elsewhere starts here, PEROU Grigny

An Agrafmobile project for PEROU, an association for the “exploration of urban resources” that specialises in housing and employment projects for extremely vulnerable groups. For this initiative, we helped establish living quarters for Rom populations in the Essonne region, south of Paris. After their shantytown was destroyed, the Roma were confined to a no man’s (or nomads’) land, an abandoned carpark that was far from the city but did have one advantage: a programme to help residents find employment. PEROU issued a challenge to architects, landscape architects and designers: make this wasteland habitable. Using an economy of means, Agrafmobile designed and installed a series of geodetic “You are here” points spread across the asphalt of the former carpark. These black-and-white ‘suns’ plot a new landscape, together with the ‘chapel’ built by Sixième Continent to serve as a common area, proclaiming that “Elsewhere starts here” to those arriving at the site.