A circle, a round, a square: these elementary geometric shapes were chosen by typographer, urban planner and architect Pierre Faucheux (1924-1999) to signify three practices that each, in their own way, question space. He moved passionately from one to the next, seeking to systematize, as he put it, a “writing of space” that this book explores.

The book surveys Pierre Faucheux’s diverse trajectories, attempting to understand the back-and-forth between writing space and book architecture; between reading spaces and reading spaces.

This publication reviews the history of the artistic director at Livre de Poche, who also worked with a large number of French publishers during the Trente Glorieuses (J.-J. Pauvert, Éditions Éric Losfeld, Le Seuil, Éditions Galilée…). Above all, the book opens up a lesser-known side of Faucheux's career, that of his adventures with the Surrealists, his practice of photo-collage and his architectural experiments.

Reading Pierre Faucheux’s practice of space is done here by sharing voices, including his own, and observing objects whose memory weaves a rich and plural whole.

Authors: Catherine Guiral, PhD in design history from the Royal College of Art, teacher, graphic designer; with Brice Domingues, graphic designer.

Foreword: Emmanuël Souchier
Visual essay: officeabc
Photographs: Anna-George Lopez
Translation: Derek Byrne