Patrice Gardera
Born in Bayonne, graduated from the School of Architecture in Bordeaux in 1994. After more than ten years of professional experience with internationally renowned firms, in New York at Diller+Scofidio and in Paris at Jakob+MacFarlane, he founded the company GARDERA-D. Created in Paris, the agency is joined in 2009 by an antenna installed in the South-West.
The agency explores a wide field of investigation, and responds to a varied demand for projects, ranging from architecture (housing, workplaces, education, equipment, etc.) to interior design.
The agency won the AMO award in the space and workplace category in 2013 and the ADC AWARDS in the collective housing category in 2017.
Philippe Pastre
Born in Carmaux, he graduated from the School of Architecture in Toulouse in 1988 and was selected by VIA that year and exhibited at the Salon des «jeunes talents de la création française» in Paris.
Based in Biarritz since 1990, Philippe Pastre has developed a solid experience in the construction of high-end single-family homes. The agency also studies and develops a wide range of projects: care and health centers, collective housing, shops, facilities, layout, etc.
The spirit of «workshop» animates the production of the agency anchored in a permanent search for accuracy of writing and sobriety.
In 2015, the two agencies had to collaborate on a private «Azala» office building project in Biarritz. On the strength of this enriching experience, the two architects decided to pool their distinct but complementary skills and worlds, while continuing to work on programmatic typologies that were deliberately as diverse as they were varied.
The Gardera/ Pastre architecture workshop was created in 2020, sustaining more than five years of collaboration.
The development of any project begins with listening to the client and understanding their expectations. Each project is then approached and studied in a specific way, according to an approach based in particular on a particular attention to the qualities of use of buildings and the search for an optimum in the relationship between architecture and site.
The contextual and landscape approach is fundamental, in the search for a «right» and specific response. Thus, it is not a particular search for «style» but rather for coherence and sincerity in the development of a varied writing that focuses on experimentation and the use and implementation of different materials.
All the projects developed at the agency are part of an environmental approach driven by common sense, a good understanding of local geographical constraints, knowledge and assimilation of current building materials and techniques. To do this, it is surrounded by a network of specialists: technical design offices, specialists in High Environmental Quality, landscapers, acousticians, scenographers, etc. Over the years, Patrice Gardere and Philippe Pastre have been able to build a long-term relationship of trust.
