About us

“In architecture one is confronted with problems for which one must find solutions. The best architecture is the clearest and most direct solution to the problem.”

Mies van der Rohe

 

In the face of environmental crisis and globalization architecture is becoming indispensable as an instrument to reconcile man with his (cultural, social and environmental) milieu, by either re-investing in this milieu to mitigate the structural deficiencies and/or by fostering its recovery. Taking this view, architecture is an ongoing experiment that constantly adjusts to contextual needs, implementing the new strategic and innovative interventions necessary to improve on man’s milieu; a process that redefines architecture.

This approach provokes architecture to become a threshold over which or, a ‘channel’ through which to renegotiate the relation between man and nature and a ‘focal point’ for reducing the imbalance between extremes (social and environmental). Architecture becomes second nature, man’s link between human nature, environment and society guaranteeing equilibrium and integrity even in the midst of the crises that transformed them.

Teherefore what drives our specific approach to designing projects are some of the unanswered questions being posed in their environment. These questions force us to better understand our hopes and the need for change, both which must guarantee progress and emancipation. Each project aims to contribute to defining this hope and to avoiding potential constraints by answering them.

The process creates architecture which is built on concepts that are based on the beneficial effects they will have on the built environment. Instead of being part of a problem it represents a part of a solution.

For the critic Joan Ockman the Collective work “ takes on the contradictions of today without being so naïve as to try to surmount them, and without being so cynical as to merely parody them. The work acknowledges that we are what we consume, and it takes responsibility for this.  …The name for such an approach to architecture is radical realism. Philippe Barrière is its magician and surgeon.” – 30 Nov 2010 – Repositioning and the Relation Between Man and Nature.

Challenging both theory and practice, the Collective has developed a forward-thinking expertise addressing suburbanization (i.e. ParkUrbia), the Interstate Highway System (i.e. Infrastructure Architecture), social and humanitarian issues such as homelessness, refugee camps and health crises. More recently it has developed the concept of Hybrid Architecture (i.e High-Low Tech) in the Maghreb.

The Collective integrates highly competent specialists and manufacturers early in the design process to develop simple, efficient, practical and highly sophisticated cutting edge solutions.  It has developed a long time working relation with the renown engineering and fabrication company like A. Zahner co. and called out aerospace technology manufacture specialists (Beechcraft, Cessna, Boeing) for innovative technical solutions.

State president advisers, international institutions (UNWRA, CTC.. etc), private foundations ,  NGO, local communities, social entrepreners and private and corporate clients have trusted the collective to provide them with unique solutions ( see projects list below).

The work of the Collective has been widely exhibited and published worldwide in magazines and websites and exhibitions (see publication and exhibition list below).
– In 1990 Philippe Barriere started a design studio in New York City (Philippe Barriere Studio), where he got his firsts commissions among them the live Music Restaurant
– In 1996 the Studio move to various locations in North America to become Philippe Barriere Collective (PB+Co).
The Collective has always benefited from the academic research Philippe Barriere developed in various Universities (see biography).
– In 2015  the Collective started officially a new branch with a registration in Tunis with Adnen Ben Tanfous as An Associate Partner, where it was already working since 2012.
– In 2017 Philippe Barrière Collective Tn (PB+Co) (in process)
The Collective has worked on projects in the USA as well as France, Dubai, Palestinian Territories (West Bank), Kenya, Haiti, England, Canada, Crete, Marocco and Tunisia.

The truly beautiful projects are singular augmentations of the landscape, as found and as built. Each adds not simply an architectural supplement but some social enlargement that changes our view of place. Philippe Barriere strides with gentle, elegant, resolution across the field of life, punctuating the environment with moments of brilliant and mysterious precision.
– Michael Sorkin, Architect, Contributing Editor for Architectural Record, I.D., and Metropolis.

This lack of idealism is a symptom of the historical disenchantment with modern architecture’s grand utopian ambitions, almost universally acknowledged by the 1960s as a delusion.
The work presented in this book is visionary, in particular by seeming as if based in reality, and vice versa. It takes on the contradictions of today without being so naïve as to try to surmount them, and without being so cynical as to merely parody them. The work acknowledges that we are what we consume, and it takes responsibility for this. A given: a hardscape of asphalt parking lots, antediluvian industrial buildings, space-devouring superhighways. What now? A given: inhospitable swamplands, poisonous brownfields. A given: people displaced from their homes, uprooted, with no shelter. What now?
These are terrifying problems, truly haunting problems that will not disappear, even with all the digital prestidigitation in the world. These problems crave resolutions that show intense imagination and allow for delicate healing. The name for such an approach to architecture is radical realism. Philippe Barrière is its magician and surgeon.
– Joan Ockman, historian, critic, educator, former director of the Buell Center for the Study of ‘radical’  American  Architecture at Columbia University.

The architecture of Philippe Barriere magically attaches itself to the commonplace: confronting, enlarging and transforming our understanding of the world and ultimately ourselves.
– William Menking, Executive editor, the Architects’ Newspaper.

His intellectual and theoretical solutions meet urgent social and human needs and his designs are highly unique and transformational. Philippe has one of the most brilliant intellectual minds I have ever encountered …. . He considers architecture a tool for social, cultural and environmental change. In-depth research and a profound thought process are at the basis of all his work. This results in an exceptional intellectual content and underpins his outstanding accomplishments in architecture.
– Peter Pran, Design Partner, FAIA, MNAL at Peter Pran + H Architects LLC.

The projects are lead and brought to a successful conclusion with rigor, precision and intelligence, from the analysis of the conditions of the subject up to the detailed resolution of the project and the elaboration of its graphic representation and aesthetic. This process is impressive.
– Odile Decq, Studio Odile Decq, Former Director École Spéciale d’Architecture de Paris.