DESARZENS François-Xavier Atelier d'architecture Sàrl

Our approach is the search for a synthesis, for the point of balance:

Between integration and innovation:
Each location has its own history, tectonics, orientation, main views, and particular natural or built environment. We want our new intervention to become an enhancement of its intrinsic and specific qualities. A dialogue must develop with it.

Between inside and outside:
We pay great attention to transitions : how to get in, how to get out. For a window, what do we give to see, what framing, what light will it bring. The thickness of the wall becomes a means of creating a new space between inside and outside.

Between practicality and aesthetics:
The practical, functional aspect is very important. We carefully work out our plans to optimally meet the particular needs of the Owner. At the same time, we seek in our constructions a "silence", an economy of means, a reduction to the essential, a setting in matter and color conducive to producing "beauty", meaning, perhaps emotions, the hallmark of architecture.

Between optimization and generosity:
While working on the optimization of surfaces and volumes, it's the generosity of spaces, the impression of grandeur that we're looking for, by developing sequences of spaces that allow you to see a first, a second, a third space, and so on. A little like a Japanese garden which, with vegetation organized in successive planes, gives the impression of being in the middle of a large park despite its small size.

Between sustainable and economic:
Sustainable development in its three aspects (ecological, social and economic) is at the heart of our concerns in order to create a healthy environment, fostering social ties, with an eye to overall economy. The best way to do this is first and foremost to limit built surfaces and volumes by optimizing them as much as possible, reducing or eliminating distributions in favor of interconnected spaces. This saves on materials, grey energy and heating costs. Secondly, construction must be efficient in terms of energy and the grey energy used in its production.