Ker Kraken, Participatory Architecture by the Sea
Doriane Direur
Masques is an architecture studio founded in 2024 in Douarnenez, France, by Doriane Direur and Valentin Bergès. The practice develops its work and research within a territory of strong identity: Brittany. Masques works with what is already there. Its projects and investigations focus solely on elements that can be reactivated and places that can be re‑inhabited. Through its work, the studio seeks to reconnect architecture with its territory by favouring regional know‑how and materials, simple—sometimes archaic—solutions, and reuse. The studio’s projects take the form of “masks” that aim to contribute to a (re)definition of Breton architecture.
Notable projects and distinctions :
- "Ker Kraken", a participatory work‑site in Plouguerneau,
- “In a state of Ruins”, Honourable Mention, Terraviva Competitions,
- JAPO Price (Jeunes Architectes et Paysagistes à l’Ouest) –
Young Architects and Landscape Designers in the West
Mogueran, a hamlet of Plouguerneau in Finistère, France
For the past four years, every summer for ten days, we have organised and run the Ker Kraken participatory worksite, bringing together around twenty volunteers. Each edition has its own theme. In earlier years we explored bamboo, weaving techniques, sewing, and even earth‑moving; this summer, plant and animal fibres take centre stage. The aim is to test new, locally rooted ways of building with bio‑based and recycled materials. Each structure is conceived as temporary, lasting only for the ten days of the workshop: we build it, then dismantle it, leaving the site exactly as we found it.
Ker Kraken revives simple, sometimes archaic, building practices and adapts them to contemporary needs, always drawing on local culture and the resources at hand. Every session deepens our knowledge of the biome in which—and with which—we work. Salty Atlantic winds, granite outcrops, hardy endemic plants, and recyclable local materials all become opportunities to create together.
What kind of soil forms this ria—the drowned river valley that lines Brittany’s coast? Can we build with it, and if so, how? The workshop invites us to engage with the surrounding landscape and the local know-how. In few words, we experiment, fail, try again, and solve construction challenges using only what the site provides.
Over time, Ker Kraken has become a genuine micro‑community: volunteers and neighbours cook together, trade know‑how, lend tools, and throw lively home‑made parties that keep the site buzzing after sunset. When the ten‑day build ends, the same network rallies for pop‑up repairs and small cultural gatherings. These moments are the perfect occasion to dream up the next edition of Ker Kraken: what will the theme be, and what will we tackle together? In this way, the project is stitched into everyday life—and its most enduring architecture is the human fabric it weaves.