Arc en rêve Hosts Dual Exhibitions of Xaveer de Geyter and EMBT

From May to September 2006, the Arc en rêve centre in Bordeaux presented monographic exhibitions of two inventive architects: Xaveer de Geyter (Brussels) and EMBT (Barcelona). Despite cultural and geographical differences, their works invited comparison. In separate rooms, the projects shared common approaches to context and collective redefinition, though their formal languages differed—radical for de Geyter, organic for EMBT. De Geyter, a former OMA collaborator for ten years, showcased housing projects with sober displays on irregular checkerboard panels and central models. In Bordeaux, he realized 410 housing units and shops with a private developer, using rationalized structure and negotiation to achieve large loggias and eight-story heights for green spaces. The EMBT section featured a serpentine wall with photographic reports and study models on tables. Their projects, like the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh (1998-2004), maintained the idea of democratic power without monumental debate chambers, organizing functions fluidly. Both architects emphasized hyperrealistic context analysis and collective redefinition. French architects Philippe Chaix and Jean-Paul Morel succeeded the duo in autumn.