APLIX - Dominique Perrault

Présentation de l'éditeur :

Dominique Perrault likes big buildings and yet he also knows how to disguise their size in relationship to their urban or rural setting. Take, for instance, the French National Library in Paris, which conceals its real size by virtue of being placed on an artificial rise. Something similar applies at the APLIX factory in Nantes. Its unusual length might startle the viewer: but the architect has covered the façade with gleaming steel plates, creating a finely woven reflective surface which allows the building to settle harmoniously into the landscape of the Loire Valley. The high-tech exterior and rigorous construction echo the interior with its state-of-the-art production of specialized textiles. The atmospheric photo-essay by André Morin presents a portrait of the APLIX building with its shimmering casing and its interior determined by function and technology – at all times maintaining a balance between his own subjective per-ception as a photographer and the architectural object before him. Texts by the client, the architect and the photographer, as well as plans, elucidate the details and the context.