Jean-Paul Viguier

Jean-Paul Viguier (born 4 May 1946) is a French architect. He is considered one of the world's leading architects and one of the few French ones to work extensively outside of Europe.[1][2]

Jean-Paul Viguier
Viguier in 2009
Born4 May 1946 (1946-05-04) (age 77)
Azas, France
NationalityFrench
OccupationArchitect
PracticeJean-Paul Viguier SA

Early works

Graduated from the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in 1970, Jean-Paul Viguier, with Jean Bossu and Georges-Henri Pingusson, founded the teaching unit n°5. 3 years later, he received a "master of city planning in urban design" at the Harvard Graduate School of Design from Harvard University, and, as he came back in France, he hosted a section of urban architecture in the journal Urbanisme. From 1975-1992, projects were carried out in association with Jean-François Jodry. In 1981, he won the "first prize of the jury" in the competition for the Opera Bastille and then, in 1983, the "first tie price" for the project head Defense. In 1986, he won alongside Alain Provost, Patrick Berger and Gilles Clément, the competition for the construction of the Parc André-Citroën in Paris, whose creation will last 6 years (1992-2002) soon after they won the Seville Expo’92 contest for the French Pavilion.

In 1988, he designed The Atrium : headquarters of the Caisse des Depots et Consignations in Boulogne-Billancourt. In 1990, he won the competition organized by the Public Establishment for the development of the Defence area for the construction of the Heart defense complex at the Esso headquarters location. Then he realized the headquarters of France Télévisions in Paris, as well as many others, such as Alstom in Saint-Ouen and AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb in Rueil-Malmaison.

Jean-Paul Viguier et Associés practice

Jean-Paul Viguier Architecture and Associates works on a very wide range of building types.

In the area of housing, with achievements in Paris (Bercy, Dupleix), Créteil, Asnieres-sur-Seine, Clichy and recently (in 2009) in the 15th district of the capital, rue de la Convention. In the cultural field, the firm realized the Cathedral library (now named "Jean-Falala") at Reims in 2002, and restructured the Natural History Museum of Toulouse. She also designed urban facilities such as the layout of the site of the Pont du Gard and built an archaeological museum on the same site in 2000.

The fields of activity of the practice is completed by the making of office buildings, as Angle in Boulogne-Billancourt (2008), seat of the Journal L'Équipe, the headquarters of IBM Europe in Bois-Colombes (2009), the seat of Prisma Presse inGennevilliers or Heart Mediterranean, the islet of D3 ZAC Joliette Marseille (2008). Finally, the Majunga tower is located in the heart of La Défense.

In the same time, the agency develops an international activity: taking care of the construction of the Hotel Sofitel Water Tower in Chicago for Accor in 2002 and working in a draft new city in Malaysia. In spring 2008, in Budapest central square, the Vorosmarty Plaza Project was opened to the public: a mixed building dressed in a glass envelope. In June 2008, the McNay Museum of Art in San Antonio, the first American modern art museum built by a French architect, was inaugurated. The agency also worked in Morocco at the construction of the headquarters of Morocco Telecom in Rabat in 2009.

As it is rightly noted on their website: “The agency has thus shown an ability to build in various parts of the world and strives to bring to its projects the best possible responses to the relationship between buildings and their environment.”[3]

Awards and personal titles

Jean-Paul Viguier was awarded the grand prize of the Cities Monitor for the Parc André-Citroën, got a mention for the prix de l’equerre d’Argent of Architecture for his industrial hotel activity building rue d ' Aubervilliers in Paris19th, and the Architectural Record-Business Week Award in New York for the head office of Astra Pharmaceutical Headquarters in Rueil-Malmaison. The Sofitel Chicago Water Tower has received "the best building since ten years award" in 2003 by the AIA Chicago; This building is listed among the "150 favorite buildings of America" by the American Institute of Architects, and got the MIPIM Award in 2005. The Pont du Gard has the ”Grand site de France " label.

He has been elected member of the Academy of Architecture since 1993, academy for which he was president from 1999 to 2002. He is also a founding member of AFEX (French Architects for export). He was appointed "honorary Fellow" of the AIA (American Institute of Architects) in 2001 and Honorary Professor of Tongji University in Shanghai, China.

Furthermore, a majority of his firm projects are frequently awarded for environmental distinctions and certifications : BREEAM, BBC, HQE.

Notable works
French Pavilion, Sevilla Expo '92

For further information about the projects go to the Firm Website

References
  1. Details in architecture:creative detailing by some of the world's leading architects. Images Publishing. 1999. p. 202. ISBN 1-86470-038-6.
  2. Jodidio, Philip (2002). Jean-Paul Viguier:architecture 1992-2002. Birkhäuser Verlag. ISBN 3-7643-6500-5.
  3. "viguier".
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