The art of doing NOTHING.

 It is more difficult to be silent than to speak.

It's harder to empty than to fill.

It is more difficult not to be than to be.

In architecture we have a desire to do and when we are entrusted with a project, we instinctively want to do something. Running to show how valuable we are and how much we know.

What to do when it is better to do nothing?

When we got the project for the intervention of an emblematic restaurant in Barcelona, the conflict was served. By chance we got “Il Giardinetto” and as a reference a house by “Lacatón & Vasal”.

The doing, nothing.

The project idea was to implement a feature of L&V's “Latapie House” in “Il Giardinetto”. A house for the chefs above the restaurant seemed great to us.

What did we do with the restaurant?

Deconstruct and do or do nothing?

Let's go to Bordeaux in 1996 where L&V was commissioned to remodel a square (plaza), do you know what the architects did? After talking with the neighbors and analyzing how the square worked, they decided to do NOTHING, they informed the town hall that cleaning the square more often was enough.

It takes a lot of courage and certainty. Sometimes things are fine the way they are.

It's important to see things more fully and not so much in detail because there are almost always mistakes. Ha! Everything has a pixel up close, right?

Going back to our project. On the ground floor of the restaurant, we implemented a ramp for the disabled, an adapted loo and the kitchen was expanded to accommodate the cooking school and the chefs who would come as guests, the rest was left untouched. As if it were a house of tricks, in the second landing of the stairs we connect through a door to a hidden staircase that directly goes to the second floor where the cooking school, alternative restaurant and home for the chefs is located. A behind-the-scenes performance we didn't want to misrepresent “Il Giardinetto” it's already working, it's already magnificent.

Of course, in the new plant we already gave bait to the teachers so that they could give us a qualification on the project.

If you are not convinced to do NOTHING, let's analyze the “Palais de Tokyo” in Paris. An L&V commission where they do almost nothing; acupuncture. On a tight, tight budget. They fine-tune the facilities and with a certain urgency for art, the architects put the project into operation.

Do the least for the greater good. A 50-euro watch tells the time just as well as a 50’000 watch to paraphrase Steve Jobs.

In the case of the “Palais of Tokio”, the content was more important than the continent and L&V caught on right away.

« Ne jamais démolir, ne jamais déplacer ou remplacer, toujours ajouter, transformer et réutiliser ! »  L&V

Never demolish, never move, or replace, always add, transform and reuse!

                                                                                                                                                              ©Yibby

©Philippe Ruault
"Palais of Tokio". Paris                                          © Philippe Ruault



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