Échelles 01 - Non-Lieu

Échelles is an editorial collective born out of the desire to create a platform accessible to all. With a multidisciplinary vision in mind, it aims to share and to reflect on our spatial and material culture. It constitutes something as diverse as the scales of environmental design, the discipline at the genesis of the project.

This issue 01 is centered around the theme of non-place, a concept coined by Marc Augé in his book 'Non-Places: Introduction to an Anthropology of Supermodernity' (1995). Augé defines a non-place as follows: 'If place can be defined as relational, historical, and concerned with identity, then a space which cannot be defined as relational, historical, or concerned with identity will be a non-place.

Non-Places, deprived of identity, history, and urban relationships, encompass transit spaces (such as airports and stations), standardized environments (such as supermarkets and hotels), and purely functional spaces (like gas stations and parking lots). Our interaction with these spaces is purely transactional, established through a purchase or a booking.