GRAM 7, Nicolas Dorval-Bory Architectes

Issue 7 of the GRAM book series published by Editions QNDMC is a monograph that dives into the philosophy of Nicolas Dorval-Bory Architectes, featuring a selection of both built and unbuilt projects. Started in 2018, the GRAM series explores emerging architectural practices through conversations and interviews with the editorial committee and various practices.

This new opus also marks the arrival of Studio Hugo Blanzat in shaping the graphic direction of the series. On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate your architectural emergence? This idea—evaluating emergence through analog scales—informs the design principle. In medicine, pain is measured via visual analog or numeric scales, which, despite technological evolution, remain the primary method of assessment.

Conceived as a system of graphic variants and invariants, the collection establishes a shared framework where each book belongs to the same family while adapting to distinct practices and contents. Covers oscillate between contrast and near tone-on-tone, using colour as both a narrative and conceptual tool, echoing scales of emergence and reaffirming colour’s role in architectural communication.