Yann Follain
C001698
France / Architectural Design, Exhibition Design
Yann Follain is the founder of WY-TO's Singapore practice and co-founder of WY-TO architects in Paris. He was named, together with Pauline Gaudry, co-founder of WY-TO architects in Paris, one of Europe's most important and emerging young architects and designers in Europe 40 Under 40 for 2016 by The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design.
He has built a rich multicultural experience from his formative years in Indonesia, France, and Singapore. Embracing multidisciplinary approaches to grow the Singapore practice has established Yann's diverse expertise in sustainable architecture, cultural curation and exhibition design. Together with his team, WY-TO received the Future-Maker award at the Beijing Global Innovation Conference and an Honourable Mention at the international Red Dot Design Competition in 2016.
He is a frequent speaker on tropical sustainability and museum curation in the region and and has been appointed Festival Director of Archifest 2018 (Singapore Architecture Festival). Yann is also an Associate Member of the Singapore Institute of Architects since 2013 and served as a member of the Advisory & Commissioning Panel for the Public Art Trust within the National Arts Council Singapore from 2015 to 2017. He is a member of the International Council of Museums (ICOM) from 2017.
He received his Master of Architecture degree from one of France's leading institutions, the National Architecture School of Higher Education of Paris-Belleville in 2005.
www.wy-to.com
Portfolio
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ARBORESCENCE, Angers - France
Winning project of the international competition Imagine Angers
At the fringe of the historical district and a new urban development, the site enjoys the tranquillity of the Maine river bank. The unique architectural identity of ‘Arborescence’ pays tribute to Angers’ historical heritage, merging the vibrant urban centre to the natural landscape.
Its intergenerational program embodies a contemporary lifestyle offering 15 exceptional residential units, a senior housing residence, a co-working space and a childcare centre. Directly linked to the ecological corridor of Angers, the central garden is densely vegetated, emerging as an oasis for urban biodiversity. -
ARCHIPELAGO SCHOOL, Sentul, Java - Indonesia
Sustainable campus
Archipelago School is a community-integrated campus, designed to educate the conservationists of tomorrow. Students, teachers, staff and the local community share an environment where they discover, learn and work towards living purposeful lives.
Leveraging principles of traditional Javanese architecture, Archipelago School seamlessly embeds itself into the canopy of native trees of the Javanese natural environment. The school’s diverse programs, such as art, cooking, sports, adventure, faith and performance, are separated and distributed throughout the natural surroundings to minimise the School’s impact on its environment. -
GREEN BREEZE, Jakarta - Indonesia
Applied Research for Sustainable Tropical Architecture
The Green Breeze goes beyond conventional tropical sustainable design to make a positive impact on its surroundings.
At the macro scale, the towers are twisted and sliced according to the main sustainable parameters of sun and wind direction. The scheme was designed with a green bridge, which more-than replaces the existing vegetation on site.
Our challenge was to design for dangerous levels of air pollution all year-round. Air purification occurs as the wind passes through the building’s second skin system, where creeper plants absorb the harmful pollutants in the air.
In addition to allowing for natural ventilation, Green Breeze is an air filter on the urban scale, exemplifying an architecture which responds to site limitations, to create a vision for alternative sustainable living in Jakarta. -
MOBILE LOTUS, Tonle Sap Lake – Cambodia
Sustainable architecture - Community platform
Mobile Lotus aims to provide holistic solutions to the current critical issues for Tonle Sap Lake, its people, its environment, its flora and its fauna.
Our objective is to build a network that can enable people to communicate and share efficient methods of farming, fishing and thus inhabiting the lake ecosystem.
Built of locally available material and easy to assemble, our lotus inspired architectural ensemble offers sources for drinking water, electricity and healthcare. Mobile, it reaches floating villages to inform communities about various causes and remedies of the polluted water.
Learning by seeing is the prime motive of this platform. We re-introduce ideas like crop-rotation, bio-gas plants, waste treatment, vetiver systems, and solar energy among many other solutions into one-stop platform. Acting as a toolbox, villagers are engaged in the process: from passive to active. -
CONTEMPORARY VERNACULAR, Conca, Corsica - France
Holiday House
Contemporary Vernacular is a holiday house in the South-East of Corsica, the largest French island in the Mediterranean Sea.
Thick walls are made out of stones, all windows and doors use local wood while the concrete floor has been cast using timber planks revealing its genuine pattern. This approach combined with high efficient mechanical equipment ensure the project is sustainable and environmental friendly.
On one hand, the external look of the house reveals an ensemble deeply rooted in its Vernacular context. While on the other hand, the interior layout and design atmosphere suits perfectly the Contemporary lifestyle of its inhabitant. -
CHILDREN'S FESTIVAL: SMALL BIG DREAMERS, The National Gallery, Singapore
Exhibition & Graphic design
Dreams can take you to wondrous places. They motivate you to find and express yourself, and give you the courage to become greater. The exhibition is inspired by a Singaporean artist Lee Wen whose story exemplifies the power of the mind and art to create infinite possibilities. Interactive installations and activities unveil different forms of movement using shapes, colours and patterns. -
THE NATIONAL GALLERY, Singapore
Exhibition design of the permanent collections
Presenting a complex and varied collection of thousands of works from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (in media including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography and video) within two gazetted national monuments was a task of considerable complexity.
Underpinning the design approach is the intent to offer a ‘promenade’ experience of the collections and the building interiors.
The exhibition design for the two permanent collections, elected to focus on colour, light and vistas, supports the visitor’s reading of the diverse artworks and the architectural heritage. -
JUNGLE ESCAPE, Singapore
Interior design of Farm to Beauty Outlet
Spa Esprit is one of Singapore's most successful homegrown beauty brands, providing unique aromatherapy-inspired beauty treatments and products. Their new salon in a shopping mall on Orchard Road offers a calming and revitalizing journey through aromatherapy. Its uniqueness is to develop the innovative farm to beauty concept where plants & herbs are cultivated and hand harvested on the rooftop farm and transformed into beauty ingredients. The serene atmosphere and indoor greenery contribute towards a relaxing getaway from the busy shopping district of the Lion City.
