“Learning from vernacular
is possible and highly
recommended.”
This is the
message that accompanies
a curious and instructive
exhibition that opens on 5 June
(running until 4 October) in
the 19th-century property of
Boisbuchet. In the summer this
bucolic corner of southwest
France, between Limoges
and Poitiers, is packed with
international designers and
young students engaged in
various workshops organised
by the Vitra Design Museum.
Alexander von Vegesack,
director of the Swiss museum,
has invited Pierre Frey to
organise the exhibition
“Learning from vernacular”,
along with Franco La Cecla
and photographer Deidi von
Schaewen. It presents around
40 of the 700 models from the
Archives de la Construction
Moderne (EPFL), including the
Nubian house found in Egypt,
the communal housing of the
Kaluli people in Papua New
Guinea, and the traditional
trullo house from the Italian
region of Puglia. The aim is to
demonstrate that the art of
building is first and foremost a
cultural question that should
not forget its origins. ES
