La Coopérative de La Fontaine du Bac
Clermont-Ferrand (FR) - Special mention
TEAM DATA
Associates: Florian Durand (FR), Baptiste Cayrel (FR), Oskar Rischewski (FR), Nina Salachas (FR), Gaëtan Macabéo (FR) – architects
collectif.supercali@gmail.com / @collectif.supercali
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TEAM PORTRAIT
INTERVIEW
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1. How do you define the main issues of your project in relation with the theme “Re-sourcing”? Re-sourcing thanks to nature, to social dynamics, to new materiality? In which way do you think your project can contribute to an ecological and/or social evolution? And in which way do you think your project can be called a “regenerative project”?
Our proposal is rethinking housing from the perspective of self-determination, through a methodology that seeks to embrace a profound change in the existing housing system, for the benefit of social and environmental justice, and the self-determination of its inhabitants. We conceived the Cooperative as a form of empowerment tailored to the Fontaine du Bac neighbourhood, but one that can also be replicated and adapted to other housing estates facing similar challenges. The project draws on the neighbourhood’s human and material resources, gradually giving tenants a say in the future of their neighbourhood.
2. How did the issues of your design and the questions raised by the site mutation meet?
It seemed to us that the neighbourhood did not require any major architectural intervention at this stage, but that its governance needed to be overhauled so that the site’s transformation could take place gradually, driven by and for the residents.
PROJECT:
We have a wide range of experience, particularly in mediation and architectural consultancy, but working on the scale of a neighbourhood such as La Fontaine du Bac was something new for us, which is why Nina Salachas’s experience was crucial, in addition to the external references on which we based our proposal.
SITE:
Our project is a long-term process, involving close engagement with local residents, aimed at giving them a say in the development of their building and neighbourhood. It involves, first and foremost, rethinking the relationships between residents, the social housing provider and the local authority, before designing any architectural interventions.
REFERENCES:
Supercali is a multidisciplinary collective founded four years ago in Nantes by ten aspiring architects, working on projects in architecture, public engagement and exhibition design, and upholding ethical, environmental and social values. As part of Europan, we have teamed up with Nina Salachas, for her expertise in political science applied to the right to housing, and Gaëtan Macabéo for his experience in landscape architecture and his knowledge of the site.
6. How could this prize help you in your professional career?
This special mention enables us to continue working on this project during the operational phases, and as such represents a major milestone in the collective’s development.
TEAM IDENTITY
Legal status:
Team name:
Average age of the associates: 25 years old
Has your team, together or separately, already conceived or implemented some projects and/or won any competition? if so, which ones?
Supercali was involved in the three first editions of Festival Les Bouilles Heureuses in Pornic, realized the curation and the scenography of the exhibition Our Second Home, for the 2025 summer edition of Le Voyage à Nantes, Fête [faîtes] de l’archi, the exhibition of the graduation projects in Nantes architecture school in 2025, and was the 2025 resident of architecture workshop “à petits pas” in Clermont-Ferrand School of architecture.
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