Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia AF517

The book Voyage(s), written by Paul Ardenne with Alfonso Femia, was presented yesterday at the Centre Pompidou bookstore in Paris.
A story in words and images in which the editorial layout (edited by Gigi Pescolderlung/Tapiro Design) also contributes to a dimension of contamination between architecture/human adventure/community. Voyage - the journey - speaks of the relationship between places, people and time, of an architecture that seeks - by looking, listening, and speaking - a generous and responsible "beauty" to be shared.
It is a passionate narrative of Alfonso Femia's first 15 years in France, of challenges accepted and overcome, of Mediterraneanity permeating all projects, of rediscovery and innovation of materials.

I dedicate this book to all my fellow travelers, to my partners, Simonetta Cenci, who has been with me since the beginning of this journey, Sara Gottardo, Liloye Chevallereau, Amandine Aubrée, to the Atelier(s)' Advisor Board, to the whole studio insidethewhaleAF517 - said Alfonso Femia.
In this journey, the editors, Luciana Ravanel, and Maurice Culot represented an opportunity for critical reasoning around architecture and the city. With contributions from the critics Paul Ardenne, Jean Philippe Hugron and Jean François Pousse.
Paul Ardenne, architecture critic and co-author, commented: "In his French journey, Alfonso Femia has freed himself from the temporary architecture trends that chased icons and signs, or rejected the context, or invented a "fake" ecology to build a language. I do not know if it is a third way but Alfonso Femia's gentle and profound values and battles affirm qualities such as responsibility and generosity in the constant search for an open dialogue with the project and its main actors. All this confronts an idea of time that is an important project element."
Vincent Parreira, AAVP architecture, noted how Alfonso Femia expresses energy and desire to get the most out of life/croquer la vie through his architecture.
Helene Romano, Nexity general manager, recounted how, in the confrontations shared with Atelier(s) Alfonso Femia, she appreciated the ability to reconcile architectural aspects at the urban scale without neglecting the development of details through research, matter and connections. "In the Urbagreen project, located in Romainville, the narrative grafting of ceramic butterflies on the facade testifies a significant attention to places and art as an enhancement of the project.
In this way, architecture becomes a cultural process that goes beyond the individual urban intervention and confronts the dimension of time."