La Vrillette is the laureate project in 2018 of a contest that take place in the ENSA Paris-La-Villette, the biggest architecture school in Paris. Organized within the course named “Tectonical Sculpture” by Marc LEYRAL and Frédéric MARTINET, the contest promotes a reflection about the use of short sized timber section elements to create full scale experimental structures.

This year, the project of Damien FREGEFOND and Clément BERTHOU has been constructed on an exceptional site, the rooftop of the City of Fashion and Design of Paris. Originally designed to be constructed inside the architecture school of Paris-La Villette, this structure had the privilege to be constructed on one of the finest places of design in Paris.

This new kind of exposure allowed student to experiment another dimension of the architectural work processes: the coordination and organisation of a construction in an exceptional site.

The project is constructed with steam bended wood. This constructive technic has required the design and the manufacture of specific tools; a steam hoven and a bending machine that allows to produce an infinity of different curves. Its architecture is inspired by structural elements of the gardens of the renaissance period, the vegetalized wood lattice. This pattern crates a generous organic volume directed towards the sky.