A participatory design-build project involving the children of the Les Amandiers elementary school (in the 20th arrondissement of Paris) to create a prototype of urban seating to be installed in their street.
PROJECT PRESENTATION
“Since 2020, the ASSISE team (studaré, Des Cris Des Villes, and La Cloche) have been reflecting on the role of seating in city environments. Urban furniture is a tremendously powerful tool to create a sense of welcome or rejection among the population. Public space can indeed exclude part of the community, especially vulnerable people, individuals in precarious situations, the elderly, and the very young.
With its deep connections to the local context (thanks to its local partner organizations or institutions), Assises Élémentaires aims to create synergies between urban stakeholders and local residents. It continues this approach in its work with the Les Amandiers elementary school in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. The establishment is currently going through the ‘Rue aux Écoles’ program, which focuses on improving school streets throughout the French capital. Rue des Amandiers, in front of the elementary school, has already been pedestrianized. More developments are projected but haven’t yet started, creating the perfect opportunity for the Assises Élémentaires project, which asks what urban furniture is desired by children, their parents, the educational team, and the neighborhood. In 2023, the ASSISE team, with FAIRE’s support, launched a series of participatory workshops for the school street of Les Amandiers, working together with the school’s educational team and local residents. The purpose is to create and then collectively build comfortable and inclusive urban seating, designed by and for children.
studaré will oversee the project, together with Des Cris des Villes and La Cloche, and in liaison with Les Amandiers school. The first step will consist in sharing knowledge around urban furniture, its vocabulary, and its history. An explanation of the notion of defensive furniture will help demonstrate the power of design as a factor for inclusion or exclusion. The children will then bring utopia into play to imagine the ideal seating for their school street, which will then be used to draw up the specifications for the project. An event bringing together parents and neighbors will then be held, while the final participatory workshops will aim to build, together with the children, the ‘elementary seating’ of Les Amandiers for its school street.”
“Since 2020, the ASSISE team (studaré, Des Cris Des Villes, and La Cloche) have been reflecting on the role of seating in city environments. Urban furniture is a tremendously powerful tool to create a sense of welcome or rejection among the population. Public space can indeed exclude part of the community, especially vulnerable people, individuals in precarious situations, the elderly, and the very young.
With its deep connections to the local context (thanks to its local partner organizations or institutions), Assises Élémentaires aims to create synergies between urban stakeholders and local residents. It continues this approach in its work with the Les Amandiers elementary school in the 20th arrondissement of Paris. The establishment is currently going through the ‘Rue aux Écoles’ program, which focuses on improving school streets throughout the French capital. Rue des Amandiers, in front of the elementary school, has already been pedestrianized. More developments are projected but haven’t yet started, creating the perfect opportunity for the Assises Élémentaires project, which asks what urban furniture is desired by children, their parents, the educational team, and the neighborhood. In 2023, the ASSISE team, with FAIRE’s support, launched a series of participatory workshops for the school street of Les Amandiers, working together with the school’s educational team and local residents. The purpose is to create and then collectively build comfortable and inclusive urban seating, designed by and for children.
studaré will oversee the project, together with Des Cris des Villes and La Cloche, and in liaison with Les Amandiers school. The first step will consist in sharing knowledge around urban furniture, its vocabulary, and its history. An explanation of the notion of defensive furniture will help demonstrate the power of design as a factor for inclusion or exclusion. The children will then bring utopia into play to imagine the ideal seating for their school street, which will then be used to draw up the specifications for the project. An event bringing together parents and neighbors will then be held, while the final participatory workshops will aim to build, together with the children, the ‘elementary seating’ of Les Amandiers for its school street.”
PROJECT TEAM
The ASSISE team is multidisciplinary and its members have complementary skills.
studaré, architecture studio develops an architecture of social action, thought collectively.
Des Cris Des Villes works for the involvement of city dwellers in the making of the city.
La Cloche promotes the social link between city dwellers with and without homes. Since 2020, their common goal is to bring fragile, excluded, and misrepresented publics to actively participate in the study and design of urban seating, a powerful object for the inclusion and comfort of public space.
Célia Berdy, architect HMONP of studaré, studio at the crossroads of project management and social action.
Marine Simon and Samuel Buteau in charge of the projects of the association Des Cris Des Villes, engaged in popular education and the right to the city for all.
Goli Moussavi, director of Île-de-France and Mathilde Finon, director of Paris of La Cloche, an association that enables "living together" between neighbors with and without homes.
The ASSISE team is multidisciplinary and its members have complementary skills.
studaré, architecture studio develops an architecture of social action, thought collectively.
Des Cris Des Villes works for the involvement of city dwellers in the making of the city.
La Cloche promotes the social link between city dwellers with and without homes. Since 2020, their common goal is to bring fragile, excluded, and misrepresented publics to actively participate in the study and design of urban seating, a powerful object for the inclusion and comfort of public space.
Célia Berdy, architect HMONP of studaré, studio at the crossroads of project management and social action.
Marine Simon and Samuel Buteau in charge of the projects of the association Des Cris Des Villes, engaged in popular education and the right to the city for all.
Goli Moussavi, director of Île-de-France and Mathilde Finon, director of Paris of La Cloche, an association that enables "living together" between neighbors with and without homes.
