VIB architecture was founded in 2001 by Bettina Ballus and Franck Vialet in Paris, VIB is an architectural practice that develops an approach attentive to what fundamentally determines the quality of a place: its use. Trained in engineering and architecture at the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany, Bettina anchors her practice in materiality and constructive logic, enriched by strong on-site experience. Franck, who studied at the schools of architecture in Sydney and then Versailles, cultivates a more transversal perspective, sensitive to context and overall balance. From this complementarity emerges a practice grounded in dialogue, where each project is developed without any predefined model.
Research buildings and laboratories have gradually become their primary field of expertise. These complex and demanding programs require flexibility, precision, and adaptability. VIB has developed a specific approach: embracing these constraints without freezing them, and designing spaces capable of evolving alongside transformations in scientific work. "Happy researchers" encapsulates this ambition, placing well-being at the core of each project —light, thermal comfort, quality of circulation, and spaces for pause and exchange. Because these research environments development, they call for a level of attention commensurate with their importance. This ability to engage with complexity also informs other programs, including education, healthcare, and housing.
For VIB, architecture is not conceived as an autonomous object, but as an intervention embedded within an existing environment. The continuities between a building and its surroundings reflect a form of project ethics, understood as attentiveness to situations rather than a fixed stance.
Within the practice, design is developed as a “functional puzzle,” based on spatial models handled and refined in dialogue with engineers and clients. Testing, shifting, and adjusting space allows synergies to be explored and balances to be fine-tuned before construction begins. Nothing in the form is arbitrary: every decision stems from use or from environmental and constructive necessity, which in turn shapes the building’s form and appearance. And because “the best training is on site,” the construction phase remains a place of learning, adjustment, and collective intelligence.
This methodology gives rise to a culture of prototyping. In Évreux, the Institute for Paramedical Training and its silo parking structure reflect a low-carbon approach using local stone, earth blocks, timber, and bio-based insulation. Selected for the Ecology Study Center in Montpellier, the practice continues to expand its research on climate and the relationship with living systems.
In renovation projects, VIB asserts the conviction that transforming existing buildings—whether heritage or contemporary—has become essential. The practice regularly engages in this often complex exercise, aiming to reintegrate existing structures into new dynamics of use and performance.
Across all projects, a consistent intention remains: to offer more than what is expected. For VIB, the quality of a project is measured not only by what it resolves, but by what it makes possible.
