petite vie by francis fontaine, luca fortin, and pascal labelle

petite vie by francis fontaine, luca fortin, and pascal labelle 
all images courtesy of luca fortin

francis fontaine, luca fortin, and pascal labelle have been informally collaborating since their days as students at the école d’architecture – université laval. combining backgrounds in art, engineering and architecture, their works combine innovative technologies with site-specific design, and always have just a hint of absurdity.

a visitor ponders which way to go 

for the 2015 les passages insolites arts festival in quebec city — curated by EXMURO — the trio designed and built ‘petite vie‘. realized as two walls with highly reflective interiors, the work questions the role of architecture in the city’s always changing landscape. it prompts visitors to look critically at their surroundings, and asks how to distinguish fiction from reality. given the form’s plain shape and bold color palette, do people view architecture as they do people, judging only by the surface and never needing or wanting to look deeper?

mirror and painted wall 

‘petite vie’ is left largely up to each viewer’s personal interpretation. little to no clues are given to its meaning, other then the obviousness of its multiple doorways serving as invitations to explore inside. the installation remains at its current location at place-royal in quebec city, canada until the end of festival on november 2nd, 2015.

looking straight up from the interior 

stone wall and ‘petite vie’ connection 

corner form 

little entrance 

a visitor walks through the installation 

structures from above 

front structure 

back structure 

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: nick brink | designboom