Photographer: Gaëtan Chevrier | ArchDaily

Designing the Public Market: Architecture for Gathering, Trading, and Belonging

Hana Abdel — Fri, 09 Jan 2026 07:30:00 +0000

The making of a place is not a difficult thing in principle; it is enough for people to come together in a regular set location for a purpose or activity, and a space becomes. This does not disregard the fact that a physical element needs to accompany this gathering for a space to become sheltering, accommodating, and alluring. This idea of the space that emerges from intent can most definitely be seen in one of the most ancient of functions, which is food or produce markets.

Bois Harel Tertiary Complex / ALTA

Pilar Caballero — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Alta unveils an ambitious office project located on the Chemin du Bois Harel, a site transforming the edge between Rennes and Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande. Once a market gardening area marked by the Crublé greenhouses, closed in 2004, this reconfigured territory lies between countryside and urban periphery. To the west, a rural landscape dotted with scattered housing; to the east, the Rennes ring road with its constant flow of traffic. At the intersection of these two contrasting realities, the site provides fertile ground for a new vision of urbanity. Alta envisions here a connecting architecture—simple and contemporary—designed to bridge the scale of daily life with that of the broader landscape, while preserving quality of life.

Missillac Market Hall / LAUS architectes

Hadir Al Koshta — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 12:00:00 +0000

In a recently vacated hollow space, the new market hall reweaves the urban fabric. It provides a peaceful breathing space that echoes the church square. By setting back 2 of its boundaries, the hall creates a forecourt facing the main street and opens up an alleyway linking it to the changing heart of the block. By thickening the 2 remaining boundaries, it offers enclosed serviced volumes. Enshrined in a gently sloping site, the hall proposes a significant, non-dominant and timeless presence: a retreat into the city that is open, lively, and welcoming.

The Boiler Room / ALTA

Hana Abdel — Tue, 20 Sep 2022 03:00:00 +0000

The new boiler room at Saint Pern is intended to improve the heating system of the headquarters of the Little Sisters of the Poor and the adjacent EHPAD and will be managed by the congregation. The project is part of an existing site with a strong heritage that is solidly anchored in its location. Its emblematic Breton architecture is hidden behind the site's monumental stone walls. This technical addition is integrated within the existing architectural and historical context and reflects the details and aspects of the older buildings.

Le Safran 50 Housing Units / ALTA

Pilar Caballero — Sun, 27 Feb 2022 17:00:00 +0000

The site of the ZAC Coeur de Poulfanc in Séné presents an exceptional quality of landscape. Its gentle topography (seen to the right of our site) and its woodland framing make it a very characterful site. These elements are highlighted by the architecture and volumetry of the buildings. The design and conception of the project is based on an initial idea postulated as a statement: ‘Above all else, not to work against the existing landscape by enforcing on it a residential model, but to propose a development of the built environment that is in keeping with the natural qualities of the site’.

School Les Moulins / FAUN

Pilar Caballero — Wed, 17 Nov 2021 10:00:00 +0000

Implemented within a rural landscape, the project is expressing an architectural language taking its roots into a territory made of fields, gabled-roof farms, and fencings illustrating easements. Located at the edge of the village center, the school organizes the transition from a built environment to farmlands. It is also the merging point of a future urban project with the main village.

Extension in Burned Wood Shou Sugi Ban / Clément Bacle Architecte

Valeria Silva — Mon, 18 May 2020 01:00:00 +0000

Extension of a single house in burned wood Shou Sugi Ban. Design of three rooms spread over three levels. This extension takes place on an old building cut from the house already by a pedestrian dead end.