· CARDBOARD · TOWERS · STAIRS · BRIDGES ·
bridges 2023 stairs 2022 bridges 2022 stairs 2021 bridges 2021 bridges 2020 bridges 2019 towers 2017 towers 2017 by vfrc towers 2016 jordan towers 2016 towers 2015 towers 2014 towers 2013
Annually since 2013,
students of the École Nationale Supérieure d‘Architecture de Paris-la-Villette
participate to a cardboard stairs, towers or bridges contest (without glue, nor tape, nor staples)
directed by Marco Dessardo, sculptor, and Yves Rouby, engineer,
with the assistance of Alain Sartori and Victor Beley, alpinists.
(In 2016, the event has been exported by Rand El Haj Hasan in Jordan)


Proposed by an engineer and a sculptor, this 5 days workshop consists in exploring the challenges of using cardboard - a light, simple, economical, and soft material - to build a structure of medium scale. The prohibition of using any other material like glue or tape makes it necessary to shape the cardboard in different ways by cutting, folding, or interlocking it. So the students are enabled to explore elementary construction techniques on a 1:1 scale and test them. The lesson wraps up by a collective performance or competition.