Built Climates

The concept of \”Terroir\” (or \”Climates\” in Burgundy) is popular in France in the term of \”Produits du Terroir\”, which means wine, cheese or sausages whose taste is related to specific resources of geology and climate, and to particular production methods such as fermentation (related to local bacteria), or smoking (burning wood growing in the region), giving them an unreproducible single and unique flavor.

With a decline of its industries and its technical knowledge, France is experiencing today a crisis of its business and intellectual model in the face of globalization.

Some sectors have nevertheless escaped this crisis, including terroir products (wine, champagne, cognac), luxury products and gastronomic cuisine. It is this positive signal that we want to analyze, expand and develop in a study in France through architectural design.

By solving its future crises, the process of globalization will inevitably lead to a global homogenization of labor laws and wage scales. These results will then differentiate and qualify one region from another, bringing them closer to the concept of \”terroir\”, an idea around which interest is growing worldwide through new food customs being experimented with and introduced by the slow food movement or the urban farms.

Our studio proposes that each student will develop a project at the scale of a building which will be located in a particular French Terroir.

The goal is to design architecture by inventing new materials and thermodynamic language utilizing resources and production methods from the physical, chemical and organic specification of a precise geology and climate. Our design agenda will not be regressive towards the vernacular. In comparison with the Nordic Food Lab, we will develop architecture of the 21st century, taking into account the challenges of globalization and sustainability as advantages for discovering a new awakening in gourmet need towards plasticity, sensory and aesthetic.

Each GSD student will be assisted during the semester by a student of the School of Architecture of Versailles coming from the assigned Terroir. An exhibition and publication will take place in Paris later. Various lectures will be given by professionals in each studied field. Philippe Rahm will be present at the GSD every two weeks.

Irregular Schedule:
Philippe Rahm will meet on Tuesdays and Wednesdays on an irregular schedule. He plans on staying a 3d day often to have individual meetings with Students.
Dates Philippe Rahm in residence:
Thursday, August 28
Friday, August 29
Tuesday, September 9
Wednesday, September 10
Tuesday, September 23
Wednesday, September 24
Thursday, September 25
Friday, September 26
Tuesday, October 14
Wednesday, October 15
Tuesday, October 28
Wednesday, October 29
Thursday, October 30
Tuesday, November 18
Wednesday, November 19