* extract from the book «AJAP 2009/2010», ed. ARCHIBOOKS

Refusing “to produce or reproduce a neutral architecture”, Alice Vaillant, Guillaume Grenu and Nicolas Le Meur today constitute Olgga, a variable-geometry structure created in 2006 with Olivier Laurent, who has since left this venture. After a year’s activity with just two partners, Nicolas Le Meur arrived in 2008 to recreate a trio, forming an outlier of Olgga in Lille.
Anxious to test themselves with the reality of their trade, which they consider “a full-time commitment, the trade of a craftsman who is constantly evolving and employing high-tech tools”, they did not lose much time before leaving the salaried world. (...)
Strong architectural forms, simple and more studied volumes, no preferred materials; their projects do not fear breaking bounds.

Whether a wooden folly or a programme for 100 lodgings for students, the motivation is the same.
“We make no difference between design, architecture and town planning. There is no minor architecture.” Their three-person involvement implies a certain organisation to which they respond by separating roles on the basis of each person’s affinities: administrative work and programmatic analysis for Alice, the genesis of projects and studio image for Guillaume, study of the buildability of the projects and site management for Nicolas. However, there is no question of being assigned a task. “We work together. The personality of each of us linked to an optimal organisation enables us to tackle the development of a project without perpetually calling everything into question.”

This is how Olgga works, for which a project is above all a matter of placing a strong idea at the service of a site. In future, the trio, Normans by birth, expect a little more boldness from the contracting authorities in order to increase the chances of realising one of their first objectives: “re-establishing architecture where it is neglected and rendering it accessible to as many people as possible.”

Maryse QUINTON
Curator of AJAP exhibition 2009/2010_CAPA

OLGGA won the AJAP Prize, given to young architects and landscape designers by the french ministry of culture and communication.

OLGGA WEBBOOK V2 (in construction)

PRINCIPAL ARCHITECTS : Alice VAILLANT, Guillaume GRENU, Nicolas Le MEUR

EMPLOYEES since 2006 : Aymeric ANTOINE, Stéphane CARNUCCINI, Vincent CAUQUIL, Caroline De La GIRODAY, Olivier GUYOT, Pauline HUSSON, Alexandre LARCHER, Vincent LAUREAU, Olivier LAURENT, Valentine MICHELIER, Carmela VICCARO, Rosaria VICCARO