Construction of workshop 1965 (≈ 1965)
Self-construction by Edmond Lay in Barbazan-Debat.
1977
Final installation
Final installation 1977 (≈ 1977)
The agency settles after partial completion.
1996
Closing of the Agency
Closing of the Agency 1996 (≈ 1996)
Stopping activity after Lay's stroke.
30 novembre 2020
Historical Monument
Historical Monument 30 novembre 2020 (≈ 2020)
Full protection of the workshop and its foundations.
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui
Aujourd'hui Aujourd'hui (≈ 2025)
Position de référence.
Heritage classified
In total, the workshop built by architect Edlond Lay, including the foundations of the unfinished part of the workshop, with the ground of the plot on which is located, located 14 avenue du Pic du Midi, place-dite Lasbats, on Parcel No. 462 of section D of the cadastre, as delimited on the plan annexed to the decree: classification by order of 30 November 2020
Key figures
Edmond Lay - Architect and Creator
Designed and self-built the workshop in 1965.
Frank Lloyd Wright - Source of inspiration
Major influence on organic style.
Paolo Soleri - Mentor in the United States
Collaboration in 1961 on utopian cities.
Origin and history
The studio of Edmond Lay, located in Barbazan-Debat in the Upper Pyrénées, was built in 1965 by the architect after his return from the United States. This building, self-built with the help of students and employees, reflects a synthesis between American modernity and organic approach, inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright and Paolo Soleri. The building, with an area of more than 500 m2, incorporates raw materials such as concrete, wood and glass, with contrasting facades: massive walls to the east and north, and large bay windows to the south and west. Its interior arrangement, both rational and fluid, includes a zenithically lit central " pit", surrounded by offices and workspaces.
Edmond Lay, trained in the Fine Arts of Paris and marked by his travels to North Africa and the United States, developed a sensitive architecture, centered on the harmony between man and his environment. The workshop, classified as Historical Monument in 2020, embodies its avant-garde approach, combining brutalism and organicism. The building, now inactive since 1996 because of its creator's AVC, bears witness to a pivotal period when Lay imposed his style in the South-West, combining structural innovation and landscape integration. The references to Wright are palpable, particularly in the treatment of framing, materials and light.
The workshop is distinguished by its quadrilateral sloping on the ground, closed on the road side by textured concrete plates and open on the landscape. Inside, sober spaces, covered with concrete and wood, organize fluid circulation between offices and workshops. Lay's personal office, in a dominant position, overlooks the " pit", a luminous and open central space. This contrast between partitioned areas and open volumes illustrates his quest for a balance between privacy and transparency. The initial, more ambitious, project provided for an expansion that had never been completed, and which still had staggered foothills.
Ranked for its entirety, including the unfinished foundations, the workshop symbolizes the legacy of Edmond Lay, winner of the 1984 National Grand Prize for Architecture. His work, marked by achievements such as the headquarters of the Caisse d'Epargne de Bordeaux (classified in 2014) or the IUT de Tarbes, is part of a humanist approach, where architecture dialogue with its context. Today, safeguard projects are being considered to preserve this unique testimony of modern architecture in Occitanie.
