My friends Marion Pinet and Pierre Pollet founded their architecture practice at home in Larnagol, in the Lot region, deep in the southwest of France. Specializing in rural architecture and folk art, they approach their work with elegance, determination, and intellectual depth. Together, we have created the association La Matière des Villages, which aims to treat vernacular heritage as a resource for the future.
Surely you’ll agree that theory should always remain grounded in experience. Yet the world of contemporary architecture too often behaves like a doctrinaire stronghold; steeped in sterile self-referentiality, marked by the kind of disdain that comes with the bourgeois prestige of the profession, and leaving neophytes in the lurch.
This is precisely what Marion and Pierre reject. They’ve chosen to practice architecture on the ground, in direct contact with raw materials, workers’ gestures, and the craft of artisans whose work they take serious pleasure in dealing with. Better still, they’ve made the philosopher Alain’s phrase their own:
The idea of experience is no substitute for experience itself.”
They live in a house they designed and restored themselves. How many architects can truly say the same?
Marion and Pierre’s relationship to the built environment is thoughtful, sensitive, and humble. And I’m truly glad they took the time to answer these few unnecessary questions.
A natural region in France worth visiting for its vernacular architecture?
There are so many! Quercy, where we live, is a beautifully preserved natural area. If I had to pick another, I’d say the Bornes Massif in the Alps — the alpine farmhouses there are extraordinary.
A scandalous project that makes you want to flee France?
The French Fashion Institute in Paris! Already outdated the day it opened…
A historic building that’s a must-see?
The Cistercian abbey of Le Thoronet, where everything is about stonework. And while you're at it, read The Savage Stones by Fernand Pouillon — France’s most romantic architect.
A film that makes you want to dive into contemporary architecture?
The Tree, the Mayor and the Mediatheque by Éric Rohmer. It says it all.
A town worth discovering for the quality of its architecture?
Aubrac — a town that’s a monument in itself.
A stonework pattern you’re obsessed with?
The masonry of Château de la Roze, in Escamps. There’s an unexplained “Cistercian” pattern in the village, crafted by an anonymous stonemason…
A ruin that makes you want to drop everything and start over?
A barn at the foot of the Puy Mary mountain.
Your favorite word in the building and architecture vocabulary?
Coussiège — a bench built into a window recess.
A word too often misused in construction vocabulary?
In the collective imagination, the word parpaing calls to mind concrete blocks or shoddy construction. But in fact, it just means “block,” a universal building method. You can have earthen blocks, hemp blocks, stone blocks... That one clarification alone opens up new perspectives.
If you had to tour France in architectural details — a cornice, a window frame, a gutter — where would you start?
With rooftop finials (named épis de faîtage in French)! They offer a delicate map of natural regions, from north to south — and sometimes a glimpse into the soul of the people who live there.
Introducing Contributor, Victor Coutard
Immerse yourself in all of Victor’s articles on his Contributor page.
I live near Aubrac and never tire of it. Summer or winter, whether we're in a hurry or not, we always stop and walk around it, even though it's tiny and we've done it scores of times. There's something grounding about the stone, and the village gives off such a timeless atmosphere.