrete, which is very polluting. I privilege dry construction, by introducing wood or metal. This depends completely on the situation of the construction in relation to local resources.
Renovations also grow in number and become obligatory with new thermal norms and, there again, you do not need litres of concrete to renovate. We can use light, assembled structures. The major actors in construction are moreover starting to marshal their skills in order to comply with the obligation to recycle within the framework of RE 2020 [the International Requirements Engineering Conference], the new thermal regulation for buildings.
9 Principles of Effective Passive Solar Design in and Around the Home
Private home in Yport, France; image from Franklin Azzi
Is it important to create lasting architecture?
The durability of a building is essential, for me it is actually the main ingredient of good architecture because it limits the consumption of resources. As for me, I am working on how to provide a lifetime guarantee on the construction of buildings.
More generally, I like all durable objects. At the office, we have army pencil cases for our pens and I personally collect military uniforms, not because I am militaristic, but because I admire these efficient and durable objects, conceived flawlessly and produced at a large scale. We should tend towards the perfection and the durability of buildings and avoid their programmed obsolescence. The durability of a building is a response to the culture of consumption, a political choice left to the responsibility of the architect.
Is it important to create lasting architecture?
The durability of a building is essential, for me it is actually the main ingredient of good architecture because it limits the consumption of resources. As for me, I am working on how to provide a lifetime guarantee on the construction of buildings.
More generally, I like all durable objects. At the office, we have army pencil cases for our pens and I personally collect military uniforms, not because I am militaristic, but because I admire these efficient and durable objects, conceived flawlessly and produced at a large scale. We should tend towards the perfection and the durability of buildings and avoid their programmed obsolescence. The durability of a building is a response to the culture of consumption, a political choice left to the responsibility of the architect.
Montparnasse Project in Paris, France – view from the ground from Avenue du Maine; image from Collectif Nouvelle AOM (Franklin Azzi Architecture, Chartier Dalix architectes, Hardel et Le Bihan Architectes)
Can you tell us about the current renovation of the Tour Montparnasse?
The Tour Montparnasse was ageing. Dating to 1973, before the oil crises, it was constructed without the pressures of thermal regulation. We injected heat when it was cold, cold when it was hot and several stories were moreover lost, given over to machinery. It became too expensive for its 70 private co-owners, who keep offices there. Some would have preferred to demolish it, but with the Nouvelle AOM collaboration – which also brings Chartier Dalix architects and Hardel and Le Bihan Architects together – we wanted to present a renovation plan.
Can you tell us about the current renovation of the Tour Montparnasse?
The Tour Montparnasse was ageing. Dating to 1973, before the oil crises, it was constructed without the pressures of thermal regulation. We injected heat when it was cold, cold when it was hot and several stories were moreover lost, given over to machinery. It became too expensive for its 70 private co-owners, who keep offices there. Some would have preferred to demolish it, but with the Nouvelle AOM collaboration – which also brings Chartier Dalix architects and Hardel and Le Bihan Architects together – we wanted to present a renovation plan.
Montparnasse project – cafe and garden render; image from Collectif Nouvelle AOM (Franklin Azzi Architecture, Chartier Dalix Architectes, Hardel et Le Bihan Architectes)
I am not for high-tech progress when it comes to architecture, which transforms buildings into super machines. On the contrary, we have emphasised nature and the fact that the Tour Montparnasse had already paid off its carbon footprint over 50 years.
Its skin of black single glazing was a thermal nightmare. Having analysed the tower’s constant exposure to north-south wind, we have envisioned a new double-glass skin, naturally refreshed by the wind. A system of blinds integrated into the double glazing activates with the help of sensors when it’s too hot.
I am not for high-tech progress when it comes to architecture, which transforms buildings into super machines. On the contrary, we have emphasised nature and the fact that the Tour Montparnasse had already paid off its carbon footprint over 50 years.
Its skin of black single glazing was a thermal nightmare. Having analysed the tower’s constant exposure to north-south wind, we have envisioned a new double-glass skin, naturally refreshed by the wind. A system of blinds integrated into the double glazing activates with the help of sensors when it’s too hot.
The machinery spaces, which will no longer be needed, are being turned into interior gardens, watered with the litres of water that pour over the facade when it rains, preventing run-off in the city.
Finally, the original black glazing will be taken down and will serve as the finish of the 30 elevator shafts and stairwells in the building. We did not want to throw it out, or let the neighbours see us taking these materials to the dumpster. The architect plays the role of ambassador and teacher in these recycling questions. It is a matter of the architect’s civic responsibility.
Your turn
What interests you most about Franklin Azzi’s philosophy and approach to architecture? Tell us in the Comments below and like this story. Go on, join the conversation.
More
Not up-to-date with last year’s Designer of the Year? Meet Laura Gonzalez, Maison et Objet’s 2019 Designer of the Year
Finally, the original black glazing will be taken down and will serve as the finish of the 30 elevator shafts and stairwells in the building. We did not want to throw it out, or let the neighbours see us taking these materials to the dumpster. The architect plays the role of ambassador and teacher in these recycling questions. It is a matter of the architect’s civic responsibility.
Your turn
What interests you most about Franklin Azzi’s philosophy and approach to architecture? Tell us in the Comments below and like this story. Go on, join the conversation.
More
Not up-to-date with last year’s Designer of the Year? Meet Laura Gonzalez, Maison et Objet’s 2019 Designer of the Year
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I have been searching for a way to express this concept clearly, precisely and in just a few words - thank you Franklin Azzi - I will be quoting you in the future.
"Do you have favourite materials?
I have no religion when it comes to materials. I am in favour of complete flexibility depending on context."
Well said. A more humanist centred design approach is what is required.
Repair, reuse, recycle. I’m all for that in any application and most especially in construction and when it is done with such flair it’s a win win for the end users. Well done.