Le Parking Bois Le Pretre exhibition by Anonyme

A site-specific exhibition at the Galerie ArchiLib in Paris tells the story of the genesis and details of the project for an underground car park by architecture firm Anonyme. A tangible example of how attentive, creative design can redeem so-called urban no-man's lands.


In 2017 , the Paris-based architecture firm, Anonyme directed by Noureddine Souilah-Edib and Jean Frizzi designed an underground car park for Paris Habitat that challenges prejudices and stereotypes associated with this kind of infrastructure. Because in many cases, parking your car in an underground car park is anything but a pleasant experience. These are unfriendly environments, often poorly lit and considered to be unsafe.
The client needed to provide enough parking for the new residential building and Anonyme responded to the brief with a spirally rotating design solution, where the cars are parked in a radial position and there are no hidden or dark zones. In addition to continuous lighting, the architects also added pops of colour on the walls and floors, in turn matching fun signage. This all makes looking for your car in the middle of others so much easier because you can find your way with these visual points of reference and the space is perceived as being more playful, which gives it a positive feel: parking your car, at least in this car park, is no longer a potentially traumatic experience.
This experience of making over a classic no-man's land in our cities has been re-proposed by Anonyme with a site-specific exhibition at the Galerie ArchiLib, a bookshop in Paris that specialises in urban planning, landscape design and architecture. Here the architects have used photographs and their model of the Boi Le Pretre car park to set up a narrative of their project. Still, this kind of documentation wouldn't be enough to get across the relaxed, reassuring feeling that comes from the splashes of colour that enliven the garage and make it so unique. 
So Noureddine Souilah-Edib and Jean Frizzi used large stickers or rugs that they have artfully positioned on the floor, on the walls, even on the windows and outside this gallery bookshop to recreate those pops of colour. These pops of colour give passers-by an idea of the power of this expedient without even visiting the exhibition. It showcases their use of colour as a real place-making strategy that actually paints a picture of the location. Inside the bookshop, the colour red highlights the images exhibited and confirms the charming impression of this solution, which is as simple as it is effective at improving our everyday life in the city.
The exhibition titled Le Parking Bois Le Pretre by Anonyme at the ArchiLib gallery-bookshop will be running until 28 April 2019.

Christiane Bürklein

Project: Anonyme - http://www.architecture-anonyme.com/
Commissioner: Paris Habitat
Location: Paris, France
Year: 2017
Exhibition images: Daniel Rousselot
Le Parking Bois Le Pretre exhibition
at ArchiLib, 49, boulevard de la Villette, 75010 Paris
28 March to 28 April 2019
Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday, from 1 pm to 7 pm