Building a Collection Manifeste of 21st century architecture

Each year one of the nominees will be commissioned to design a building for the new permanent collection of sustainable architecture adjacent the Villa Savoye at Poissy (France) by the EPAMSA, public developer of the region.

Close to the River Seine and 25 kilometres downstream from Paris, Le Corbusier´s Villa Savoye is one of the key landmarks – and benchmarks - of 20th century architecture. Although the villa was built on a green-field site in 1928, it now has a much more urban and industrial setting at the heart of a built-up area which stretches from Poissy and Conflans-Sainte-Honorine in the west to Mantes-la-Jolie in the east and which combines both the best and the worst of contemporary urban space.

The French Government has recently classified the area as “an area of national interest (OIN)” coming under the direct responsibility of the planning authorities of Mantois-Seine-aval (EPAMSA).

This long term plan to develop a permanent collection of sustainable architecture – which recalls the avant-garde Werkbundsiedlungen movement of the 1920´s – also has the aim of encouraging a stimulating dialogue with the Villa Savoye – which is seen as a symbol of the industrial age. By 2050 the collection will have become an open air museum for the architecture of the first half of the 21st century.

The site of the first program of a new sustainable habitability is long the river Seine, close to the 70ies social housing at Chanteloup les Vignes.