Joints: What are the architects talking about in France?

Abstract

The theme of this issue, "The unknowns", could not be better suited to the current state of the French architectural scene, which is full of mobilisations aimed precisely at identifying the challenges of the future and the strategies to be implemented to overcome them.

This agitation touches on all fronts, starting with the most basic, that of training, which has been seriously affected by the latest reforms of academic structures. The Schools of Architecture are a strategic place from which to orchestrate a series of debates related to the prevailing environmental urgency, to the recognition of academic research and to the improvement of living conditions, not only in the big cities, but also in the peri-urban nuclei of a highly centralised country.

The twenty or so existing public schools have become aware of the need to renew the subjects taught, the teaching methods, the means of production and the role of the architect in order to respond to these questions.