I’m 25 years old the biggest challenge
of my generation is fighting climate
change we know we have to change our
habits we talked a lot about eating
organic food riding bikes consuming
differently but we don’t talk so much
about buildings but where we live and
where we work and that’s crazy when you
know how much of an impact it has an
environment buildings use 50% of natural
resources and produce 25% of co2
emissions buildings are being made the
same way for 50 years we all have
realized that our planet was in danger I
mean almost all but it’s as if the
construction industry didn’t get the
memo we need a building revolution
enough talking about problems we need
solutions after graduation I decided to
go into politics working for the deputy
mayor of Paris in charge of architecture
and planning we decided to change the
world of the game in Paris that’s what
we did ok we didn’t actually turn the
Eiffel Tower but we launched a big
competition called reinventing Paris we
proposed to worldwide teams to build
differently and better in Paris the role
was simple we proposed 23 sites and on
each of those sites the best project
would win the site it had a huge success
it was a little revolution for Paris and
a big revolution for me because I
understood how buildings can be
radically different can be good for the
environment good for people so tonight I
want to share with you the projects that
have moved me
that I’ve changed my vision of
architecture and through those projects
I want to share with you new rules for
architecture let’s start with rule
number one change the recipe this is one
of my favorite winning projects from
this competition it is a tower made of
wood you’re close to an old railway
station it is both a food market nerburn
farm and also housing units for chefs
what I really love about that building
is how wood makes it feel beautiful and
special it fits so well with our
patrimony and with what is actually
inside that building it made me think
about what materials we actually use in
our buildings this is Michael Green
Michael is a Canadian architect he
builds only in wood tall buildings
smaller one when I first met Michael I
was with my grandmother and she asked
him why building in wood he said think
of buildings as food you should know
every ingredients that is in it and it
should be healthy Wood is a healthy
gradient it doesn’t harm the planet
unfortunately in most countries concrete
is preferred to wood for me concrete is
like fast-food architecture nobody knows
the ingredients and it makes the planet
sick well obviously it’s cheap you’re
not hungry for a while but you don’t eat
fast food every day well it should be
the same with concrete concrete was a
great material but for the 20th century
concrete the most consumed human-made
material on earth it is made of sand
water cement many sand is a finite
resource
it is disappearing along with beaches
Islands cement is responsible of more
than 5% of co2 emissions worldwide so
what if we replaced concrete and steel
with local and bio source materials like
wood like straw like mud bricks it would
launch a new economy it would employ
thousands of people and it would may
make our buildings more healthy
rule number two buildings should create
ecosystems this is another winning
project
it’s called thousand trees this building
made me realize that buildings can
create ecosystems rather than killing
them it is both a building and also a
forest it will be a new sanctuary for
biodiversity for birds it made me think
about one of my favorite books Silent
Spring by Rachel Carson in her book
Rachel Carson imagines a spring that
would have become silent because all
birds died of pesticides in our cities
building sometimes consists in replacing
nature with dead materials so thanks to
thousand trees now I know that buildings
can bring more birds to the city and
create ecosystems rule number three use
what’s already there this is a tomb
openness it’s a very important building
for Paris personally I used to hate it I
found it too dark too ugly who all we
launched a competition with the owners
of the tower the winning project made me
realize that the tower could be
magnified while keeping most of it its
shape its history its materials in the
future project all the glass from the
sad will be reused in the interior
design
I understood the value of what’s already
there and that’s why this project is
great we must know the value of each
material conserving is the first
ecological choice every year we demolish
too many buildings that could be
maintained in my country France we
produce every year 42 tons of waste that
come from construction sites this is too
much we could reuse all those materials
it could create millions of jobs and it
could make buildings more original and
more authentic rule number four
buildings should feed the city
this is the last winning project I want
to share with you
it’s a participatory housing project and
an urban film the people will be able to
design their apartments and their shared
garden urban agriculture is not a detail
it can foster a community like this one
it can change people’s life and that’s
why we are developing it massively in
Paris this is a farm on the roof of a
nursing home this is the roof of a
luxury hotel close to the Eiffel Tower
and soon we will open the biggest farm
of Paris on 7,000 square metres every
year it will produce 52 tons of salads
herbs flowers that will be delivered to
the local supermarkets for the Parisian
people urban agriculture is a
game-changer for architecture because it
brings back nature to the city my city
is very dense we don’t have enough space
on ground so let’s do it on buildings
let’s run from every roof into a garden
this is not only happening in Paris
it can happen anywhere this is Brooklyn
Grange an urban family in New York City
I visited it four years ago and it
changed my vision of New York City
because I understood the possibilities
that can be done in such a city and
people all love it so much that they are
even getting married on it this is
temple who here in Berlin
a former airport was supposed to be
urbanized but the people from Berlin
said they wanted a park and now they
have the greatest park ever this brings
me to my last rule speak up construction
industry is one of the least innovative
and productive industries in the world
but it doesn’t have to be you can say
where you want or don’t want to live you
can ask for what is inside your building
and you can ask your mayor to change the
way the rules of the game and through
that you can have a real impact on
climate change [Applause]
of my generation is fighting climate
change we know we have to change our
habits we talked a lot about eating
organic food riding bikes consuming
differently but we don’t talk so much
about buildings but where we live and
where we work and that’s crazy when you
know how much of an impact it has an
environment buildings use 50% of natural
resources and produce 25% of co2
emissions buildings are being made the
same way for 50 years we all have
realized that our planet was in danger I
mean almost all but it’s as if the
construction industry didn’t get the
memo we need a building revolution
enough talking about problems we need
solutions after graduation I decided to
go into politics working for the deputy
mayor of Paris in charge of architecture
and planning we decided to change the
world of the game in Paris that’s what
we did ok we didn’t actually turn the
Eiffel Tower but we launched a big
competition called reinventing Paris we
proposed to worldwide teams to build
differently and better in Paris the role
was simple we proposed 23 sites and on
each of those sites the best project
would win the site it had a huge success
it was a little revolution for Paris and
a big revolution for me because I
understood how buildings can be
radically different can be good for the
environment good for people so tonight I
want to share with you the projects that
have moved me
that I’ve changed my vision of
architecture and through those projects
I want to share with you new rules for
architecture let’s start with rule
number one change the recipe this is one
of my favorite winning projects from
this competition it is a tower made of
wood you’re close to an old railway
station it is both a food market nerburn
farm and also housing units for chefs
what I really love about that building
is how wood makes it feel beautiful and
special it fits so well with our
patrimony and with what is actually
inside that building it made me think
about what materials we actually use in
our buildings this is Michael Green
Michael is a Canadian architect he
builds only in wood tall buildings
smaller one when I first met Michael I
was with my grandmother and she asked
him why building in wood he said think
of buildings as food you should know
every ingredients that is in it and it
should be healthy Wood is a healthy
gradient it doesn’t harm the planet
unfortunately in most countries concrete
is preferred to wood for me concrete is
like fast-food architecture nobody knows
the ingredients and it makes the planet
sick well obviously it’s cheap you’re
not hungry for a while but you don’t eat
fast food every day well it should be
the same with concrete concrete was a
great material but for the 20th century
concrete the most consumed human-made
material on earth it is made of sand
water cement many sand is a finite
resource
it is disappearing along with beaches
Islands cement is responsible of more
than 5% of co2 emissions worldwide so
what if we replaced concrete and steel
with local and bio source materials like
wood like straw like mud bricks it would
launch a new economy it would employ
thousands of people and it would may
make our buildings more healthy
rule number two buildings should create
ecosystems this is another winning
project
it’s called thousand trees this building
made me realize that buildings can
create ecosystems rather than killing
them it is both a building and also a
forest it will be a new sanctuary for
biodiversity for birds it made me think
about one of my favorite books Silent
Spring by Rachel Carson in her book
Rachel Carson imagines a spring that
would have become silent because all
birds died of pesticides in our cities
building sometimes consists in replacing
nature with dead materials so thanks to
thousand trees now I know that buildings
can bring more birds to the city and
create ecosystems rule number three use
what’s already there this is a tomb
openness it’s a very important building
for Paris personally I used to hate it I
found it too dark too ugly who all we
launched a competition with the owners
of the tower the winning project made me
realize that the tower could be
magnified while keeping most of it its
shape its history its materials in the
future project all the glass from the
sad will be reused in the interior
design
I understood the value of what’s already
there and that’s why this project is
great we must know the value of each
material conserving is the first
ecological choice every year we demolish
too many buildings that could be
maintained in my country France we
produce every year 42 tons of waste that
come from construction sites this is too
much we could reuse all those materials
it could create millions of jobs and it
could make buildings more original and
more authentic rule number four
buildings should feed the city
this is the last winning project I want
to share with you
it’s a participatory housing project and
an urban film the people will be able to
design their apartments and their shared
garden urban agriculture is not a detail
it can foster a community like this one
it can change people’s life and that’s
why we are developing it massively in
Paris this is a farm on the roof of a
nursing home this is the roof of a
luxury hotel close to the Eiffel Tower
and soon we will open the biggest farm
of Paris on 7,000 square metres every
year it will produce 52 tons of salads
herbs flowers that will be delivered to
the local supermarkets for the Parisian
people urban agriculture is a
game-changer for architecture because it
brings back nature to the city my city
is very dense we don’t have enough space
on ground so let’s do it on buildings
let’s run from every roof into a garden
this is not only happening in Paris
it can happen anywhere this is Brooklyn
Grange an urban family in New York City
I visited it four years ago and it
changed my vision of New York City
because I understood the possibilities
that can be done in such a city and
people all love it so much that they are
even getting married on it this is
temple who here in Berlin
a former airport was supposed to be
urbanized but the people from Berlin
said they wanted a park and now they
have the greatest park ever this brings
me to my last rule speak up construction
industry is one of the least innovative
and productive industries in the world
but it doesn’t have to be you can say
where you want or don’t want to live you
can ask for what is inside your building
and you can ask your mayor to change the
way the rules of the game and through
that you can have a real impact on
climate change [Applause]
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