Last update

"Ça dépend" by Jeremy Till, Éditions de la Villette

© Éditions de la Villette

Finally available in French, this classic of contemporary architectural theory opens a definitive breach in architects’ belief in the autonomy of their discipline.

It depends
Essay on the contingencies of architecture
Jeremy Till
With an original epilogue by the author
Collection : Theory & criticism
Publication date: September 2025
French and expanded version of : Architecture Depends (Cambridge (Mass.), MIT Press, 2009)

What does architecture depend on? People, times, politics, economics, ethics, disorder… In short, reality in all its unpredictable complexity and irreducible uncertainty. Jeremy Till invites architects to take greater account of these contingencies, which exceed their sphere of control but always end up imposing themselves on their works. With rigor and irony, the author deconstructs, step by step, the autonomy that architects confer on their discipline, and which maintains them in a pure and ideal vision of the objects they design. Circumstances, however, thwart the best-laid plans at every stage of the process, from conception to construction and use of a building. Mies’ “Less is more” invariably gives way to Till’s “Mess is the law”. What if this threat of destabilization turns out to be a tremendous opportunity? Wouldn’t architects have everything to gain from coming down from their ivory towers, and “starchitects” from their pedestals, to engage in an open and constructive dialogue with their multiple interlocutors – experts, decision-makers, craftsmen, users, inhabitants – but also with the things that surround them – materials, regulations, waste, climatic phenomena? This is the key to producing more useful, more humane architecture, and above all, to hoping to transform the world.
For more information, visit Jeremy Till’s website.

Buy the book online
Three events accompany the book’s release:
  • On Tuesday September 30, at 6:30 pm, Jeremy Till will give a conference atENSA Paris-la Villette, amphitheater 302, 144 avenue de Flandre, Paris 19th. Admission free, subject to availability.
  • On Wednesday October 1, at 7.30pm, Jeremy Till presents his book at the Volume bookshop, 47 rue Notre-Dame de Nazareth, Paris, 4th arrondissement. Signing followed by a drink.
  • On Thursday October 2, at 7:00 pm, CIVA in Brussels hosts a conversation between Jeremy Till, Pauline Lefebvre and Pierre Chabard about the book. CIVA, 55 rue de l’Ermitage, 1050 Brussels. Book here

News

  • Key Economic Indicators for the Architecture Industry

    The Architecture Economy Observatory, a collaborative body launched in 2021 by the Ministry of Culture that brings together stakeholders in the profession, has published the “Key Figures on the Architecture Economy” for the first time.

    The observatory’s work is part of the National Strategy for Architecture 2025–2029, one of whose measures aims to expand knowledge of the architectural economy in all its dimensions.

  • Find out more about the State Architects and Planners (AUE) competition

    The DRAC d’Île-de-France and CROAIF are organizing two information events to promote the missions of State Architects and Planners (AUE) and increase the number of registrations for the AUE competition, a civil service management body.

    During these meetings, which will take place simultaneously by videoconference and in person at the Chapelle des Récollets (Paris 10th arrondissement), AUEs from the Ministries of Culture, Ecological Transition, the Armed Forces and Europe and Foreign Affairs will give presentations and answer participants’ questions on :

    • training courses available to prepare for the competition ;
    • the competition, tests and expectations (timetable, skills required, etc.) ;
    • jobs in government departments: urban renewal, landscape evolution, project management, heritage preservation, ENSA… ;
    • career development in the civil service.

    Both events will be hosted by Olivier Lerude, Head of the Regional Department of Architecture and Heritage Spaces (SRAEP) at DRAC Île-de-France.

  • Bookstore release: "Mai 68. Parole à l'architecture", Éditions de la Villette

    The book brings together some thirty interviews with key figures from this historic turning point, including Jean-Louis Cohen, François Very, Bernard Huet, Roland Castro, Henri Ciriani, Monique Eleb and Jacques Lucan… Curated by Caroline Maniaque, Éléonore Marantz and Jean-Louis Violeau, who also curated the exhibition “Mai 68. L’Architecture aussi!” exhibition at the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine in summer 2018, the book restores the kaleidoscopic words of this “generation” and puts them into historical perspective.

  • Toyō Itō's inner landscapes

    While in March, ENSAPLV celebrated several decades of educational, scientific and human relations for a week in the presence of a delegation from its Japanese partner universities, the month of April is marked by the publication of this collective work by Maki Onishi, Toyō Itō, Benoît Jacquet and Yann Nussaume in the “Paysage et Architecture” collection from éditions Arléa.

  • Making visible. Values of ordinary things

    Just published in Éditions Boa’s DÉCRIRE collection, this collective work is edited byAlessia de Biase, architect-urban planner, HDR professor in SHS at ENSA Paris-la Villette and director of the LAA-LAVUE research unit, and Emilie Pillon, architect, doctoral student in anthropology at LAA-LAVUE.

    As with the other volumes in the collection, one or other artist is involved in a dialogue with the theme of the book: photographer and video artist Valérie Jouve contributed to this work, alongside Catherine Deschamps & Pascale Absi, Philippe Bonnin, Chloé Gaspari, Federica Gatta, Flavia Pertuso & Étienne Kretzschmar, Nadja Monnet & the Momkin association, Mina Saidi Shahrouz, Maud Santini, Anne-Claire Vallet and Valeria Volpe.