Free Space / Transformation / Habiter presents four decades of Lacaton & Vassal's practice through the three philosophical commitments that have defined their architecture: spatial generosity, radical transformation over demolition, and the right to inhabit fully.
About This Book
Lacaton & Vassal have spent four decades building an architecture of conviction — one that refuses the logic of demolition, insists on spatial generosity, and treats social housing as a matter of dignity rather than economy. This volume, edited by the architects alongside Enrique Walker and Moisés Puente, structures their oeuvre around three interlocking concepts: Free Space, Transformation, and Habiter. Nine built works are examined not as static objects but as inhabited structures — photographed with their residents present, animating the spaces and demonstrating how the architecture adapts to life. For architects and urbanists reckoning with housing, sustainability, and the ethics of intervention, this is essential reading.
Key Features
- 208 pages of project documentation and inhabited photography across nine built works
- Edited by Anne Lacaton, Jean-Philippe Vassal, Enrique Walker, and Moisés Puente
- Nine case studies presented with residents in situ, conveying each building's lived adaptation
- Published by Walther König, 2021
What You'll Discover
- How the concept of "Free Space" operates as a commitment to spatial generosity — not merely as formal gesture but as a social position embedded in the practice's design decisions
- The firm's foundational principle — "never demolish, always add, transform, extend" — applied across a range of housing and institutional typologies
- What "Habiter" means as an architectural proposition: the insistence that residents must be able to make space genuinely their own
- How Lacaton & Vassal document their buildings as living structures, using photography of tenanted interiors to argue for architecture's capacity to accommodate and amplify everyday life
About the Author
Anne Lacaton (born 1955) and Jean-Philippe Vassal (born 1954) founded their Paris-based practice in 1987. Their work spans private and social housing, cultural institutions, academic buildings, and public spaces, guided throughout by principles of social justice and sustainability. They were awarded the Pritzker Prize in 2021.
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 208
- Dimensions: 290 x 215 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783753307107
- Publisher: Walther König
- Publication Date: 2021
Perfect For: Architects, urban designers, housing researchers, and students seeking to understand an ethical practice that has redefined social housing and adaptive transformation in contemporary architecture.