Master Class – "The Heritage of the Infra-Ordinary" by Lucas Monsaingeon
Post-industrial lessons from the Nord Pas-de-Calais mining basin
- School life
Wednesday, April 29, 2026, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. – Jean Duminy Lecture Hall.
What lessons can be learned from everyday architecture, and how can we reconsider existing structures and their surroundings as a resource for projects? How can we turn the ordinary into the extraordinary? This reflective and forward-looking approach invites us to consider the architecture that surrounds us as a whole, rather than solely through the prism of monuments or exceptional buildings.
This new paradigm of memory, architecture, and urban planning will be illustrated using the example of the mining basin of Nord and Pas-de-Calais, where monumental slag heaps contrast with the mundane workers' houses. In a state of profound upheaval since the closure of the mines, the experience of this site, listed by UNESCO in 2012, invites us to rethink the conservation and heritage status of a living, inhabited space comprising 27,000 miners' homes.
Viewing link HERE
As part of the Exploratory Project Workshop - S06 semester / Referring teacher : Valéry Didelon
Image © Cité du Nouveau Monde in Bruay-La-Buissière – Philippe Frutier/Altimage.