The 2014 lecture considered the conjunctures of architecture in France since the early 20thcentury in the European field and in that of colonial politics. At the heart of the reflection were tensions between institutions and professions, and between aesthetics and usage.
The main hypothesis proposed was that the constitutive structures of modernity within a French perimeter were marked, even in colonial laboratories, by the recurrent encounter between extremely powerful public policies and the particular receptiveness of French architectural culture to techniques.
Episodes marked by this encounter, such as the programs of the Loucheur law, those of the three reconstructions (1918, 1940 and 1945), or those of the policy of large housing estates, have been analyzed, as have the effects of the two wars, which were far from being moments of immobility.
Transfers with the rest of the world were also studied, as borders remained porous throughout the twentiethcentury . The reception of models, forms and techniques from England, Germany and the United States never ceased, with France also exporting its experiences far beyond its metropolitan territories. The main thematic groups considered were as follows.