Atelier Christian de Portzamparc

Profile

Born in Casablanca in 1944, Christian de Portzamparc is an architect and urban planner. He graduated from the Paris School of Fine Arts in 1969 and set up his agency, the Atelier Christian de Portzamparc, in 1980. In 2010, the agencies of Elizabeth Portzamparc and of Christian de Portzamparc pool their resources, every designers keeping his team and specificity. Based in Paris, France, the Atelier is a global operation with a close-knit team of 100 employees who enjoy positive working relationships with established partners around the world. Organized into several “studios”, they work with partners on a wide variety of ambitious international projects.

The Atelier Christian de Portzamparc works on construction projects of all sizes together with a wide variety of construction programs. Each project represents a new challenge requiring extensive research and experimentation, from the initial designs to the search for construction solutions. The Atelier is also an “urban laboratory” that performs urban and structural analyses, a technique developed by Christian de Portzamparc since the 1970’s based on projects “manifestoes”, competitions and studies. This has allowed him to develop his methods and apply theoretical research and analysis principles to a multitude of practical situations.

Building on Christian de Portzamparc’s renewed vision of the urban structure, which he calls the “open block”, the Atelier’s work focuses on research, the quality of living spaces and understanding the city. From unique and outstanding buildings to new approaches to urban planning, the town is indeed the building block of his work, developed in parallel and conjunction with three key elements: landmark buildings, towers, and neighbourhoods, from blocks to the development of major cities.

In 1994, Christian de Portzamparc became the first French architect to gain the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize at the age of 50. Neighbourhoods and city districts are central to Christian de Portzamparc’s practical and intellectual contribution to the current architectural debate. Recognizing the central importance of the infinitely subtle human context, his interventions operate at a number of different levels, both as an architect in the purist sense and as an urban planner.

Landmark buildings often become urban benchmarks or symbols that draw an area together to create the essential marks which the immense urban landscape of metropolises requires. Based on these large unique objects, urban poles of attraction, the interior and exterior spaces intersect. Since the 80’s, Christian de Portzamparc’s enduring passion for music has led him to enter a series of music and dance-related architectural competitions, including the Paris Opera Ballet School in Nanterre, France (awarded the Equerre d’Argent 1988) and the Cité de la Musique in Paris, France (awarded the Equerre d’Argent 1995), the Philharmonie Luxembourg (International Architecture Award 2008 by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum), or Cidade das Artes in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil (International Architecture Award 2008 by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum, “Grand Prix AFEX 2014 of the French architecture in the world“, awarded by the association French Architects Overseas).

Christian de Portzamparc is also known for landmark's project as the Cidade das Arte in Rio. Completed in 2013 it is a unique concert hall in the world that can be transformed into a opera hall. It houses a theatre, a chamber music and popular music hall, a movie theatre, dance and rehearsal rooms, exhibition spaces, and restaurants. In July, 2009, the international competition for the Africa’s largest Theatre New Art which took place saw projects from Zaha Hadid, Franck O. Gerhy, Rem Koolhaas and Aziz Lazrak. The site, the vast Place Mohammed V in Casablanca, was a brainteaser. Portzamparc’s project was to breathe life into this vast institutional square and give a contemporary twist to its classical composition. This winning project - a1,800-seat main hall is designed to host musical concerts, classical theatre plays and various other large-scale performances - gives the impression of being composed of several detached houses, like a medina in the city.

From the city to the object, Christian de Portzamparc has worked on towers since his first projects in 1974, when he designed a water tower covered with vegetation, which became a poetic landmark for a new city in Marne-la-Vallée, France, followed in 1991 by the Lille Tower, a unique, sculptural object built over a railway station in Rem Koolhaas’s “Euralille” district (completed in 1995).

The towers created by Christian de Portzamparc are the fruit of his research into vertical volume and its sculptural dimension, which he has crystalized into his characteristic prismatic forms. His best-known tower is the LVMH Tower in New York, USA, completed in 1999 (Business Week and Architectural Record award 2006), followed by the competition for the Hearst tower in 2000 and soon to be accompanied by the residential tower, Prims on Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York, USA, approved by the City Planning authorities in 2004, which was opened in late May 2015. And completed in 2014, with its 300 meters high, the One57 tower in New York is hosting a luxury hotel occupies the first 20 floors and 130 super-luxury condominiums in co-ownership, among which some offer breath-taking views of Central Park and the “skyline” of the city.

Currently under study are two towers in Paris-La Défense including offices and a hotel complex, the Sisters towers, scheduled for delivery in 2022. The 603-feet high headquarters of French bank Société Générale at La Défense district in Paris, the Granite Tower (completed in 2008) is the first sustainable high-rise building in France (H.E.Q. certified, the French equivalent of the North American LEED).

In 2011, Bernard Arnault commissioned Christian de Portzamparc with the construction of a Dior flagship store in the elegant neighbourhood of Cheongdam-dong, on Apgujeong Avenue in Seoul. Inspired by the haute couture creation of this famous house, the building is a manifesto with white curves undulating toward the sky in a subtle dissymmetry that evokes the cloth at the genesis of every couture piece.

Scheduled to open in 2017, the "U Arena" is an “indoor” stadium and the ground of the "Racing-Metro 92" rugby team, in the Hauts-de-Seine region. A French sporting legend since 1882, the club was taken over in 2006 by its current president Jacky Lorenzetti. The stadium will also be used as a large performance space accommodating 10,000 to 40,000 people. It will be the largest indoor multipurpose facility with a variable capacity in France. Located in the town of Nanterre, close to the "Grande Arche" in La Défense, this project falls within the scope of the "Seine-Arche operation of national interest” – the status accorded by the State to territorial projects which are aligned with national strategies and objectives.

In 2013, Christian de Portzamparc is commissioned by the city to design the Suzhou Cultural Centre. It is one of a series of prestigious projects as part of the Wujiang Lakefront Masterplan. As the flagship project of this brand-new locality, the city is developing a remarkable site of over 100,000 sq.m. It lies at the convergence of one of China’s most beautiful lakes and the major urban perspective of the new city.


Awards

2016
● The “Mediterranean Mimar Sinan Prize“ awarded by UMAR, Union of Mediterranean Architects, for his architectural work.
● International Architecture Award 2016 by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design for the House of Dior, in Seoul, South Korea.

2014
● “Grand Public AFEX 2014 of the French architecture in the world” awarded by the association French Architects Overseas, for the quality of the concrete building, both a tribute to Brazilian architecture and consistent with the work of Christian de Portzamparc.

2013
● International Architecture Award 2013 by The Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design for the Château Cheval Blanc’s winery, in Saint-Emilion, France.

2012
● 1st PINI prize, category “Building”, awarded by the Brazilian specialized press group Editora PINI for the Cidade das Artes in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

2010
● Granite tower First of French bank Société Générale certified high-rise building High Environmental Quality (HEQ®) in France.
● Belgian Building Awards for the Hergé Museum in Belgium.
● Prize “Grand Public des Architectures“ of Pavillon de l’Arsenal for “Galeo“, Headquaters of Bouygues Immobilier.

2009
● Atelier Christian de Portzamparc winner of the Prize “Most Innovative Companies in Architecture“ by the American site and magazine “Fast Company“.

2008-2009
● Exhibition “Portzamparc in the city”, in Almere, The Netherlands, for “30 years of Architecture in Almere“ Award for « De Citadel ». A presentation of Christian de Portzamparc’s landmark projects.

2008
● International Consultation Research for “The greater Paris Challenge“.
● Awarded the “Créateurs sans Frontières” trophy, presented by the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
● “International Architecture Award 2008“ by Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design for the Cidade das Artes in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil.
● “International Architecture Award 2008“ by Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design for the Philharmonie Luxembourg.

2007
● “Rêver la Ville”, an exhibition that presented Christian de Portzamparc’s mostrecent projects and unveiled some of his new creations. It was organized as the opening exhibition of the Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine in March 2007 and took place at the Palais de Chaillot in Paris from the 21st March to 16th September 2007.

2006
● The Collège de France called upon Christian de Portzamparc to be the holder of the first chair in Artistic Creation.
● « 30 years of Architecture in Almere » prize for « De Citadel », Netherlands.

2005
● “MIPIM Award“ for the remodelling of the building for the French press group Le Monde in Paris.

2004
● The Great Urbanism Prize awarded by the Ministère du Développement et de l’Urbanisme and selected by an international jury to congratulate a work with achievements of high quality combined with city vision and philosophy articulating theoretical concepts and concrete realisations, while developing an optimistic vision for the future through his works and writings.
● “Plural and Singular” at the Fine Arts Center in Lille (France) as part of the exhibition “Lille 2004, European Culture Capital”.

2001
● Business Week and Architectural Record Award for the LVMH tower in New York.

1998
● AIA - Christian de Portzamparc becomes an honorary fellow of the American Institute of Architects and is licensed in the state of New York.

1996
● Officier de l’Ordre du Mérite, Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur.
● “Scènes d’Atelier”, an exhibition on all of Christian de Portzamparc’s projects at the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris, France.

1995
● “Equerre d’Argent” awarded by the French press group Le Moniteur for the City of Music Conservatory of Music and Dance in Paris.

1994
● Pritzker Prize of Architecture awarded by the Hyatt Foundation.

1992
● Great National Prize of Architecture awarded by the French Ministry of Urbanism and Transport for the City of Music.
● “Médaille d’Argent” awarded by the French Academy of Architecture.

1990
● The Great Prize of Architecture of the City of Paris awarded by the Mayor of Paris.

1989
● Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters awarded by the French Ministry of Culture.

1988
● “Equerre d’Argent” awarded by the French press group Le Moniteur for the Paris Opera ballet school in Nanterre.

1969
● Graduated of the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris.

1975
● “PAN VII“ awarded by the French Ministry of Urbanism and Transports for “Les Hautes Formes“ in Paris, France.