As a studio, we’re drawn to artists whose process reflects the way we approach architecture—through a quiet exploration of material, an attunement to light, and a sensitivity to the passage of time. The work of French artist Thomas Paquet exemplifies this sensibility.

 

Paquet’s practice is both poetic and exacting. He works with early photographic techniques—such as cyanotypes and the wet collodion process—not to reproduce imagery, but to investigate the elemental relationship between light, time, and space. His process often brings together scientific instruments and natural phenomena in a way that feels almost alchemical.

 

In his series L’ombre des heures, for example, Paquet uses a gnomon—an ancient tool that casts a shadow to mark time—to expose photosensitive paper. As the shadow shifts, it creates a cyanotype that is not a picture in the traditional sense, but a trace of time passing. The result is abstract, luminous, and deeply rooted in the origins of photography.

 

This interest in the ephemeral—light, shadow, movement—echoes many of the ideas we return to in architecture. Just as a building frames light and creates rhythm through repetition and stillness, Paquet’s work captures atmosphere rather than image. There’s a meditative quality to it. A sense of presence.

 

We’re inspired by how his pieces distil complexity into quiet clarity. They invite contemplation. They slow you down. And they remind us that light and time are not just tools of design, but materials in their own right.