2001
UK Award Part 1
On The Make
Paul la Tourelle’s project proposes a bridge and lodge in the Swiss Alps.
Paul la Tourelle
Architectural Association
School of Architecture
Steel bridge with foundations. © Paul la Tourelle.
Jury
David Morley
Michel Mossessian
Larry Oltmanns
By making and unmaking, by constructing a series of tools and then dismantling them, a conceptual path and body of work were formed that enabled the approach to the bridge and lodge proposal in the Swiss Alps.
The process began with a bodysuit, an object that framed all later tools. The physical activity of making and unmaking was the generating force in the search for tactile qualities.
The bridge, a steel surface, extends from two tunnels and unfolds on two scales over the valley, forming a structure that spans one hundred meters. The tunnels and foundation for the bridge accommodate the lodge in the mass of the mountains. In terms of materiality, placement, and experience, the bridge and the lodge were developed in a process of dialectic relationships.
The bridge, a structure and building, demanded an investigation of the relationship between architecture and engineering. Folding, stitching, and their antitheses were the physical mechanisms and conceptual tools used in a dependent sequence to develop an approach to structure and surface. The project pursued structural necessity and architectonic articulation as a single path.
Unfolding stitched plywood surface 1. © Paul la Tourelle.
Unfolding stitched plywood surface 2. © Paul la Tourelle.
Unfolding surface in the valley. © Paul la Tourelle.
Steel surface bridge detail. © Paul la Tourelle.
Elevation of bridge, section through tunnels, and lodge. © Paul la Tourelle.
Paul la Tourelle
Architectural Association
School of Architecture
Paul la Tourelle
is originally from London. After winning the SOM Foundation fellowship in 2001, he went on to work at the SOM London office for a year before continuing his studies at the Architectural Association (AA) School of Architecture in London. His time at the SOM London office included work on the winning entry for the NATO Headquarters building, which was completed in 2017. After completing his Diploma at the AA in 2004, la Tourelle went on to work at Adjaye Associates in London and Snøhetta in New York and Oslo before moving to Bergen on the west coast of Norway where he started at Vill Arkitektur, an interdisciplinary collective with a focus on sustainability, in 2020. La Tourelle has developed projects with a focus on interdisciplinary processes and sustainable solutions. This focus results in an open and inclusive form of architecture and planning where public space and landscape are combined with material use, the circular economy, and biodiversity to deliver design that challenges traditional models.