ELSEWHERE STARTS HERE

An Agrafmobile project for the PEROU association for urban resources exploration, which specialises in housing and social integration projects for extremely vulnerable groups. For this initiative, we helped establish living quarters for Rom groups in the Essonne region. After their shantytown was destroyed, they were “penned up” in a no man’s land, an abandoned car park far from the city, but which did have the advantage of being covered by an integration programme. PEROU issued a challenge to architects, landscape architects and designers: make this wasteland habitable. Using an economy of means, Agrafmobile designed and installed an assortment of geodesic “You are here” points spread across the asphalt of the former car park. These black-and-white “suns” plot a new landscape, along with the “chapel” built by PEROU to serve as a common area, proclaiming that “Elsewhere starts here” to those arriving at the site.