Elisabeth Terrisse de Botton

Elisabeth, please introduce yourself:

I was born in 1991 in Barcelona (ES).

I studied architecture at Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona (ES) and at Paris Beaux-Arts Malaquais (FR).
After my studies, I collaborated with different multidisciplinary practices that explore space through the fields of sciences and arts, such as Arquitectura-G, Baukunst, Chevalier Masson, and Traumnovelle.

Since 2020, my practice is based in Brussels (BE).

Portrait, Photo: © Matthieu Brasebin

#1 Can you tell us something about your training? How did you come to study architecture?

I studied architecture for almost 7 years at ETSA Barcelona (ES).
My parents had a strong yet implicit influence since both are architects. My mom was teaching at the same architecture school I went to and my dad was an urbanist. At home, there were a lot of books about architecture, urbanism, sustainability, and climate, as well as design objects and furniture. When you are surrounded by it you either love or hate it - I did not hate it. Since I was young, I have been passionate about drawing, and for my parents, my future path was clearer than for me. So my mom pushed for me to study architecture. Now, I am grateful but it was not always the case during my studies.

#2 What influenced you most during your studies and what did you focus on?

During my studies, I struggled with all the technical courses like structures, construction, and building physics (even if my mom was teaching that). It was too abstract for me, with a lot of theory and mathematic formulas to be learned by heart. I was naturally drawn to the more artistic courses, like history, aesthetics, and composition. But my main focus has always been the design subjects where all the artistic and technical knowledge melted into something concrete and personal.

From Brazil with Warmth Process, Photo: © Matthieu Brasebin

#3 You are not only an architect but also an artist. How do the two disciplines influence each other? Which came first?

I am not comfortable calling myself an artist. I would rather define myself as an architect exploring other disciplines in space and representation. My research aims to question the relationship between architecture, bodies, and landscapes through the project and the image.

For a while, I stressed thinking that I had to choose between architecture and painting and it took me some time to understand that both practices can be complementary and nourish each other. I am now eager to grab every opportunity that I can to create, enjoy the process, and have fun.

Through my exhibitions, I discovered that scenography is the common ground, the spatial and narrative connection of both disciplines.

#4 Can you tell us something about your exhibition "From Brazil with Warmth", which is currently being shown in Barcelona?

“From Brazil with Warmth” poetically addresses climate as a major force in our ways of living by focusing on the interplay between architecture, the environment, and humans.
Ever since I was young, I have been particularly drawn to this country. My mom lived in São Paulo (1957-1969) before leaving to study architecture in Europe, so it remains a relatively close unknown territory. This series of 20 paintings narrates my first journey around Brazil through a distant and almost faint collection of images. By gesture and light, faceless bodies, plants, and objects portray various uncertain conditions contemplated, so “warmth is just heat remembered”.

FBWW represents my first series of paintings. I made them after having a breakdown from working full-time in architecture offices and decided to leave. Back home, while I was obsessively painting I was like: and now what? what I am going to do with this? I was not confident enough to show them through social media or contact galleries and then my partner gave me the idea to host an exhibition/party at home. So, we transformed our apartment into a gallery for one evening with the help of very good friends. I felt surrounded and it gave me the confidence I needed to continue sharing my work.

Then, I decided to showcase the paintings in the cities where I lived. A domestic space in Brussels, an architecture office, NEW BABL, in Lausanne, and an art gallery, H2O, in Barcelona. A new site-specific scenography was made for each exhibition space reconfigured as short, intimate, and informal events and mostly made of manufactured reused materials.

From Brazil with Warmth, Photo: © Elisabeth Terrisse de Botton, © Gina Surià Gúdel

#5 Your paintings show everyday situations into which you zoom in as if with binoculars. Do you feel that studying architecture has influenced your way of seeing and perceiving the environment?

The paintings mostly come from ultra-zoomed pictures I regularly take with my phone. Once zoomed the definition gets blurry, the original colors tend to faint and the vision is cropped deliberately leaving the rest of my surrounding hors champ. Each piece is precisely framed, playing with the original composition, sometimes even altering it. These images are evolving through a permanent exploration of narration and representation. I guess architecture has influenced my way of perceiving the environment and composing it but when I paint, I try to free my mind, to feel more free with fewer constraints.

#6 What project are you currently working on?

Currently, with my partner Matthieu Brasebin, we are working on some really exciting projects. We had the opportunity to join this year’s edition of ADAF, a domestic art fair, “House of People” where the participants are assigned to create a specific domestic object for an ephemeral exhibition. We are designing and produ- cing uplighters for the Grand Café space.

Also, we got selected for the Tallinn Architecture Biennale TAB 2024 for our installation “No Time to Waste”. In the form of a future bus shelter, it is an urban exploration, dedicated to matters of public space and reuse. Made entirely using leftover material, the pavilion will become an evolutive infrastructure, promoting principles of circular construction in tandem with a collaborative methodology.

In parallel, I am planning to start a new painting while exploring new formats and support material.

No Time to Waste Process, Photo: © Elisabeth Terrisse de Botton

#7 How do you see the role of an architect in today's society?

Amid an ecological crisis and climate change, with the construction industry being a major player, the role of architecture is decisive. In my case, it was essential to adopt a setback position first, the aim being to establish a critical view of buildings, urban planning, and its influence.

I believe in site-specific interventions that can fulfill users' needs and respond to the place and its resources. I am interested in the production of space, focusing on its climatic, social, and cultural dimensions while intending to strengthen pre-existing opportunities with architecture as a means of building and thinking.

I had the chance to explore those topics in the practices I collaborated with and more recently within my projects. For example, along with my partner, Matthieu Brasebin, with our winning proposal for Europan’17 Living Cities “Earth, Wind, and Water”. Our approach focused primarily on the understanding of the existing context, from the social and cultural to the territorial and atmospheric spectrum. We proposed to build less so that the emptiness of the existing was perceived as a quality to offer polyvalent programs through topography, superstructures, and a series of devices.

Then, for the Concéntrico 10, we had the opportunity to join the Make it Rain team founded by Quentin Gérard and Guillaume Deman for a climatic installation. The pavilion based its strategy on the cooling of the public space thanks to the use of the thermal properties of terracotta bricks in contact with water.

legt: Earth, Wind, and Water Model, Photo: © Elisabeth Terrisse de Botton, right: Make it Rain Concéntrico 10, Logroño, Photo: © Elisabeth Terrisse de Botton

#8 How does your environment influence your work?

Since I was very young, my dad pushed me to draw what surrounded me and I never stopped. Through observation, I appropriate the reality around me. Then, by its repre- sentation, I reveal a certain state. Working with images is possibly the best connection that I can establish with the world around me.

#9 Three things that inspire you at the moment?

More than things, I would say that I get more inspired by people and their work.

Lina Bo Bardi represents a continuous inspiration for my work as she established a strong yet sensitive dialogue between the bodies, the climate, and the culture of a place through her architecture and drawings.

I recently saw Petra Blaisse’s lecture at CIVA during the Art Applied book launch and I felt encouraged by the way she talked about her practice and can perfectly swing between different fields such as exhibition design, textile design, and garden design.

Paul Cézanne enlightens me with his perception and vision of reality, of bodies, of the landscape, of the visible.

#10 What do you currently read, watch, listen to?

I just finished Cézanne, la vie, l’espace by Raymond Jean where every chapter is a reference to one of his paintings and periods of his life. Through this reading, I discovered his passionate and pure character. I like reading artist’s biographies, especially painters. This intimate space helps me to draw an imaginary portrait of them to understand their work better.

On a recurrent basis, I enjoy watching Werner Herzog movies, and documentaries. His extraordinary narratives allow me to discover unknown and unexpected realities.

I listen to all kinds of music but it has been a while that I tend to put on Brazilian music to work, concentrate, focus, or just chill.

From Brazil with Warmth Process, Photo: © Matthieu Brasebin

Links
Instagram : @elisabethterrissedeb

Photo Credits: © Elisabeth Terrisse de Botton, © Matthieu Brasebin, © Gina Surià Gúdel, Interview Caroline Steffen