Recently I came across the the work of the Atelier d´Architecture Autogérée (AAA), an architecture and urban design studio that describes itself as “an interdisciplinary practice including architects, artists, urban planners, landscape designers, sociologists, activists, students and residents”. 

The combination of so many and diverse actors within in their practice is what makes AAA projects very different from many other architecture or urban design firms. The diversity of its team members lies on the fact that their main goal is to create an  architectural and urban practice that is inclusive and respectful of the desires of inhabitants and users, whatever is their social and cultural background. 

For AAA public space is socially, culturally and politically produced and not just physically build. Their projects are highly embedded in their local contexts, including, adapting and shaping everyday practices and using them as platforms for cultural and social production. Their goal is not to create a product but a long term process that can host the diverse needs and demands of its users as well as serve as a learning space for new lifestyles and ways of being together in the future.

Such ideas are clearly reflected in their award winning project “Passage 56”. A public space that because of its format and use, it is continually “under construction”. The Passage 56 is a continuous social, cultural and political process rather than a design object.

Find more about what is going on in the Passage 56 in their blog. It is in french but the images talk for themselves.