Latest News
31.08.2009
Dear all,
we published a lot of pictures of the summerworkshops 2009
on the boisbuchet blog site! Take a look and enjoy the wonderful
pictures of the workshops. The Boisbuchet Blog site will be
updated regularly.
All the best and enjoy the pictures,
Your Workshop Depatment
03.07.2009
Dear all,
Blueprint has a week long blog about our first workshop week this season.
Check out Jocelyns week at:
http://www.blueprintmagazine.co.uk - day_1
http://www.blueprintmagazine.co.uk-day_2
http://www.blueprintmagazine.co.uk/- day_3
Best
Your Workshop Department
01.07.2009
Boisbuchet is now open to the public
Dear all,
We are happy to announce that Domaine de Boisbuchet is now offering guided tours to the public!
Our tours are presenting different architectural constructions: Japanese architect Shigeru Ban’s first permanent structure in Europe , three bamboo buildings by Columbian architect Simón Veléz, an original 19th century Japanese guest house (Kyakuden), a pyramid and a log cabin, both by German architects Brückner & Brückner, two dome-shaped tents by German architect / engineer Jörg Schlaich, as well as Boisbuchet’s chateau and mill building.
Inside the chateau we are showing the temporary exhibition: "Learning from vernacular – apprendre des cultures vernaculaires” – a fascinating documentation on the marvels of vernacular architecture worldwide, presented in the unique setting of a 19th century chateau which had been abandoned for the past twenty years..
Furthermore, a bistro and a small design-shop have been opened in Boisbuchet’s old mill, with a romantic terrace overlooking the river Vienne! Here we are offering cold and hot drinks, fresh cakes and small meals as well as a choice of design articles and books.
Guided tours will take place at following times from 1st of July until end of September:
Saturday and Sunday at 11am, 2pm and 4pm. After 6pm Boisbuchet is closed forthe public.
Entry fee is 8 Euros for adults and 4 Euros for children between 12 and 18years.
Children under 12 years are free when accompanied by their parents.
The first drink and something to eat will be free of charge.
If you would like to visit us in a larger group please call in advance: +33 545 89 67 00
We are looking forward to your visit!
Your Boisbuchet Team
4.06.2009
Boisbuchet is waiting with surprises
Dear all,
after our first workshop week, we have some new surpises on the lake, in the garden, the castle... You are welcome to discover them!
There are some workshops which are already fully booked such as:
Campanas
Maarten Baas
Sigga Heimis & Florian Slotawa
Max Lamb
Hector Serrano
Sam Baron
and Liquid Fusion has one place left.
If you have questions on the workshops, please do never hesitate to contact us via: info@boisbuchet.org
All the best
Your workshop department
04.05.2009
Domaine de Boisbuchet – le paysage de l'architecture et du design Inauguration of a traditional Japanese house
On 5 June 2009, we will celebrate the twenty-year existence of the international workshops held in France in collaboration with the Vitra Design Museum. To mark the occasion, we will also be inaugurating a Japanese guesthouse (Kyakuden) from the 19th century and open the first exhibition on vernacular architecture. The day marks as well the opening of Boisbuchet’s park with its pavilion.
The traditional building made of wood, clay, bamboo and straw dates to the year 1883 – the same period when the chateau was constructed at Boisbuchet – and is a gift from the Japan Kominka Research Society, which is dedicated to preserving the traditions of Japanese construction. Originally part of an abandoned estate in the western Japanese prefecture of Shimane, it was dismantled, documented and restored last year and subsequently transported overseas and rebuilt over the past months by a team of Japanese and German experts in the Charente.
Alexander von Vegesack, the initiator of the workshop programme and founding director of the Vitra Design Museum, played a key role in making this unique action possible through the close relationships he has built up with Japanese museums and experts over the years. In addition to Vegesack's own financial contributions and a grant from the Département of Charente, the support of the designer Toshiyuki Kita was especially critical to the realization of the project. One of the most important designers of the last thirty years, Kita has actively cultivated the traditions of Japanese craftsmanship and incorporated them in his own oeuvre.
As the venue for the annual summer workshops with renowned designers, artists and architects for participants from all over the world, the 150-hectare terrain of Domaine de Boisbuchet already contains seven pavilions that were built during the workshops with a variety of media to illustrate the potential of natural materials, alternative technologies and innovative construction methods – including bamboo houses by the Columbian Simón Vélez and a paper building by Shigeru Ban of Japan.
The installation of the traditional guesthouse comes full circle in underscoring Japan's historic importance as a source of inspiration for modern design. With its reduction to simple, precisely applied materials, the openness of the interior and the harmony with nature, the structure embodies the basic principles of classic Japanese architecture as well as classic modern architecture.
On the occasion of the re-construction of the Japanese guesthouse and the twenty-year anniversary of our international cultural work, the Domaine de Boisbuchet has invited the Swiss universities EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Féderale de Lausanne) and ECAL (Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne) to present objects from the EPFL’s world-renowned collection of architectural models in rooms of the Boisbuchet chateau that have stood vacant for years. Under the title "Learning from vernacular – apprendre des cultures vernaculaires", the exhibits, shown for the first time in public, demonstrate the theme of sustainability with traditional examples from a range of different cultures.
Thanks to the growing public interest and a subsidy of the Charente Département, Boisbuchet’s park will be opened to the public at the same time - from July 1st until September 30th. Thus visitors will be able to view certain areas of the Domaine de Boisbuchet itself - an integral ensemble of experimental architecture and a landscape park in which nature, culture and agriculture harmoniously complement one another.
If this concept proves to be successful, Boisbuchet will offer a changing programme in future summer seasons as well. A visitor’s reception including a small shop and café have been installed in the Domaine’s old mill on the Vienne river.
the workshop department
