On a beach at Berck-sur-Mer, Patrick Bouchain plays the alphabet book. Twenty six letters and as many words to articulate concepts, stories and memories. As a result, a movie that clicks with the image of its character: both private and universal, delicate and visionary. This conversation is also the story of a meeting and the significant relationship between the two generation of architects. It’s also the story of a common wish to commit to the world they live in – thanks to their shared passion for a career that keeps on inventing and spreading novelties.
Patrick Bouchain is an architect and urban designer born in 1945. He was a professor at the Ecole Camondo in Paris, at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Bourges and the Ecole de Creation Industrielle in Paris. He consecutively worked as an adviser to Jack Lang, then to the President of the Public Institution of the Grand Louvre. He worked together with a variety of contemporary artists such as Daniel Buren and Bartabas. He was the conductor of the show on the Champs-Elysees in Paris as part of the festivities for the upcoming new year 2000 and the guest commissioner at the Pavillon Français during the Venice biennale of architecture in 2006.
Fundamentally nonconformist, his architecture “HHQ” stands for “High Human Quality”. His projects are always centered towards the development of constructions open to the public, the advocacy for cultural events, the ongoing questioning of the norms, the ability we put to use.
With the support of the Frac Centre-Val de Loire and in partnership with France Culture.
Distributed by Météore Films. Buy the DVD.
