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LAN Architecture
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Italian native Umberto Napolitano wanted to be a musician, and spent his teenage years in Naples in bands that dreamed of becoming the next Velvet Underground or The Stooges. Meanwhile, Grenoble, France—born Benoit Jallon was more obsessed with medical science — “the perfection of the body’s layers and stratums,” as he says. When the young M.D.-to-be discovered that buildings were as intricate and fascinating as the human body, and the budding rockstar grew up a little and realized he needed a profession, they both turned to architecture. Now in their seventh year as coprincipals of 20-person firm LAN Architecture, based in Paris, they agree that when they met at the Ecole d’Architecture de Paris La Villette, they “had a single certainty, to have their own firm together,” as Napolitano puts it.
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At this point, with a handful of large commercial projects completed, several more on the boards, and the receipt of the prestigious Nouveaux Albums des Jeunes Architectes (young architects award) in 2004 from the French Minister of Culture and Communication under their belts, Napolitano and Jallon are able to look back on their education and experience with some perspective. “I have great memories from my years at the university, when I studied and worked at both large and small firms to try to accumulate the maximum experience,” says Napolitano. “Everything was new and exciting, and I perceived the best from the architecture world. Still, I’m not sure I completely believe in the formative role of the university. I’ve personally learned more directly on the ground.” Jallon concurs, citing an example of one professor in particular who gave brilliant project analyses and taught the importance of the architectural, social, artistic, and even economic contexts of projects. “Despite all that,” says Jallon, “his architecture was commonplace. It never convinced me. It was an example of a big sensibility of approach, but not translatable in the act of building.” To Jallon and Napolitano, avoiding this failed connection between theory and practice is paramount.
The two named their firm Local Architectural Network (or LAN) Architecture, to herald their practice philosophy. “It is important for us to express the idea of network, the interdisciplinarity of architecture,
the notion of local, and the context of the project,” says Napolitano, who goes on to describe how, when their firm first started and the workload was lighter, they would organize gatherings — salons — of creative people, to help them get other points of view, “and to develop the notion of listening.” “For us, for our architecture, there is the continual questioning of rules,” he says. “Everything is the result of a continuous ‘restarting from zero.’ ”
Their desire to accept beginning at the beginning has helped them weather the economic storms of the past year, as has the fact that they’re designing projects in more than one country. “Of course we’ve felt it,” says Umberto. “Some projects have stopped. But working in multiple countries allows us, for the moment, to be balanced.”
Balancing work and life (the two say they have families, friends, and lives outside of architecture, thank you very much, but no children yet, so their working hours are still crazy) is difficult, but this is what brings them joy. Asked if rock star and doctor might still be alternative fields for them, Napolitano says, “I would have liked to be the one who invented Nutella.”
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