Two books published by Editions du Layeur in March 2005 have brought French architect Aain Sarfati back in the limelight. “La preuve par neuf” by François Lamarre and "Topiques" by Paul Ardenne both show the constants and the ideas that always drove the architect's work. It is interesting to reflect about this, because his work is marked by complexity. It is true that Alain Sarfati's work extends over more than thirty years as a practising architect, encompassing places, programmes and destinations of tremendous diversity.
"Architecture is something public, it can be seen, it is practised, and widely shared”, proclaims the architect. For this creator of many major public projects, emphasising the relationship between architecture and the city is paramount. When he designed the National Theatre in Toulouse , located right in the city centre, Sarfati knew that his architecture – which is never neutral – would arouse strong reactions. In response to one of these criticisms, the architect talked about those who dare to take an interest “in the conditions in which architecture is produced, instead of the context in the design of the project, the question of meaning, in how to do it, or quite simply, in emotion.
Alain Sarfati is also responsible for the rehabilitation of the Motte-Bossut spinning mill in Roubaix , a 19th century factor which has become the Archive Centre of the World of Work. A way of re-investing in premises charged with a collective memory with a view to cultural dissemination. We shall also highlight one of the major French architectural projects of 2003: the Arthur Rimbaud School in Amiens , a compact school with a sophisticated interplay of roofs, located in a troubled district with high-density housing. Another major project, the future French Embassy in Beijing is a cross between tradition and modernity like a mysterious construction wrapped in gilded aluminium. Rigour, imagination, lightness and solidity are the architectural components.
Alain Sarfati has a passionate enthusiasm for architecture in the broadest sense of the term, and is involved in cross-disciplinary work with his SAREA agency. He has given a very large num ber of lectures in France and throughout the world, taking an interest in ethics, urban development, architectural design, social housing, the living environment of elderly people, just to mention a few of the topics. “Architecture invites people into the joys of life, and now it has a duty to reflect a singular reputation of power, that which is associated with the idea of democracy", he says. We must clearly leave behind any ideas derived from an authoritarian vision of architecture, and which leave no room for richness, differences or diversity.”
