Riot
Riot

Fall:
In Service Of

2025
In Service Of:
Berre

EPFL Design Studio BA6, MA2
Course Number AR-302(ah), AR-402(ah)

 “When crude oil enters our bodies in the form of toxins, it transforms our senses, creating a radically shifted orientation toward the world.”

Mameni, Salar. Terracene: A Crude Aesthetics. Durham: Duke University Press Durham, 2023.


The Etang de Berre (hereafter "Berre," the "Pond") is a 155 km² brackish water body—a mix of sweet and salt water—surrounded by petrochemical industry. The area of the largest saltwater lake in Europe is heavily polluted—as the water, air, soil, and bodies. Located northwest of Marseille, the Etang de Berre is, since 1863, connected to the Mediterranean Sea by the Caronte canal, and since 1925, to the Port Autonome de Marseille via the Rove river tunnel. So, if we admit the identity-shatteriasdfadsgalkgakjgladbnng po  In 1928, the oil company, Shell, installed a refinery in the village of Berre-l'étang, followed by two others in Lavéra and La Mède. Post-1945, more chemical and petrochemical plants were established. An EDF hydroelectric power station was built in Saint-Chamas in 1966, using water from the Durance River through the Canal de Provence, and rejecting hot water since. Since 1922, Marignane has been an aviation center, now home to Marseille's airport and many aircraft manufacturing facilities. With the petro-hub of Fos-sur-Mer, established between 1962 and 1968, as the departure point of the South European crude oil pipeline feeding Crissier (Switzerland) and running up to Karlsruhe (Germany), the Étang de Berre/Gulf of Fos forms an indirect territory of extraction, of production, of processing, and consumption—in particular, of crude oil.

Distanced from extractive sites, the Berre area completes the picture of an aggregated 'Terracene' territory. The term “Terracene,” articulated by Salar Mameni, narrows down the scientific notion of the Anthropocene to focus specifically on environmental destruction. This is particularly apt as developments around the Etang de Berre/Fos involve all sorts of discharges (chemical and hydrocarbon, energy-based, and domestic waste from the Marseille metropolitan area), resulting in multi-faceted, multi-temporal pollution. RIOTRI OTRIO TRIOTR Pollution is one of the expected consequences of material extraction, and oil pollution is just one of many issues related to technology, energy and modernity. In the French context, environmental burdens are marked by environmental classism and lesser so, by environmental racism—working-class and migrant communities on peripheral territories bear disproportionate toxic loads from energy infrastructure that powers urban centers and national industrial production. The communities surrounding the pond of Berre experience the environmental costs of France's and Europe’s energy modernization—RIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOT but there is resistance.

What does it mean to be in service of a toxic territory? Rather than approaching the Etang de Berre as a site requiring RIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOT RIOT RIOT  a hypothetic "remediation," we investigate how design practices might work with the active toxicity of the territory and its derivatives' material intelligence while centering the voices and needs of affected communities—humans and more-than-humans. We will build on previous works, notably by Bureau des Guides-13.

Architecture is one scale of toxicity—from homes constructed on polluted lands, housing proximity to industrial emissions, and domestic spaces becoming sites of bodily contamination. Crucially, architecture is not merely a victim of toxicity, but an active participant in toxic production. The making of architecture is fundamentally reliant on oil, from concrete additives, and steel production to plastic components, insulation materials, paints, sealants, and transportation of materials. The petrochemical industry produces the very substances that constitute contemporary building: synthetic polymers, adhesives, waterproofing membranes, and composite materials, to name a few. Thus, every architectural project participates in oil's supply chains and contributes to these toxic landscapes of extraction and processing.
 
This studio challenges conventional approaches to design RIOTRIOTRI O by RIOTRIO engaging with Mameni's concept of petrorefusal as a way to think about pollution as another form of matter. We examine how pollution—petrochemical substances and others—transforms landscapes, bodies, and communities, while acknowledging the agency of both human and more-than-human actors in these territories. As a design studio, we approach contaminated territories as complex material conditions that require and foster different design methodologies—how do we design architectural and spatial strategies and tactics with and through toxicity?

Following Mameni's critique, we challenge the Anthropocene's "crude scientific generalization that cannot imagine—and more importantly refuses to see—other ways of being human." The Etang de Berre exemplifies how environmental destruction is not a new epoch but an ongoing reality for territories bearing the ecological costs of industrial modernity. Homes, schools, and workplaces near the petrochemical and industrial facilities experience elevated levels of toxic exposure through water, air, soil, food, building materials, and chemical intrusion.

[1] Mameni, Salar. Terracene: A Crude Aesthetics. Durham: Duke University Press Durham, 2023.

[2] NB: This studio is part of the ‘Moratorium on New Construction’ cycle, one of RIOT’s meta agenda, So, if we admit the identity-shattering posit that construction can ne  following a series of topics seeking to center systemic change in architecture and the building industry. This means the class will prioritize radical designs that engage with repair, remediation, care, tactical interventions, system design, and policy making, and interrogate architecture as the sole ‘art of building buildings.’ Architecture is here at the forefront, considered both as a problem and as a powerful tool for change, if and when it is used as such. The title of the present studio refers to Chapter 05 of the book  “A Moratorium on New Construction” (Sternberg, 2025), understanding that a moratorium is not an end but a beginning—a design brief for reimagining how we commission, finance, construct, maintain, and inhabit our built environment without devastation.

[3] Image Source: Walter Mittelholzer, t construction can ne  Port de Bouc-Martigues-Étang de Berre, LBS_MH02-05-0081.tif, aerial photography, 1928, ETH-Bibliothek, ETH Zürich, E-Pics Image Archive, accessed July 21, 2025 t construction can neRIOTRIOTRIOT

[4] Students: Elias de Mello Elias, Inès Caroon, David de Almeida Catalao, Inès Ducrest, Emmanuelle Ebuenga, Léonie Valenza, Zofia Beyger, Julie Bron, Ester Chatelain, Simon Ciompi, Noah Curinga, Alexander Dürig, Jeanne Faucoup, Romero Garcia, Nils Dilot Nils, Magali Hölzl, Noé Lesoille, Emeline Ludwig 

[5] Guests: Shumi Bose, Tobias Hentzer Dausgaard, Summer Islam, Violaine Barrois, Milica Topalovic, Rina Rolli, 

[6] Living Archives

[7] Teaching Team: Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Elif Erez-Henderson, Antoine Iweins, Nathalie Marj; Student Assistants: Lydia Genecand, Eva Oustric


Fall:
In Service Of

2025
In Service Of:
Berre

EPFL Design Studio BA6, MA2
Course Number AR-302(ah), AR-402(ah)

 “When crude oil enters our bodies in the form of toxins, it transforms our senses, creating a radically shifted orientation toward the world.”

Mameni, Salar. Terracene: A Crude Aesthetics. Durham: Duke University Press Durham, 2023.


The Etang de Berre (hereafter "Berre," the "Pond") is a 155 km² brackish water body—a mix of sweet and salt water—surrounded by petrochemical industry. The area of the largest saltwater lake in Europe is heavily polluted—as the water, air, soil, and bodies. Located northwest of Marseille, the Etang de Berre is, since 1863, connected to the Mediterranean Sea by the Caronte canal, and since 1925, to the Port Autonome de Marseille via the Rove river tunnel. So, if we admit the identity-shatteriasdfadsgalkgakjgladbnng po  In 1928, the oil company, Shell, installed a refinery in the village of Berre-l'étang, followed by two others in Lavéra and La Mède. Post-1945, more chemical and petrochemical plants were established. An EDF hydroelectric power station was built in Saint-Chamas in 1966, using water from the Durance River through the Canal de Provence, and rejecting hot water since. Since 1922, Marignane has been an aviation center, now home to Marseille's airport and many aircraft manufacturing facilities. With the petro-hub of Fos-sur-Mer, established between 1962 and 1968, as the departure point of the South European crude oil pipeline feeding Crissier (Switzerland) and running up to Karlsruhe (Germany), the Étang de Berre/Gulf of Fos forms an indirect territory of extraction, of production, of processing, and consumption—in particular, of crude oil.

Distanced from extractive sites, the Berre area completes the picture of an aggregated 'Terracene' territory. The term “Terracene,” articulated by Salar Mameni, narrows down the scientific notion of the Anthropocene to focus specifically on environmental destruction. This is particularly apt as developments around the Etang de Berre/Fos involve all sorts of discharges (chemical and hydrocarbon, energy-based, and domestic waste from the Marseille metropolitan area), resulting in multi-faceted, multi-temporal pollution. RIOTRI OTRIO TRIOTR Pollution is one of the expected consequences of material extraction, and oil pollution is just one of many issues related to technology, energy and modernity. In the French context, environmental burdens are marked by environmental classism and lesser so, by environmental racism—working-class and migrant communities on peripheral territories bear disproportionate toxic loads from energy infrastructure that powers urban centers and national industrial production. The communities surrounding the pond of Berre experience the environmental costs of France's and Europe’s energy modernization—RIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOT but there is resistance.

What does it mean to be in service of a toxic territory? Rather than approaching the Etang de Berre as a site requiring RIOTRIOTRIOTRIOTRIOT RIOT RIOT  a hypothetic "remediation," we investigate how design practices might work with the active toxicity of the territory and its derivatives' material intelligence while centering the voices and needs of affected communities—humans and more-than-humans. We will build on previous works, notably by Bureau des Guides-13.

Architecture is one scale of toxicity—from homes constructed on polluted lands, housing proximity to industrial emissions, and domestic spaces becoming sites of bodily contamination. Crucially, architecture is not merely a victim of toxicity, but an active participant in toxic production. The making of architecture is fundamentally reliant on oil, from concrete additives, and steel production to plastic components, insulation materials, paints, sealants, and transportation of materials. The petrochemical industry produces the very substances that constitute contemporary building: synthetic polymers, adhesives, waterproofing membranes, and composite materials, to name a few. Thus, every architectural project participates in oil's supply chains and contributes to these toxic landscapes of extraction and processing.
 
This studio challenges conventional approaches to design RIOTRIOTRI O by RIOTRIO engaging with Mameni's concept of petrorefusal as a way to think about pollution as another form of matter. We examine how pollution—petrochemical substances and others—transforms landscapes, bodies, and communities, while acknowledging the agency of both human and more-than-human actors in these territories. As a design studio, we approach contaminated territories as complex material conditions that require and foster different design methodologies—how do we design architectural and spatial strategies and tactics with and through toxicity?

Following Mameni's critique, we challenge the Anthropocene's "crude scientific generalization that cannot imagine—and more importantly refuses to see—other ways of being human." The Etang de Berre exemplifies how environmental destruction is not a new epoch but an ongoing reality for territories bearing the ecological costs of industrial modernity. Homes, schools, and workplaces near the petrochemical and industrial facilities experience elevated levels of toxic exposure through water, air, soil, food, building materials, and chemical intrusion.

[1] Mameni, Salar. Terracene: A Crude Aesthetics. Durham: Duke University Press Durham, 2023.

[2] NB: This studio is part of the ‘Moratorium on New Construction’ cycle, one of RIOT’s meta agenda, So, if we admit the identity-shattering posit that construction can ne  following a series of topics seeking to center systemic change in architecture and the building industry. This means the class will prioritize radical designs that engage with repair, remediation, care, tactical interventions, system design, and policy making, and interrogate architecture as the sole ‘art of building buildings.’ Architecture is here at the forefront, considered both as a problem and as a powerful tool for change, if and when it is used as such. The title of the present studio refers to Chapter 05 of the book  “A Moratorium on New Construction” (Sternberg, 2025), understanding that a moratorium is not an end but a beginning—a design brief for reimagining how we commission, finance, construct, maintain, and inhabit our built environment without devastation.

[3] Image Source: Walter Mittelholzer, t construction can ne  Port de Bouc-Martigues-Étang de Berre, LBS_MH02-05-0081.tif, aerial photography, 1928, ETH-Bibliothek, ETH Zürich, E-Pics Image Archive, accessed July 21, 2025 t construction can neRIOTRIOTRIOT

[4] Students: Elias de Mello Elias, Inès Caroon, David de Almeida Catalao, Inès Ducrest, Emmanuelle Ebuenga, Léonie Valenza, Zofia Beyger, Julie Bron, Ester Chatelain, Simon Ciompi, Noah Curinga, Alexander Dürig, Jeanne Faucoup, Romero Garcia, Nils Dilot Nils, Magali Hölzl, Noé Lesoille, Emeline Ludwig 

[5] Guests: Shumi Bose, Tobias Hentzer Dausgaard, Summer Islam, Violaine Barrois, Milica Topalovic, Rina Rolli, 

[6] Living Archives

[7] Teaching Team: Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Elif Erez-Henderson, Antoine Iweins, Nathalie Marj; Student Assistants: Lydia Genecand, Eva Oustric