ARCHILAB.

The third annual Archilab happening took place in Orleans in the middle of May. The accompanying exhibition runs until the end of June. Intended as a platform for meetings and exchanges between French and foreign architects, and between architects and developers, it has mushroomed into a major event, with funding from both regional and state level. Underpinned by the French love of the table de ronde (round table discussions), this year it drew together 90 predominantly young and emerging architects from 18 different countries to devise conceptual projects on the theme of housing. Corralled in a former military barracks in the city centre, the huge exhibition had the provocative informality of a particularly exuberant end-of-year show, collaged from models, drawings, maquettes and vidoes. Projects conformed to six basic themes, from 'collective housing' to 'subversion' and 'new lifestyles', and were physically subdivided by inflatable white screens. Pink predominated as did folding planes. Despite its messy p luralism, the exercise has a serious aspect, intended as a process of investigation and speculation, a sharp open-minded approach that suggests prototypes for the future. Some projects are already built, some are inevitably destined to remain languishing on the drawing board.

Archilab 2001 Exhibition, Site des Subsistances militaires, 88 rue du Columbier, Orleans, runs until 30 June. An illustrated catalogue, edited by Fredene Migayrou and Marie Ange Brayer is published by Thames and Hudson. More information: www.frac.centre.asso.fr/archilab