Curriculum Vitae

Name Pauline Lefebvre

Born March 7, 1986 in Brussels

Nationality Belgian

Resume Pauline Lefebvre is presently Chargée de recherches (postdoctoral fellow) for the Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique (FNRS). In 2019–20, she was appointed Maitre de Conférence at Faculté d’Architecture de l’Université Libre de Bruxelles. She obtained her PhD in 2016, with a dissertation entitled “Tracing Pragmatism in Architecture (1990-2010). Thinking Architects’ Engagement Within the Real”. Her doctoral research was funded by the FNRS, and supported by Fonds Van Buuren. In 2016-17, she was a BAEF Fellow at Columbia University in New York. Born in Brussels in 1986, she graduated from ISACF La Cambre with High Honors in 2010. She collaborated for two years with the architecture and urban planning firm MSA. In 2011-12, she participated in Bruno Latour’s Program of experimentation in arts and politics at Sciences Po Paris (SPEAP). In 2014, together with three other fellows from SPEAP, she started the independent research agency Æ, who has developed “2061”, a collaborative storytelling game about the future of mobility. As part of her PhD, Pauline was a visiting scholar at Columbia University’s GSAPP on Spring term 2013. Her main topic of research is about the recent encounters between architecture and the pragmatist tradition in philosophy. She took the lead in the organization of two international conferences held at ULB, the first in 2014 entitled “Rencontres à la croisée de l’architecture et des sciences humaines” and the second in 2020 entitled “Thinking-Making, Perspectives on the Growing Prominence of Making in Architecture”. Her postdoctoral investigation aims at understanding architects’ engagements in the run of the design process. Therefore, she is presently conducting immersive fieldwork within architecture firms. Her research was published in journals such as Clara Architecture Recherches, Architecture Philosophy, Footprint, Ardeth and Architectural Theory Review. In 2018, she directed and authored a book about the work of BC architects & studies published by the Flanders Architecture Institute on the occasion of the Venice Architecture Biennale. She is currently editing the book “Thinking-Making, Perspectives on the Growing Prominence of Making in Architecture” to be published at Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles.

Current & Past Positions

From Oct. 2017 to Dec. 2020 FRS-FNRS Chargée de Recherches

Post-doctoral researcher at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB

2019-2020 Maître de conférence at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB

From Oct. 2016 to Oct. 2017, BAEF Fellow, Post-doctoral researcher at Columbia University, with the sponsorship of Prof. R. Martin

Since Oct. 2015, Partner at Æ, managing a research and art agency

From Oct. 2011 to Oct. 2015, FRS-FNRS Research Fellow, PhD student at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB, under the supervision of J-L. Genard

From Jan. 2010 to Sep. 2011, Architect and urban planner at MS-A, designing public spaces and working on large to medium scale urban planning

Aug. 2007 and Aug. 2008 Intern at ERU (Études et Recherches Urbaines) working on urban planning, developing planning tools

Education & Training

2011-2016 PhD in architecture Supervised by Jean-Louis Genard (advisor), Didier Debaise & Judith le Maire at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB

2011-2012 Programme d’expérimentation en arts politiques (SPEAP) Coordinated by Bruno Latour and Valérie Pihet at Sciences-Po Paris

2004-2009 Master en architecture at ISACF La Cambre (Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB) Grade: Grande Distinction (ranked first)

2007-2008 Erasmus Belgica at Hogeschool voor Wetenschap and Kunst Sint Lucas Gent

1998-2004 Diplôme du secondaire supérieur – option latin-math at Lycée Henriette Dachsbeck, Ville de Bruxelles Grade: La Plus Grande Distinction

Language & Software

French: mother tongue | English: fluent | Dutch: good

Adobe InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop: layout, graphics, image processing

AutoCAD / Vectorworks / Rhino: drawing, mapping, modeling

Office: word processing, spreadsheets, presentations

List of Publications

— Books published as author

2018. LEFEBVRE P. (dir.), BC architects & studies – The Act of Building, VAI.

— Books published or edited in collaboration

2021 [forthcoming]. LEFEBVRE P. & alii (dir.), Thinking-Making, Perspectives on Making in Architecture / Histoires de faire : quand des architectes se mêlent de construction, Éditions de l’Université de Bruxelles.

2015. LEFEBVRE P. & MOOGIN T. (dir.), Penser les rencontres entre architecture et sciences humaines, Clara Architecture Recherche, Vol. 3.

— Contributions to edited volume

2021 [forthcoming] LEFEBVRE P. & alii, « X Artefacts. Une exposition pour montrer et raconter des modalités du faire en architecture », in LEFEBVRE P. & alii (dir.), Thinking-Making, Perspectives on Making in Architecture / Histoires de faire : quand des architectes se mêlent de construction, Éditions de l’Université de Bruxelles.

2021 [forthcoming] LEFEBVRE P. & NEUWELS J., « Introduction Introduction: Questioning the Growing Prominence of Making in Architecture / Des valorisations du faire en architecture », in LEFEBVRE P. & alii (dir.), Thinking-Making, Perspectives on Making in Architecture / Histoires de faire, quand des architectes se mêlent de construction, Éditions de l’Université de Bruxelles.

2018. LAKI G. & LEFEBVRE P., « Faire tenir debout. Exigences plurielles d’un projet d’architecture », in THOREAU F. & D’HOOP A. (dir.), L’appel des entités fragiles. Enquêter avec les Modes d'existence de Bruno Latour, Presses de l’Université de Liège (collection STS), p. 31-52.

2018. D’HOOP A., THOREAU F., MAURY E., LEFEBVRE P., LAKI G., GROSMAN J., AMAT A. & MEYERS G., « Sur la piste des modes d’existence », in THOREAU F. & D’HOOP A. (dir.), L’appel des entités fragiles. Enquêter avec les Modes d'existence de Bruno Latour, Presses de l’Université de Lièges (collection STS), p. 13-30.

2016. D’HOOP A., THOREAU F., MAURY E., LEFEBVRE P. & alii, « Reset Inquiry », in LATOUR B. (dir.) Reset modernity!, MIT Press, p. 455-467.

2016. LEFEBVRE P., « Past the Post. Nous n’avons jamais été critiques, pouvons-nous enfin être critiques ? », in YOUNES C. & BODART C. (dir.) Encore l'architecture - Encore la philosophie, ed. Hermann, p. 149-159.

2015. LEFEBVRE P., MOOGIN T. & GHYOOT M. « Introduction : Excursion en zones frontalières » in Clara Architecture Recherche, n°3, p. 9-13.

— Peer-reviewed journal articles

2020 [forthcoming]. LEFEBVRE P., « Qu’est-ce qu’elle pourrait devenir si… De l’équilibre entre description et spéculation dans la recherche en architecture », Le Philotope, No14.

2018. LEFEBVRE P., « "What the Wood Wants to Do." Pragmatist Speculations on a Response-able Architectural Practice », Architectural Theory Review, n° 22:1 « Resist, Reclaim, Speculate », p. 24-41.

2018. LEFEBVRE P., « I, T.T. Stands. Two Days of a design process, from the perspective of an object in the making », in Ardeth, n° 2, p. 97-117.

2017. LEFEBVRE P., « What difference could Pragmatism have made? From architectural effects to architecture’s consequences », in Footprint, n°20, p. 23-36.

2017. LEFEBVRE P., D’HOOP A. & alii, « Un contenant sûrement, du contenu peut-être... Récit d’un séminaire expérimental », in Clara Architecture Recherche, n°4, p. 243-250.

2016. LEFEBVRE P., « Varieties of Pragmatism: Architectural Objects Made Moral », in Architecture Philosophy, n°3, p. 23-37.

2015. LEFEBVRE P., « Quand le Pragmatisme est invité en architecture : une rencontre placée sous le signe de l’évidence » in Clara Architecture Recherche, n°3, p. 15-30.

— Papers published in national and international conference or symposium proceedings

2012. « Un art de l’instauration. Répondre à ces êtres qui nous obligent » Online publication: http://www.architecture-et-complexite.org/textes/120427_A&C02_Lefebvre.pdf

— Articles for the general public

2015. HORTENCE & alii (dir.), Halte, daily newspaper distributed in Halte Congrès, in the context of Curating the Station, Recyclart.

2015. LEFEBVRE P., « En quête d’une librairie », in HORTENCE & alii (dir.), Halte, daily newspaper distributed in Halte Congrès, in the context of Curating the Station, Recyclart.

2009. LEFEBVRE P., « Planifier l’Incertitude », in Le Chaînon Manquant, Online journal: www.lechainonmanquant.be/en-ville/planifier-l-incertitude.html

Academic Activities (selection)

Fall 2020 « Multiplier les possibles : outiller l'imaginaire par le jeu » Paper presented with Æ at the international conference “Temporalités et imaginaires du jeu” at Université de Metz, France

Fall 2020 « Values in the making. Observing architects crafting their discourse » Paper presented at the international conference “The Practice of Architectural Research” at KULeuven

Spring 2020 Visiting Scholar at Alice, ENAC [partly aborted due to the Corona lockdown] Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Suisse

Spring 2020 « Thinking-Making. Perspectives on the Growing Prominence of Making in Architecture » Organization and participation in the scientific committee of an international conference held at ULB in February 2020.

Spring 2020 « Towards pragmatist forms of political engagements in architecture » Paper presented at the international conference “Women in Pragmatism” at Universitat de Barcelona

Spring 2019 Séminaire croisé Sasha-LET-PAVE Invited moderator for the panel “Innovation” at ENSAP-Bordeaux

Spring 2019 « Le moule, la forme et la matière : des architectes en prise avec des matériaux » Invited contribution to the symposium “Architecture et Politique” at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB

Fall 2018 + Spring 2019 « The Act of Building — A book for, with and about BC » Book presentation at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB + at CIVA

Spring 2018 L’archaïque et ses possibles Invited moderator for the panel “Installation” at International Conference organized by GERPHAU at Cité de l’architecture (Paris)

2017-2018 P3G Monthly Reading Seminars Organization and participation in the P3G’s reading seminar, a collaboration between researchers from ULB, UNamur and ULg since 2013

Summer 2017 + 2018 « Quand les métiers de l'architecte renouent avec la construction. Étude des reconfigurations disciplinaires et professionnelles » Research project submitted with Sasha lab of Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB Granted a Mini-ARC doctoral project funding by ULB + a PDR by FNRS.

Summer 2016 « What do you want brick? De la communication à la prise en compte » Paper presented at XXe Congrès International des Sociologues de Langue Française — UQAM Montreal + Chair of a session of the panel « Pragmatisme »

Spring 2016 Au Tournant de l’Expérience Invited moderator for the panel “Expérience et Expérimentations” at an International Conference organized by GERPHAU at Cité de l’architecture (Paris)

Spring 2014 « Rencontres à la croisée de l’architecture et des sciences humaines » Organization of an international conference, held at ULB in May 2014 + Participation in the scientific committee

Spring 2013 Visiting scholar at Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, Columbia University, New York

Summer 2012 « Une cartographie des émergences pragmatistes en architecture. L’architecture peut-elle hériter du pragmatisme une véritable exigence politique ? » Paper presented at XIXe Congrès International des Sociologues de Langue Française + Chair of a session of the panel « Pragmatisme »

Teaching & Supervision

2019-2020 Maître de conférence for the course « Théorie de l’architecture » (MA1) at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB › series of lectures and reading seminars about the theory of architecture after 1945

2019-2020 Maître d’enseignement for the course « Méthodologie du mémoire » (MA1) at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB › series of lectures and thematic seminars leading to the definition of a research project

Spring 2015+2017+2018 Guest lecturer in the course « Théorie de l’architecture » (MA1) at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB › class and reading seminar about the new pragmatism in architecture

Fall 2018+2019 Guest lecturer in the course « Anthropologie » (BA3) at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB › class about a pragmatist sociology of architecture and participant observations

From April 2019 on Expert in the thesis committee of Alessandra Bruno, at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB, › project on design-build pedagogies

From Dec. 2018 on Expert in the thesis committee of Sophie Jacquemin, at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB, › “Architects and Construction. Disciplinary and Professional Reconfigurations”

June 2018 Guest lecturer at the DPEA « Architecture et Philosophie » at ENSA Paris La Villette › class about the role of description and speculation in research

Spring 2018 Guest in the studio « Unité de Production » (MA1+2) at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB

April 2017 Lecturer in the seminar « Architecture et Sciences Humaines » (MA1+2) at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB › class about conducting an ethnography within an architecture firm

June 2016 Lecturer at the DPEA « Architecture et Philosophie » at ENSA Paris La Villette › class about Dewey’s notion of “imagination” and architecture

Apr. 2016 Workshop in the Master Narration Spéculative at ERG (Ecole de Recherches Graphiques) › playtesting the story-telling game “2061”

Nov. 2014 Guest lecturer in the course « Histoire Théorie et Critique » at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB › seminar about the notion of a “recent history” of architecture

Mar. 2010 and Nov. 2012 Guest lecturer in the course « Architecture Écologie Durabilité » at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB › lectures about a pragmatist view on ecology and architecture

Oct. 2010 Guest lecturer in the studio « Laboratoire d’architecture située » at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB › lecture about architecture’s contingency

Since 2010 Reviewer in architecture studios – in Master studios Laboratoire d’architecture située (Decuypere & le Maire), Public Relations (Simon & Deprez), Histoire Théorie et Critique (Bergilez, Brunetta, Gyoot; van Acker, Strauwen), Unité de production (Decuypere & Dars), and in Bachelor studios at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB + at GSAP Columbia University, in Core Architecture Studio (Kumpusch).

Faculty Administration

2019-20 Member of the Groupe de Travail TFE (Masters’ Thesis) at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB

2012-2015 + 2017-2020 Representative of the Scientific Body at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB

2012-2015 + 2017-2020 Member of “Commission Recherche” at Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB

Cultural/Art Projects (selection)

Ongoing/Forthcoming « 2061, Imaginaires d’un futur » Collection of stories produced by the storytelling game 2061, with Æ coop.

Spring 2020 « X Artefacts » Co-curator of an exhibition at ULB in the context of the international conference “Thinking-Making” in February 2020.

Fall 2015 – Spring 2016 « 2061 » Developing, designing and publishing a collaborative storytelling game, in the context of a research project commissioned by Forum des Vies Mobiles (a think tank sponsored by SNCF, the French train company) about future mobilities. A project by Æ coop.

Fall 2015 « Congres Halte Congrès » Publication of 10 issues of Halte, installation and event in Bruxelles-Congrès station, Project realized with hortence, for Recyclart’s program « Curating the Station ».

Spring 2014 « Greetings From » Curator of Recyclart’s 2014 lecture series on architecture and urbanism, with hortence (Faculté d’architecture de l’ULB).

Spring 2012 Par la fenêtre Performance realized with Claire Fouquet, Myriam Lefkowitz and Cécile Proust, DVD and booklet published by Mairie d’Epinay-sur-Scène, June 2012.

From Sep. 2008 to Jun. 2009 « IBAI Interstices » Curator of Recyclart’s 2009 lecture series on architecture and urbanism, in collaboration with Thierry Decuypere, Michaël Ghyoot and Sophie Ghyselen.

Design Practice (selection)

Spring 2019 Refurbishment of an apartment in Ixelles, Brussels Designing, pricing and following construction.

Winter 2018 Renovation of two floors / apartments in Forest, Brussels Designing, pricing and following construction.

Spring 2017 — with SITU Studio Campus Pavilion Documenting, researching and mapping the culture of a scientific lab and their campus in Pasadena CA; sketching a permanent pavilion.

Summer 2010 — with MSA & Quentin Nicolaï Masterplan Arlon Reflecting on the preservation of the landscape while allowing the construction of new housing blocks at the edge of the city center in Arlon.

Oct. 2010 — with MSA Evaluation of Brussels Region’s Urban Planning Tools Mapping and analyzing the spatial logic of successive strategic and normative plans adopted by the Brussels Region since its creation in 1989.

Spring 2010 — with MSA Masterplan Binche Planning the possible urbanization of a large flood zone in the outskirt of the town of Binche, Belgium.

Spring 2010 — with MSA Masterplan Belle-Vue Programming and designing the repurposing of former brewery Belle-Vue into two hotel complexes and a housing block.

Summer 2010 — private commission Books-Hall & Holes-Desk Designing and Fabricating bookshelves and a desk for an interior in Brussels.

Awards, Honors & Fellowships

FNRS-FRS Fellow 2017-2020

BAEF Fellow 2016-2017

Recipient of a grant from Fondation Universitaire David et Alice Van Buuren (2016)

FNRS-FRS Fellow 2011-2015

Special mention at Prix La Cambre Architecture 2008-2009, in the category “Masters’ Thesis”, for Réflexion pour une architecture complexe, incertaine et attachée

Post-Doctoral Research

An architecture of silent performance. Tracing the political reengagement of the discipline in practice.

The aim of this post-doctoral research is to observe architects at work, and to conceptualize the way their political engagement is played out in their practice. In recent years, the field of architecture went through a crisis of criticality, followed by the assessment of a political reengagement of the discipline. Among the manifestations of the latter, some theorists observe the emergence of a tacit political posture which is embedded within practice, as opposed to architectural activism or ironic commentaries. This posture is characterized by an increased commitment to the specific tools and materials of architecture, investigating for instance its most technical aspects. It displays a form of ‘pragmatist’ political engagement, insofar as it silently performs the broad spectrum of architecture’s impacts, as well social and economic, as environmental and aesthetic. If that form of political engagement has just been identified and circumscribed by recent architectural theory, it does now require a more careful examination. Because it is mostly tacit and rather inscribed within design gestures, its study requires to conduct fieldwork, i.e. to attentively follow actors and objects and carefully describe the designers’ daily gestures… This methodology, incidentally also labelled “a pragmatist approach to architecture”, will thus be tested against these new modalities of political engagement, providing an in-depth study that will go a step beyond the discourses produced thus far.

PhD Dissertation — Abstract

Tracing the Recent Success of Pragmatism in Architecture (1990-2010). Thinking Architects’ Engagement with the Real.

My doctoral research focuses on the past, present and potential relationships between architecture and Pragmatism. It addresses the philosophical understanding of that term—as shaped by Peirce, James and Dewey—and looks into what this philosophy has to offer to architecture. The aim is to reevaluate the way in which the term was discussed when some American architects aspired to a so-called “new architectural pragmatism” in the 1990s and early 2000s. Those architects tried to reclaim the practical aspects of architecture as they felt that the discipline had been too much imbued with theory, mainly with German critical theory and with French structuralism and poststructuralism. They were fed up with these convoluted theoretical imports and the discursive forms of architecture they had induced. They argued for going back to practice, to experimentations with the very matter of architecture—design. This movement drew much criticism from thinkers who feared that this pro-practice, anti-theory or “post-critical” movement was to lead architects away from the safeguards of critical theory, straight into an instrumental, dangerously anti-intellectual, compliant posture. My research explores the few occasions on which an alternative philosophy—Pragmatism—was introduced to temper this anti-theory movement. Pragmatism was sought after as a philosophical approach that could help to develop a more practical kind of architectural theory and as an American alternative to continental philosophies. However, Pragmatism was rarely considered as a valuable alternative to critical theory in terms of the political posture it would entail: those who feared the ‘post-critical’ for the laissez-faire attitude it would authorize never admitted that Pragmatism could offer a different form of political engagements and moral responsibilities, more anchored to practice. My research focuses on that blind spot. It highlights contributions that introduced Pragmatism as a forceful alternative to critical theory in terms of the engagement it requires from practitioners and thinkers who adopt it. The dissertation speculates further. By close reading the first pragmatist philosophers and using the form of “what if’s”, it aims at extending the well-known recent debates in architectural theory. It proposes more ways in which Pragmatism could constitute an alternative responsible posture in architecture, based on a closer attention to the situations at stake.