Matter and Shape 2026

For MATTER and SHAPE 2026, JA Projects has conceived two pavilions through an expansive, interdisciplinary, and socially engaged approach that positions architecture as operating across both physical and immaterial realms.

The ambition, as articulated by Jayden Ali, is to create spaces that are “supportive in terms of infrastructure and resonant”: supportive in that they enable the activities that take place within them and actively sustain the communities they serve; resonant because they speak to those who occupy them in an instinctive, emotional way, allowing individuals to see themselves reflected in the environment. The aim is to create a spatial condition that facilitates both exchange and conversation—an approach the studio applies to MATTER and SHAPE as readily as it would to the design of a market or civic setting.

JA Projects interprets the 2026 theme of “scale” as a relational framework rather than a purely formal gesture. The design reads the Jardin des Tuileries as a historic site of production, experimentation, and public assembly—from 17th-century silk cultivation to post-revolutionary debates. An external platform extends the salon beyond its threshold, inviting informal gathering. Inside, a long terraced auditorium fosters horizontal participation. Form becomes a tool for structuring new modes of collective exchange.

Materially, the project integrates an infrastructural and ecological lens. A restrained palette of locally sourced timber and hemp blocks anchors the pavilion to the ground and to regional production. The façade, developed with Paris-based Studio Hugo Blanzat, translates moiré—traditionally a silk technique associated with elite interiors—into a contemporary printed paper surface applied to timber panels. The shifting motif makes the theme of the salon legible at the scale of the elevation.

Humble, recyclable materials enable reuse after the fair: panels will be reclaimed by suppliers or donated to the Paris architecture school École Spéciale d’Architecture for use in new small-scale infrastructures across the city. In this way, the legacy of MATTER and SHAPE extends beyond its central site in the Tuileries, allowing its material and social framework to migrate outward and continue generating impact beyond the duration of the salon.

MATTER and SHAPE
Jardin des Tuileries, Paris
6–9 March 2026

Image credits: MickaëlLlorca and Celia Spenard-Ko