research project, 2023 – 2027
research abstract
The growing scarcity of fossil resources and the global threat of climate change are
putting considerable pressure on architecture, demanding new concepts that go be-
yond the range of established building materials, systems and processes.
Additionally, advanced algorithmic tools in architectural design and fabrication, such
as simulation, machine learning and machine vision, allow designers to cope with
complex materials and geometry, and enable the use of non-standard, transformable
building parts with a complex geometry.
The proposal integrates these separate approaches emerging in architectural dis-
course and related fields into a methodology for understanding the architectural po-
tential of vulcanized fiber and developing a prototypical building method [system].
Vulcanized fiber is a little known, industrial, cellulose-based product, produced in
sheets. Besides a good ecological balance, this material is durable, strong, and light-
weight, offering significant potential for architectural application. Of special interest
is the material’s natural deformation as a result of the drying process. It not only pro-
duces a distinct, natural form aesthetics, but also a potentially improved structural
performance as well as an ambiguous functionality and spatial quality. In this context
it is essential to study the levels of control between form definition and a self-forming
process.
The current proposal builds on developments in paper-based construction and aims
at investigating the aesthetic, functional, spatial, and constructive potential of vulca-
nized fiber, used as building components in architecture. Understanding the distinct
characteristics of parts and the emerging implications for potential correlations is the
basis for a bottom-up method of designing spatial structures. Hereby, natural-phys-
ical phenomena are combined with a hybrid working method of digital and analog
techniques – to formulate a contemporary articulation of sustainable architecture.
By following the dynamic principles of the distinct material to conceptualize archi-
tectural environments this research aims at activating a new resource in architecture
and expanding the aesthetic, functional and spatial norms of a sustainable building
culture.
keynote and exhibition opening
December 3, 2025, 6 pm
Ortner & Stanger
Project Research Space
Fürstenweg 66, im Hof
Innsbruck
Marc Leschelier is a French architect based in Paris. He builds architectures without function, entitled pre-architecture, in open spaces, sculpture parks, or any situation exempt from urban regulations. While inventing an architectural genre through the development of alternative constructive systems, Leschelier responds to the sclerosis of the architectural discipline by creating an immediate, naked, speaking architecture. Drawing inspiration from performance art, vernacular architecture and industrial abstraction, Leschelier’s pre-architecture is an attempt to break with the logic of the discipline and through its immediacy, to resynchronize with the speed of the present.
Marc Leschelier was a fellow at the Villa Medici in 2017–2018 and a resident at Casa Wabi in 2025. His work has been awarded by Herzog and De Meuron with the redistribution of their prize at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris this year. He will be a workshop leader next year at Porto Academy. In March 2025, he opened a solo show in Paris in dialogue with historic pieces by Jean Prouvé on loan from a private collector. He has exhibited his work at Christophe Gaillard Gallery, Mascota Gallery, Spazio Maiocchi or Dover Street Market. He has participated in international fairs such as Design Miami Paris, Salone del Mobile and Art Brussels. Over the past six years, he has built ten permanent and ephemeral pavilions.
