Lecture by Chloé Bodart, "active listening"
Within the framework of the Situation-s research area, architect Chloé Bodart presents the firm Compagnie architecture.
Compagnie's approach is based on creating a shared culture among all stakeholders in a project. This common ground allows them to design the most appropriate response possible, both in terms of the client's brief and the users' needs. Permanent architectural presence, evolving models, the construction site community, thematic workshops, the cultural project, and published works are among the resources mobilized to foster this shared culture. As the foundation of the projects, these commons, as natural and cultural resources collectively managed by a community, also form the firm's horizon.
"We will explore projects of varying scales: an urban study, the construction of a new school, the renovation and extension of a concert hall, and scenography.
Specifically, the drawings identify and highlight the resources of a territory or place (a forgotten waterway, an industrial heritage site), which seems to be the only way to create buildings that are appropriately situated and to define urban strategies that are rooted in their local context."
Biography of Chloé Bodart / Compagnie architecture
Compagnie architecture develops a nuanced and joyful approach, believing that it is possible to design and build differently, by placing the human dimension at the heart of the practice.
Chloé Bodart, a graduate of the ENSA Paris-Belleville in 2003, discovered in 1999, through Patrick Bouchain and the Construire agency, that it is possible to learn and build differently, and began a fruitful collaboration with him. This close collaboration continued when, in 2008, she founded her firm, chloé bodart/construire. In 2014, she settled in Bordeaux and continued to develop her practice, driven by encounters and constructive actions, for the sheer joy of creating.
In 2018, she partnered with Jules Eymard, and the firm became Compagnie architecture.
Compagnie architecture comprises about fifteen people and is based in Bordeaux. Its projects emerge from a practice structured around three main principles: the sensitive transformation of existing structures, the inhabited construction site as a cultural act, and attentive listening to accurately meet the client's needs.
Compagnie's approach owes as much to Chloé's experience—who has continuously refined the cultural dimension of architectural and urban projects for fifteen years, partly under the tutelage of Patrick Bouchain—as to Jules's exacting standards, particularly his attention to design and construction choices. Together, through their projects, they have developed a unique aesthetic, a way of inhabiting the sensory world distinguished by a commitment to serving users by making construction choices understandable. Since 2018, the firm has been designing buildings with expressive contours, where hospitality is both a spatial arrangement and a purpose.
In parallel, Chloé Bodart supports other initiatives: she participated in the founding of PEROU (Urban Resources Exploration Center) in 2011, served as president of the Socialdesign Platform association (2015-2021), was elected to the 308-Maison de l’Architecture in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region (2018-2024), and was an architectural consultant for the City of Saint-Médard-en-Jalles (2021-2026).
Today, she participates in an Economic Interest Group (EIG) called Hors Format, composed of six Bordeaux-based agencies, in order to pool their respective experiences and skills. She is an auditor in the Cycle of Advanced Studies in Culture (CHEC) in the 7th cohort, whose theme is "Reopening Our Futures," working on a report to guide state cultural policies.