The architectural and human adventure told in this book is the true story of the transformation of the Halle aux Farines for Paris VII University, from the very first sketch through to the moment when the building was handed over to its users. Nicolas Michelin relates the stages, the role-playing that started from the word go, and the string of obstacles overcome thanks to his tenacity and his team’s relentless hard work. He explains how, with a limited budget, he slipped a very dense programme—13 lecture theatres, 60 tutorial rooms, a refectory—into this industrial warehouse, like a 'ship in a bottle', to make it into a veritable 'teaching machine'.
This uncommonly accurate and uncompromising tale reveals all the practical aspects of an architect’s work, from the first intuition to the sometimes warlike strategy that has to be developed in order to see an architectural project through.