Are you from Seine-Saint-Denis? Do you know your department well?
I grew up in Les Lilas and have been living in Aubervilliers for two years. I won’t say that I know the department like the back of my hand. I know the part near the crown quite well (Pantin, Romainville, Le Pré-Saint-Gervais, Saint-Denis, Montreuil, Bagnolet, Noisy-le-Sec) but a little less what is at the bottom of the department. This program helped me to get to know the territories better because the buildings filmed in Seine-Saint-Denis were the ones I passed but which, to my taste, I didn’t know enough about. By doing the research, I analyze the territories, understand them in order to be able to explain them.
You are Ambassador of In Seine-Saint-Denis…
It’s a source of pride to be able to show that there are things to see beyond the ring road. Having grown up in Les Lilas, we have a rather special relationship with the capital. I always have this debate with friends who come from further afield, in Seine-et-Marne: “you live in Paris”. “No, I tell them. There is a real difference between living in Les Lilas and living in Paris because you are in Seine-Saint-Denis and you feel like you belong to this territory. We have a relationship outside the capital. It’s a beautiful thing to represent this territory in which we live: Seine-Saint-Denis, which is Greater Paris but which is not Paris.
What is your field of study ?
In Paris, there are 4 schools of architecture. Each brings a different perspective on the profession of the architect, his responsibility or not in society. I graduated in July 2021 from the National School of Architecture of Paris-La Villette. Beyond the fact that it is geographically close to the place where I grew up and where I live today, it carries a commitment to the social role of the architect and this translates into the subjects on which we work. .
Did your years of study lead you to Seine-Saint-Denis?
Yes, I worked in particular on the Crève-Coeur district on the border between Aubervilliers and La Courneuve, where there is the RER B La Courneuve-Aubervilliers. I was in my third year, and the housing project sought to integrate and respect this market gardening neighborhood that had become a worker. There was also a project on the plot of a warehouse located just next to the CND where there are now housing… The 2 architecture firms in which I worked also had projects in Seine-Saint- Dennis. On this occasion, I was able to follow a construction site there.
Do you want to build your house or place of residence in Seine-Saint-Denis?
Building my house is not a dream, nor a goal that I pursue. I come from collective housing and I have an attachment to collective housing and I would even say to the tower. It’s great because the department is full of this type of urban morphology which gives views and whose layouts inside the accommodation are often interesting. I would like to come back to an architecture agency one day and possibly be able to build in the department. For the time being, with Le Nouveau programme, I am heading towards an application of my architectural diploma which is different from that of project management.
With the New Program, are you inventing your own profession?
I would like to tell the genesis of this project: how I came to do this. Already, I had an attraction for the video and the realization since the college. When I went on Erasmus, 4 years ago, to Sao Paulo. I had this idea of making small, dynamic, quick videos that allow us to discover buildings in detail in a didactic way. With plans, the model, the section, in an understandable way.
What has your show on Youtube enabled you to do?
In April, I took part in the startup festival, a device of the town hall of Paris which supports artistic and cultural projects. As part of this festival, I was able with the New Program to organize an exhibition, two guided tours – the CND and the city of Pierre-Sémard – and a preview screening of my new video which is on the museum of art of Sao Paulo precisely.
What did you discover in Sao Paulo, a bit of Seine-Saint-Denis?
I discovered lots of modern, recent architecture. This Erasmus experience opened my eyes to my department because Sao Polo is a city that largely developed between the 50s and 70s… over there, this architecture is erected as a monument while it looks like where I I grew up, a city with towers, in Lilas, in the 93. I discovered that the buildings in Seine Saint Denis which had a bad image could be monuments when you looked at them differently. Concrete is not ugly and it is not bad. It’s a great material with which you can do wonderful things as long as you take care of them well and look at them with kind eyes.
Do you still feel like an architect? or youtuber?
I still feel like an architect. And I would not be the only one in this case to be trained in architecture and to apply my diploma in other activities. There are plenty of people who do publishing, reviews, design, exhibitions. Me, I make videos, but I’m an architect, I have an architect’s perspective. And it is not impossible for me to become a master builder again. This new job, youtubeur, is starting to take shape officially. I don’t really like this name because YouTube is more a means for me than an end. I’m not trying to be a famous youtuber. I invent my profession. It’s quite nice to do it but it’s still a lot of work since it’s a fusion of directors producer editor editor technician all at the same time.
Do you make a living from this new job?
Hardly. Now that I have managed to gain subscribers, I need to find a producer, sponsors or a business model that allows me to continue in the long term.
On your shopping list, what are your next Seine-Saint-Denis subjects?
The next episode will be on the Parc de la Villette. It’s not Seine-Saint-Denis but we are a bit at the interface. We imagine next year a season oriented around the Olympic Games to anchor us in the news. Probably an episode in Saint-Denis. Very probably an episode at the Porte des Lilas since the swimming pool is a legacy of the 1924 Olympic Games. , Oscar Niemeyer who built 2 buildings in the 93: one in Bobigny and one in Saint-Denis in the district of the basilica, the cathedral of Raincy built by Perret all in concrete, the conservatory of Montreuil… The department is full of marvelous examples of architecture.
There is also a movement of students in architecture on their study conditions. Former students of your school have been received at the Élysée to get things moving, do you support them?
Personally, obviously I support this fight. This struggle is old. It existed from the beginning of my studies, in 2015. The school of architecture of La Villette is still in temporary premises, since 1969. We do DIY there to keep it as it is. There is a lack of teaching resources. We have TER teachers who are not paid or who take months to get paid. It is a long-standing mobilization and I am happy that it is taking on this magnitude.
Did you lead this fight when you were a student yourself?
In 2020, just before COVID, there was the same demonstration in front of the Ministry of Culture. We had thrown models and all that into it, but it hadn’t been followed up so I hope it will be followed up because architecture concerns us all, it’s everywhere around us. People want good cities, good architecture. I find it a pity that we can train architects in such poor conditions. The state is responsible. It also testifies to the state of the profession. Architect is a rather prestigious profession which requires six years of studies as to the exit of the diploma the architects are badly paid. Compared to other bac +5 courses, we are really poorly paid. There are often working hours that go beyond the legal framework.
And the architect must respond to tenders to be able to build without being paid for this work…
The sponsor cannot pay the 200 people who respond to the tender dossier. But it is a real subject. For the same number of years of study, it is as if we were telling doctors that they would continue to do consultations but that they would only be paid when they found an illness.
Despite everything, the profession of architect is respected. No ?
In the world of construction, the architect is today limited in his potentialities of action. Now, and that’s very good, we have programmers. A whole host of ancillary professions frame a lot, upstream and downstream, the work of architects by producing reports. This sometimes prevents reflection. For example, the ANRU (the national agency for urban renewal) demolishes a lot, often on political decisions but without having first really opened the question to the architects. The architects Lacaton and Vassal who received the Pritzker Prize last year (ed. equivalent to the Nobel Prize in architecture) defend that we stop demolishing buildings. These architects are struggling to make themselves heard. However, their demands are both ecological and common sense. Rehabilitating a building makes it possible to keep social housing and generate less nuisance.
Find out more with The New Program!
Photo credit: Jeremy Piot
#Mohamed #Gholam #Archividéaste
