Convinced of the need to explore new forms of resilient architecture, our practice is inspired by vernacular systems inviting low tech and geo-sourced designs based on reuse materials. Through a design & build method, Studio ACTE develops tools where craft and materials are the cornerstone of each project. We believe in a regenerative architecture built around a collective process, provoking social interactions. Founded by Estelle Barriol, a young French architect, the studio sets up in Rotterdam (2020) in a large warehouse in the former port of Delfshaven. Based on a multicultural crossroads between French and Dutch-German experience, the studio operates in France, Netherlands and Belgium. Through its practice, it rethinks its methods by placing the building site and the materials at the heart of the project process. The aim is to produce a sustainable, inclusive and generous architecture with a high spatial and human quality. Studio ACTE believes in craftsmanship and aesthetics as an equation towards sustainability. Rather than using standard elements, the studio focuses on applied research into materials, details and assemblies involving local craftsmanship and participatory building sites.

Studio ACTE believe in a productive practice - that is critical through proposing alternative actions and looking for possible applied solutions. In the past years we have developed a design method, based on hands-on and experimentation. Model making, material experiments and assembly prototypes brought us to self built various pavilions, testing the design and the reuse process in scale 1:1. This hands on approach was essential, as it made it possible to build with radical reuse and experiment with natural materials. Through the act of building, studio ACTE aims to reveal the strength of reuse, and make a step towards achieving systematic changes in the building industry.

Registered at the Royal Institute of Dutch Architects.

 

TEAM

Estelle Barriol  - Principal Architect & Director ●

Msc Architecture - ENSA Saint-Etienne

Fanny Bordes   - Principal Architect & Associate ●

Msc Architecture - ENSA Saint-Etienne

Registered at the Dutch Architects Register as Architect

1.210301.006

Current / Past collaborators

Luca Bötschi

Léon Wettel

Filippe Borges

Alessandra Esposito

Ruth Gonzalez Garcia

Valentine Michel

Toma Murtic

Tania Sediame

Greta Samulionyte

Hannah Sheerin

Jan Schwindinger

Lotte Wigman

Milou Van Zomeren