Some current news and thoughts feeding our projects.
Laureate FAIRE 2022
We are delighted to be awarded the FAIRE 2022 research grant for our “Stealth chimneys”. In the chaotic beauty of Parisian roofscapes, our proposal aims at collaboratively accompanying households in their transition away from their dependence on gas. Our research will focus on new types of infrastructure to support the installation of alternative clean technologies…
Suspended gardens
Floating, hovering, suspended gardens… How to make a garden fly? At the heart of our Paris Gateway project, our suspended garden aimed to resolve conflicting constraints. The very valuable « ground plane » needed to be used for transport whilst other underground infrastructures occupying the whole site made it impossible to plant. Simultaneously, the elevated…
The Skewed church
Spatial sequencing Without theological commentary intended, our answer for a new Russian Orthodox Church was the literal sequencing of its spatial DNA. Simultaneously as an answer to the trapezoidal site and its oddness in regards to contemporary design, we choose to slice and displace an archetypal model to create a new species. The gradient translation…
A memory in stone
Born of our investigations into material reuse, the Castle Lane was at his inception a opportunity to study of a special brick aggregate. Giving a second life to the demolished building, we studied the solution composed wit aggregate panels made of the crushed brick from the site itself. One of expectations when working in an…
Fractal Tree
The Fractal Tree is the manifestation of geometrical play stemming from the growth logic of tree branches. Operating as a city sculpture and a sustainable device, the timber structure transforms itself and its environment over the course of the day. Both metaphor and abstraction of its natural source, DROO’s fractal tree is an active abstraction…
MODERN THEATRES 1950-2020 is OUT
MODERN THEATRES 1950-2020 which includes a contribution by DROO Architects’ director Michel da Costa Gonçalves is a fantastic book edited by David Staples and published by Routledge. Michel explores today’s perception of the Opera Bastille in light of its very political inception and using his past experience designing cultural venues such as the Onassis Opera…
Civic Ecosystem, Song Do Library
Research through design, our Song Do Library proposal. Designed with both a sense of material frugality and experiential monumentality, our proposal sees the Library as a dynamic movement of ideas within an ecosystem defining by two interacting environments: the central garden and main library’s stepped agora. Symbolic and active, the engineered timber shell closes…
Floating fields
Zero waste. Architectural gesture are often expensive, materially expensive. Our approach in reducing waste was here driven by a better use of the cutting patterns. Achieving near zero waist is possible by the very organic nature of the topographic fields. The temporary cafe for the Architectural Foundation was defined by two contoured surfaces. One soft…
DROO finalist for FAIRE 2020
DROO is a finalist for FAIRE 2020, the Paris accelerator for innovative architectural and urban projects. We are delighted to be selected for the final round for our post-pandemic urban revitalisation project. “FAIRE platform invites multidisciplinary teams to propose innovative research and experimentation in the face of major urban challenges: climate, materials crisis, new technologies,…
DROO featured in AMC
DROO featured in AMC Magazine following this year Architecture MasterPrize where DROO Architects is amongst the winners in the Residential Multi-Unit category for our Castle Lane Project. The Architecture MasterPrize celebrates the very best in design excellence and innovation from the worlds of Architectural, Interior, and Landscape Design. The awards program is dedicated to showcasing and…
Essentiafluous: Semantic Design by DROO.
Essentiafluous: Semantic Design by DROO’s director Michel da Costa Gonçalves. This speculative exercise through terminologies questions how the current pandemic might influence design in the coming months or years. Thanks to Inst_inst_inst and mapa arq for the collaboration request.
Planning granted for DROO’s low carbon project in Melbourne.
Very excited to share that we have just received planning for our Apartment Low Carbon scheme in Melbourne, Australia.
DROO’s Smithfield market
DROO’s Smithfield market competition entry for Landlease reflects on the future of Birmingham tying to its historical trades as a civic place of gathering. Under a single roof, it carefully unearths historical layers to seek new paradigms and inform new “virtuous cycles”.
What are the igloos made of?
We have worked for Santa Claus. That is the way our client to be introduced himself; I represent Santa Claus. Lapland it turns out is a fascinating place to visit beyond the December celebratory frenzy and the project was mainly to be dedicated to winter wonders and winter sports: An Arctic Resort. Conversationally, the Arctic…
Concert Hall
DROO (formerly RARE) amongst the 6 honorary finalist for the Kaunas Competition in Lithuania for a Concert hall. With TPC, Theatre Projects Consulting.
Fractal Tree
Fractal Tree, an installation by DROO (formerly RARE architecture) at the Geffrye Museum part of the London Design Festival 2017 and Shoreditch Design Triangle. With ParmarBrook.
