Manal Rachdi

Manal Rachdi is an architect and founder of OXO Architectes, an agency based in Paris. After studying biology and geology, he joined the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Nantes from which he graduated. He subsequently collaborated at Dubesset Lyon, Duncan Lewis, and then at Ateliers Jean Nouvel, before founding a first agency, OFF, then OXO Architectes — where he develops a sensitive relationship to climate, context, ecology and biomimicry. Manal Rachdi, nature and architecture. As far as he can remember, Manal Rachdi has dreamed of one day living in a forest, with a library and a few walls. Passionate since childhood for drawing, which allowed him to escape from schooling he found stifling, and nature – and long family walks in the forests around Rabat in Morocco – he found in architecture a way to reconcile his two loves. Now, all his projects integrate large portions of nature – terraces, interior forests, vegetated walls – to (re)introduce some countryside into cities. "I am part of a dematerialized and connected generation," explains Manal Rachdi as a preamble. "With the democratization of travel, the omnipresence of the Internet and the technological developments it has brought about, virtuality has caught up with us and we can be everywhere at once." But there is no question of cutting ourselves off from our roots, from this nature that was long expelled from cities and buildings. From his first projects, Manal Rachdi imposed this approach, as with the renovation and extension of Jean Moulin High School in Revin, in the Meuse in association with Duncan Lewis. Located in the meanders of the Meuse, the project literally embraces the mountain and unfolds in soft, grassy waves for perfect integration into the site. "We wanted to give a very beautiful view with the same quality of atmosphere to each classroom," explains Manal Rachdi. "That way, students who want to escape only need to glance out the window at the surrounding mountains..." Archaeology of context For this project, as for all those on which his OXO Architectes firm works, Manal Rachdi conducts extensive work upstream on what he calls "sensitive archaeology of context." "I search the depths of the place for all information that can help me design the project most suited to the landscape, the weather, living habits, traditions. The essential is to achieve a balanced dialogue between architecture, the building itself, and its environment. And then translate it into balconies with views, gardens or camouflage systems. We must not let ourselves be buried under concrete!" This philosophy is perfectly expressed in another project: the redevelopment of a series of viaducts in Calabria, in southern Italy. Our proposal would create apartments all with one of the most beautiful views in Italy, with hanging gardens. Our project, winner of the international competition and bronze medal at the Holcim Awards 2012, intended to reinvent these bridges, transforming them into 'nests' for migrating European retirees with all necessary social and medical infrastructure. A new way of living Another project, L'Arbre Blanc, a tower of 110 apartments on the banks of the Lez, in Montpellier in association with Nicolas Laisné and Sou Fujimoto. Considering that Montpellier residents spend a lot of time outdoors, enjoying favorable weather, sharing moments of conviviality with family and friends, the architects imagined a tower where each apartment has generous terraces of almost the same size as the dwelling sometimes. "Despite its name, L'Arbre Blanc is no ivory tower. Curved like a natural shape that water or wind would have carved and shaped, it extends like a pair of wings to embrace the line traced by the river." As for the terraces, they offer a privileged view of the city and the Lez, even communicating with each other for more sharing. But what also makes the project unique are the public spaces on the ground floor and on the rooftop. Open to all, residents, passersby and tourists, they will host a restaurant, an art gallery downstairs and a bar opening onto a panoramic garden on the roof. "We propose a new way of living: all co-owners – regardless of the floor of their apartment – will be able to enjoy the panorama of the tower," emphasizes Manal Rachdi. "Ecolomy" "For us, ecology is obvious, necessary and the reflection we conduct on the sustainability of our buildings must be pragmatic," emphasizes Manal Rachdi. Even though he doesn't mention it every time, all his projects are eco-designed: interior and exterior finishes made of sustainable and ecological materials, choice of building orientation to optimize solar energy input, green roofs to improve rainwater conservation and contribute to energy efficiency by reducing heat loss... "We consider buildings as complex networks of systems operating at multiple scales over time. Our architecture explores different ways of cleverly interweaving these systems, to make buildings as efficient as possible, while creating a share of sensitivity in architecture." Manal Rachdi and his OXO Architectes agency develop projects that vary in size, scale, and typology: housing, tertiary, university education and mixed-use projects, in France and abroad. However, he maintains in all his projects an ambition to create environments that allow architecture to become sensitive and to introduce nature into our daily lives. Béatrice Coutin, journalist