Jean-Michel Wilmotte and his Humanistic Architecture

World-famous French architect and urbanist Jean-Michel Wilmotte has been designing, constructing and renovating stunning buildings for various purposes throughout the world including Russia for 45 years. He often visits our country, but it is not easy to interview him due to his extremely busy schedule. Nevertheless, the master and his right hand Borina Andrieu took the time to talk to the Green Buildings correspondent about current architecture trends, innovative design solutions and the right choice of materials. 

Managing Director of Wilmotte & Associes Borina Andrieu is engaged in business development strategy and public relations. Her high professional competencies, excellent knowledge of legal and financial issues allow her to actively interact with private and public clients both in France and other countries of the world. As a result, the creative ideas of architects are successfully implemented.

Mr. Wilmotte, we know that when you start working on a project, you are very mindful of the materials used. Which of them do you prefer and why? 

We work with a variety of materials. It all depends on the project and its location, but as for the main trend, today a lot of buildings are built of wood. The structural base is made of wood rather than concrete, and it is faced with stone or tile on the outside. Wood is an environmentally friendly material with parts manufactured industrially, and then quickly mounted directly on the site. This significantly reduces the time of project implementation. 

Today, wooden construction is very popular in France, but every time you need to remember that it is linked with other factors. For instance, if you bring wood from far away, it will not be completely environmentally friendly, since exhaust gases pollute the air during transportation. But, of course, the most important thing is to embed an object in an existing context taking into account its purpose.

 Interviewed by Elena Golubeva
Illustrations provided by Wilmotte & Associés

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