Dominique Perrault

Carrying on its commitment to make modern architecture better understood and acknowledged, the Pompidou Centre has spent the summer paying homage to French architect Dominique Perrault (Clermont Ferrand, 1953). The name of this architect immediately brings to mind the French National Library, opened in 1995. Standing in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, it is a major landmark with a huge esplanade framed by four transparent towers at each corner. Dominique Perrault loves to cultivate this type of virtual form – this transgression of the values traditionally attributed to national monuments. His sense of simplicity, of “non-architecture” has ushered in a new vision of architecture purpose. For thirty years, his professional career path has moved forward at top speed. Over 200 projects designed or completed across the world form the basis of a body of work that is not limited to merely building, but rather invents new grounds for expression and constantly seeks to push and breach traditional boundaries. The architect does not create buildings, but rather landscapes. Basic ideas transform sites with minimal intervention. He is not afraid of using empty space to arouse a sense of resonance.

“In my opinion, architecture represents the mastery of light, materials and dimensions” he said in 1995. And that remains true to this day. He still chooses materials for their plastic values with the aim of obtaining, with light and colours, an atmosphere that will change a space in relation to its size and its environment. Perrault is perfectly willing to use framework, weave, and metal mesh screens to vary the effect of transparency with exceptional sensitivity. It is precisely because this builder is also an artist that his works change what they take from contemporary reality into forms to build a dynamic image interwoven with social and cultural values. His most recent projects bear testimony to the wealth provided by this approach. Around the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, some urban planning is emerging that is full of potential. The construction of a new campus for the Ewha University in Seoul provides exceptional energy efficiency and user comfort. The future Tennis Centre in Madrid can be adapted and changed according to any requirements and conditions. The Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg fits quite happily in a sensitive location. This approach also enables urban challenges and techniques to be overcome by two hotels currently under construction – one at the Milan exhibition centre, and the Hotel Me by Melia on Barcelona’s Diagonal, or even the “twin” towers of Vienna. For each piece of work, a language is used that no academic grammarian can conquer and which, either because of or in spite of that, manages to update the most basic principles of the architectural discipline.

"At the firm, we place no emphasis on any hierarchy between registers, disciplines, or materials", says Dominique Perrault at the exhibition. "Everything happens at the same time, instantly. We know that a lot of time is needed for architectural work and that the lifespan of the resulting work stretches far into the future – but speed is the driving force behind design. We are constantly in movement, researching and experimenting." He insists that "the whole process for making a building hinges on the often dazzling meeting of a concept and a context, between and idea and a place. This wonderful moment, this sensitive meeting is pure passion."

www.perraultarchitecte.com


1. Dominique Perrault
2. European Court of Justice, Luxembourg (1996-2008)
Built around the existing building with a ring built on stilts, the construction of twin towers and the introduction of a large straight gallery linking all the activities of the site together. Used across the whole project, gilded anodized aluminium mesh gives it an unmistakable identity.
3. Women’s University of Ewha, Seoul (2004-2008)
A simple play on spaces set side by side, this building is made up of a cube and a 30 storey tower which constitutes a new landmark.
4. Hotel Me by Melia, Barcelona(1999-2008)
L’edificio , in un gioco di volumi accollati, si compone di un cubo e di una torre di 30 piani che offre un nuovo punto panoramistico.
5. Two towers for a 3 and 4 star hotel, Milan (2006-2008)
Although visually the hotel appears to be two imposing blocks, their skewed effect creates an unbalanced, tense feeling that shifts architectural codes towards a plastic abstraction.
6. Olympic Tennis Centre, Madrid (2002-2009)
Integrated into a colossal urban engineering operation, the tennis centre attempts to disguise its size through the use of translucent metal mesh coverings, but its most distinctive feature is the roof, broken up into different parts which open independently, thereby creating a varying geometrical landscape.
7. Mariinsky II Theatre, Saint Petersburg (2003-2009)
A gilded sheet draped over the building shape, freeing up huge spaces, extending the public area within the building. Its architecture is made up of pure, smooth geometrical forms, all strictly used for the functional requirements.
8. DC Towers, Vienna (2002-2010)
Two towers positioned face to face, they are slightly turned in the direction of the river so as to enter into a dialogue with the rest of the city. A set of folds dominates the glass façades opening up onto a public area.