Construire librement, l'enseignement de Soweto

Exhibition: Carte Blanche to Christophe Hutin
“Christophe Hutin discovered the townships of South Africa in 1994. He then understood that architecture could be part of a life project and decided to become an architect. He began studying architecture in France while following a university course. In the same year, he obtained his diploma as an architect DPLG and a DEA in physiology. He decided to return to South Africa in 2004 thanks to the Envers des villes grant: this trip enabled him to study the townships surrounding Johannesburg from the inside, through the eyes and minds of those who live there. This deeply influenced his practice and his understanding of architecture. Back in France, Christophe Hutin designed his first house with a budget of 100,000 €.
Through his projects, Christophe Hutin defends a free and sensitive approach to architecture. The exhibition shows his projects and productions, mostly single-family houses in and around Bordeaux, as well as two projects from competitions won by the agency in Dubai and Cape Town. Again and again, his work questions the relationship between architecture and monumentality, and the necessary differentiation of the ordinary habitat. Christophe Hutin is completing a concert hall for the musician Bernard Lubat in Uzeste. The exhibition also presents his current research on the habitat in Johannesburg. The title of the exhibition is taken from the book L’enseignement de Soweto: Construire librement written by Christophe Hutin and prefaced by Patrice Goulet, published by Actes Sud in June 2009. In conclusion, I would like to quote Patrice Goulet, an architecture critic who works tirelessly as a talent scout: “It is incredible - and saddening - that the walls that imprison architecture are higher and thicker here than there. It is also incredible - and stimulating - that it is in the shantytowns that we must look for reasons to hope and fight to change the world we live in.”
— Francine Fort, General Director of Arc en rêve Architecture Center, 2009

As part of the exhibition Construire librement, l’enseignement de Soweto, Christophe Hutin received the architect Diébédo Francis Kéré for a conference at Arc en rêve Architecture Center on 24 September 2009.

Construire librement