Modeled on the Literary Salon, Architecture & Ecriture draws largely, though not exclusively, from French cultural studies and literature. During our stay in Paris, we will explore how various forms of writing, and in particular the form of the essay, can contribute to the development of architectural and spatial thinking.*

For this second edition we will read Montaigne and his essays, Barthes and his lectures, Butor and his multifaceted and nomadic writings, Cixous and her memoirs. We will enter the libraries of the world, real and imaginary, with the Virtual Exhibition ‘La Bibliothèque, la nuit’ at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Conceived by director Robert Lepage and his company Ex Machina, the exhibition is based on Alberto Manguel’s spellbinding book The Library at Night.**

Architecture & Ecriture explores a space through translation, a Mobile space, which Michel Butor reveals with such acumen,*** a space which invites us to constant movement and repositioning. This year we will move from Fact to Fiction and back, from Theory to Poetry and back.

Participants will take part in a series of workshops, talks and seminars led by guest writers and thinkers from both inside and outside the AA School of Architecture. After close reading of a selection of texts, participants will engage in writing and be offered the possibility to present their work for discussion.

The Salon is a space of discussion and total immersion and Architecture & Ecriture operates as a research platform where participants are taught as well as invited to contribute new ideas to the current discussion about architectural writing and spatial theories.

The residency will culminate in an exhibition and a public event open to a wider audience on July 8th, where participants will be able to showcase their final work.

We are pleased to announce our new collaboration with Paris College of Art for 2017. PCA is an independent art and design school located in the creative 10th arrondissement in Paris, minutes away from the Gare du Nord and Eurostar terminal. Established in 1986, the school is a vibrant international and interdisciplinary lab, with art studios, photography and printmaking facilities, and a gallery with adjacent courtyard where we will be holding the public event on Saturday 8th July.