architecture habitée

20:01 Jul 11, 2010 

I understood "architecture habitée" in a slightly different way. More along the lines of the meaning in "lieu habité", i.e. "where a special spirit dwells" with the metaphor of a ghost.
I am not sure this comment is of great help, though ;-(

15:53 Jul 8, 2010 

Yes, this is just my 5 cents: and do with it what you will... but is the phrase "inhabited architecture" not a theoretical idea relating to the notion that architecture has to be "inhabited" by itself, a space or the person looking at it? Constantin Brancusi has a famous quote: "architecture is inhabited sculpture". This dovetails with both your French examples, the first ressures us that the pavillion is not just a crass machine to draw in the public but has something theoretical behind it and the second relating to the overzelous desire for theoretical approaches in architectural design - that are not utilitarian - leading to the planners dream going wrong in social planning.

15:19 Jul 8, 2010 

I have come across inhabited architecture on frequent occasions and I don't have any difficulty in using it. I see it as a movement away from sterile architecture. It not only can be lived in, but it is.

14:57 Jul 8, 2010 

This really isn't a question that requires context to a certain extent because it is a term referring to a new aspiration in architecture, as a generic term which pops up a lot in urban planning texts and architectural profiles. It is an idea related to the elimination of boundaries between landscape design and architecture and is also used as an alternative approach to modernist international architecture. It's more of an idea used in architectural theory I guess.

14:55 Jul 8, 2010 

Cette appétence pour l’architecture habitée - et non pas seulement habitable - la conduit naturellement à réaliser de nombreux programmes de logements sociaux, où les articulations sont si nombreuses et si difficiles à mettre en œuvre

14:55 Jul 8, 2010 

ils sont le signe rassurant que le pavillon n’est pas qu’une machine à aspirer le public, mais que c’est aussi une architecture habitée.

14:49 Jul 8, 2010 

Could you give us a couple of French examples please? Inhabited architecture is fine, but something else might suggest itself if we have some context.