School Lecture Series: Aviolat Chaperon Escobar / EPFL Architecture
Event details
| Date | 13.05.2025 |
| Hour | 18:30 › 20:00 |
| Speaker | Sébastien Chaperon |
| Location | |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
AVIOLAT CHAPERON ESCOBAR
Conversion of a building at chemin Guillaume Ritter in Fribourg
At the bend of a tree-lined alley, the Ritter House emerges—white, slender, and seemingly roofless. Its tall vertical windows and protruding cornices create striking overlaps, while its double enfilade layout extends and revitalizes the existing structure. Cloaked in a timeless white veil, it becomes an open-ended symbol, inviting the most poetic associations of thought.
Sébastien Chaperon is a Swiss architect who graduated from HES Fribourg in 2005. He has led projects at 0815 Architekten in Freiburg and Dreier Frenzel in Lausanne, including the Ecoquartier Jonction in Geneva. In 2014, he co-founded Aviolat Chaperon Escobar Architects, based in Fribourg and Neuchâtel. A member of FAS since 2022, he has also been a professor at HES-SO Fribourg since 2015, teaching construction, first-year architecture, and interdisciplinary projects.
This lecture is part of the school lecture series
HOUSING VOL.2 - Housing and Reuse
Reuse of existing buildings is increasingly becoming a good practice. Yet, reuse is easier said than done. Within a capitalist society, buildings are produced as commodities and, as such, they are not meant to last. Moreover, what is at stake within reuse is not simply the reuse of buildings per se, but the whole process of building production behind each architectural project.
This lecture series explores projects of reuse in which former offices, factories, or houses are transformed or expanded as residential spaces. Each lecture will focus on one building in order to shed light not only on the advantages of reuse but also on its limits and challenges. The lecture series will be complemented by the launch of Professor Charlotte Malterre-Barthes’s A "Moratorium on New Construction".
Conversion of a building at chemin Guillaume Ritter in Fribourg
At the bend of a tree-lined alley, the Ritter House emerges—white, slender, and seemingly roofless. Its tall vertical windows and protruding cornices create striking overlaps, while its double enfilade layout extends and revitalizes the existing structure. Cloaked in a timeless white veil, it becomes an open-ended symbol, inviting the most poetic associations of thought.
Sébastien Chaperon is a Swiss architect who graduated from HES Fribourg in 2005. He has led projects at 0815 Architekten in Freiburg and Dreier Frenzel in Lausanne, including the Ecoquartier Jonction in Geneva. In 2014, he co-founded Aviolat Chaperon Escobar Architects, based in Fribourg and Neuchâtel. A member of FAS since 2022, he has also been a professor at HES-SO Fribourg since 2015, teaching construction, first-year architecture, and interdisciplinary projects.
This lecture is part of the school lecture series
HOUSING VOL.2 - Housing and Reuse
Reuse of existing buildings is increasingly becoming a good practice. Yet, reuse is easier said than done. Within a capitalist society, buildings are produced as commodities and, as such, they are not meant to last. Moreover, what is at stake within reuse is not simply the reuse of buildings per se, but the whole process of building production behind each architectural project.
This lecture series explores projects of reuse in which former offices, factories, or houses are transformed or expanded as residential spaces. Each lecture will focus on one building in order to shed light not only on the advantages of reuse but also on its limits and challenges. The lecture series will be complemented by the launch of Professor Charlotte Malterre-Barthes’s A "Moratorium on New Construction".
Practical information
- General public
- Free