A participative construction site fencing

To coincide with the construction of the emblematic The Autre Soie site in Villeurbanne, Graphéine has been asked to design the graphics for a 250-meter-long palisade fence. As a reminder, l’Autre Soie is an innovative project for an inclusive city, combining accommodation, housing and the social and solidarity economy, where culture helps to forge a link between the other and oneself. This work on the palisade follows on from the participative visual identity we designed in 2019. For the duration of the work, the site was surrounded by a palisade of high strategic value, enabling us to publicize the project. The aim was to highlight the site’s history, but also its future and the strong values that drive it. It also involved piloting a collaborative project between an artist and local residents.

To this end, we proposed working with Antonin Hako, a founding member of the THTF artists’ collective based in Lyon. As a painter, sculptor and performer, Antonin integrates his daily life fully into his work. He questions space and sees his practice as a global art form. Inspired by the ever-changing city, his graphic language reflects an urban vocabulary. Broken and cut lines, shapes that collide, assemble or clash. Construction, de-construction, in reference to a space in transition. Here’s a glimpse of the many ramifications of this work of construction site signage.

L’Autre Soie,
a participative visual identity

The logotype is an invitation to connect the Other to oneself. It’s a logo that only exists once the dots have been connected. Whether the dots are connected physically or mentally, it’s in this action that words become signs, and the logotype appears. In this way, the “L’Autre Soie” logo is continually reinvented, while retaining the coherence and recognition necessary for a brand. The visual identity is accompanied by Storno typography. Its very “standardized” design contrasts with the joviality of its large dots over the “i ”s, allowing for a wide range of graphic games. It’s a typeface that exists in a single fat. A form of minimalism that limits superfluous effects within the layout. From then on, only the scale of the words can be used to establish reading levels. We invite you to take a closer look at this participative visual identity.

Layout diagram

We are working on 3 different palisades. Lots A & B are informative palisades about the project. Lot C is the participative palisade created with Antonin Hako. It surrounds an emergency shelter, which will accommodate 21 families during the 3-year construction period. The children of the shelter are involved in the creation of this palisade.

Rules of the game

We see the palisades as a musical score composed on an A3 modular grid. The graphic score is then composed of different types of ingredients: keywords, texts, images, artistic intervention…

Lots A et B :
The information fence

Lot C :
The participatory palisade
Antonin Hako

In 2021, a transitional residence will be set up, housing 21 families (including 54 children) from the Alfred de Musset emergency shelter, during the 3 years of construction. It is in this context that the artistic intervention takes place. The children of the residence, accompanied by Antonin Hako, were invited to come and paint the palisade freely, based on Antonin’s black & white graphic work.

Behind the artistic approach lies a “poetic-political” intention. Indeed, for these children, to be allowed to write and draw freely on the walls is to grant them social and symbolic recognition, as well as an opportunity to become actively involved in the life of the city, transforming public space into a place of collaboration, expression and dialogue.

In this context, “being allowed” to paint freely on this fence can be seen as a means of emancipation, as much as a means of appropriating public space and thus fostering a sense of belonging. Behind these philosophical reflections, we can also just remember the joy of a spring afternoon filled with color and children’s cries!