On Thursday, May 21, 2026, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Les Ateliers du Parc, the ATE Laboratory will host Colombian architect and researcher Jaime Sarmiento for a lecture.

Jaime Sarmiento is an architect and professor at the National University of Colombia (Medellín campus). He will deliver a lecture titled “Medellín: A Model of Urban and Social Transformation,” which will examine the physical and social transformations the city has undergone as a result of innovative urban and social policies. Starting with a presentation on Medellín’s evolution, the discussion will explore whether this unique experience can serve as a model in the pursuit of architectural quality and urban planning that contributes to societal transformation.

Jaime Sarmiento’s visit to our school is part of a study tour of Europe, which includes postdoctoral research at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB), where he defended his doctoral dissertation, followed by trips to Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and the Netherlands.

More information about the conference HERE

Image: Versalles Integrated Living Unit (UVA)_Medellín Public Utilities

On Thursday, May 28, and Friday, May 29, 2026, at the École nationale supérieure d’architecture de Normandie, the ATE Laboratory is hosting a conference titled “Architecture and the Commons: Spaces and Practices” – Jean-Duminy Auditorium.

The symposium “Architecture and the Commons: Spaces and Practices” is dedicated to the commons in the fields of architecture and urban planning, at the intersection of activist practices, spatial experiments, and theoretical explorations.

By bringing together perspectives from research and practice, these meetings aim to explore the ways in which the commons are reshaping the fabric of the city, drawing on a variety of approaches that combine field research, critical analysis, and feedback from practical experience. They will explore the commons as forms of struggle and of inhabiting, as potential levers for reinvention within public institutions, and as legacies and horizons for an architecture attentive to practices, living environments, and collective dynamics.

The symposium “Architecture and the Commons: Spaces and Practices” is organized by the ATE laboratory.
Organizing Committee and Scientific Coordination: Alexis Desplats, Miléna Koutani, and Léna Tullifer.
Scientific Committee: Valentin Bourdon, Julien Choppin, Alexis Desplats, Daniela Festa, Léa Hobson, Miléna Koutani, Bruno Proth, Frédéric Walle

The session will be streamed live HERE

Download the program HERE

Image: Children building a ZAD during the Festival des Bâtons dans les routes, 2023 © Miléna Koutani

Monday, June 8, 2026, from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., atENSA Normandie Jean-Duminy Lecture Hall (and via video conference).

The ATE Laboratory is hosting the 15th edition of its “Culture of Research” seminar. This edition will trace the scientific and pedagogical career of its founder, Caroline Maniaque, on the occasion of her retirement. Her former and current doctoral students, as well as her colleagues, will gather to share their experiences with her research and teaching, thereby highlighting her contributions in these fields. These presentations will conclude with a public interview with Caroline Maniaque.

PROGRAM HERE

The session will be streamed live HERE

This 15th edition of the “Research Culture” seminar is organized by Gabriel Bernard Guelle, a doctoral student at ATE, ENSA Normandie, Tricia Meehan, lecturer in Urban and Regional Planning, ATE, ENSA Normandie Estelle Thibault, HDR, professor of Architectural History and Culture, IPRAUS, ENSA Paris-Belleville

Image: Caroline Maniaque, photo © Tim Benton

Thursday, May 21, 2026, from3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. – Les Ateliers du Parc atENSA Normandie –

This session of theENSA Normandie doctoral seminarENSA Normandie a discussion of Christel Marchiaro’s experimental research on the manual and cognitive operations involved in the architectural design process. Through re-models made of selected materials, she has re-imagined several canonical projects and shed light on the logic followed by architects as diverse as Michelangelo, Le Corbusier, and Rem Koolhaas.

Speaker: Christel Marchiaro, architect, professor, and researcher at ENSA Marseille

Discussant: Lucie Dehame, Ph.D. candidate atENSA Normandie, ATE Laboratory, Doctoral School 556 HSRT.

*Venue to be announced shortly

Image © Research on and through architecture

Through April 30, 2026.

The journal Transversale, History: Architecture, Landscape, Urban is issuing a call for papers for its 10th issue on the theme “From Invention to Experience: What Does It Mean to Experiment?”
This issue is coordinated by Marie Gaimard (ATE, ENSA Normandie), Gilles-Antoine Langlois, and Léonore Losserand (EVCAU, ENSA Paris-Val-de-Seine).

This call for papers invites reflections on experimentation in the spatial arts (architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture). Here are some suggested areas for consideration:

– Invention and Experimentation: A Critical History;
– Historiography of Experimental Sites;
– Experimentation and the Avant-Garde: Successes and Failures;
– Experimentation and Constructive Traditions.

Articles must be submitted by April 30, 2026.
More information on thecall for papers and the editorial guidelines.

Since issue No. 9, the interdisciplinary journal has been published by ENSA Paris-Val-de-Seine/EVCAU andENSA Normandie.

Image:Detail of the cover of Peter Cook, *Experimental Architecture*, London: Studio Vista, 1970

On Friday, March 13, 2026, at the University of Caen, the doctoral school 556 Homme, Sociétés, Risques, Territoire (People, Societies, Risks, Territory ) is organizing the fifth edition of its doctoral conference on the theme of "Vulnerabilities." The purpose of this day is to offer young researchers in the humanities and social sciences an opportunity to present and share their work.

On this occasion, Lucie Dehame, a doctoral student at the ATE laboratory, will present the progress of her research in a presentation entitled "The vulnerability of timber-framed buildings to climate change."

Find out more about the program HERE.

visual: poster for ED 556 Day

The ATE laboratory is pleased to announce the publication, by Terre en vue, of the book Aldo Coutine. Voyage en architecture. This publication is the result of original research conducted by Sébastien Cherruet, a lecturer and researcher at the ATE laboratory.

The publication of this work was made possible by contributions from the Ministry of Culture and the ATE laboratory.

Summary of the book

A graduate of the Tucuman School of Architecture (Argentina), Aldo Coutine worked mainly in France from 1965 until the 2020s, completing a wide variety of projects: modernist towers during the Trente Glorieuses, urban developments and bioclimatic projects after the oil crises, and exceptional commissions such as the Le Mans courthouse. Beyond these singular achievements, Aldo Coutine's work offers a remarkable cross-section of 20th-century architectural history, marked by significant economic changes and a profound renewal of doctrines.

More information on the publisher's website

visual: cover of the book AldoCoutine. Voyage en architecture © Terre en vue publishing, 2025.

Thursday, March 26, 2026, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., at theENSA Normandie Documentary Center, the editorial committee of the journal transversale, histoire: architecture, paysage, urbain will present the ninth and latest issue, published in December 2025, on the theme of Journeys, Interweaving, Hybridization: A Global History of Architecture and Urbanism.

This issue is coordinated by Léonore Dubois-Losserand, researcher at EVCAU (ENSA Paris-Val-de-Seine), Marie Gaimard, researcher at ATE, and Gilles-Antoine Langlois, researcher at EVCAU (ENSA Paris-Val-de-Seine).

For the first time, the cross-disciplinaryreview isco-produced in partnership with ENSA Paris-Val-de-Seine,ENSA Normandie, the EVCAU laboratory, and the ATE laboratory.

More information about the journal HERE.

The event will be accompanied by a gourmet coffee break.

Come to the reading room at the Documentation Center!

visual: cover of issue no. 9 of the Transversale magazine , 2025 – © Fondation Le Corbusier

On March 17 and 18, 2026, Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University and ENSA Paris-La Villette are organizing an international symposium entitled "The Legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright in France: Transmissions, Appropriations, Hybridizations."

On this occasion, on March 18, Caroline Maniaque, distinguished researcher at the ATE laboratory, will give a lecture entitled "Sticking out your tongue at the Guggenheim. The Wrightian journey of French architects, a founding act of rebellion (1959-1970)."

Find out more about the program HERE.

photo: visual (detail) from the symposium "The Legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright in France, 2026"

On February 11, 12, and 13, 2026, ENSA Versailles and ENSA Paris-La Villette are organizing a study day entitled "Project practices and citizen mobilization: Living, protesting, experimenting."

On this occasion, Miléna Koutani, associate researcher at the ATE laboratory, will speak at the February 12 session entitled "Planned Violence and Tactics of Resistance." Her presentation is entitled "Inhabiting, Fighting, and Instituting: The Emergence of the Common in the Production of Space."

Find out more about the program HERE.

visual: collage (detail) created by the organizing committee from a collection of graffiti from controversial urban projects, 2026 © Study days "Project practices and citizen mobilization. Living, protesting, experimenting"