Dominique Perrault

Biography

French architect and urban planner Dominique Perrault (1953) opened his professional studio in Paris in 1981. His first appointments included construction of a school of engineering and an industrial building in Paris (completed between 1987 and 1990) testifying to the cultural and technical modernisation of France at that time.

These are two elements that recur frequently throughout the architect’s production, often underlining “the alliance between the French monument-object and advanced technology” (Garcias).

His home designs, on the other hand, approach American minimalism with “complex cladding over simple volumes”. In 1989 he won the competition to build the National Library in Paris, constructed in 1994 with a number of changes over the original design.

The Bibliothèque earned Perrault international renown, and in 1997 it won him the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion Award.

Projects from the nineties outside France include the Velodrome and swimming pool in Berlin, built for the 2000 Olympics (which were then awarded to Sydney): a highly expressive “metal disc” which makes an incisive statement on the land, despite its underlying geometric simplicity, extending several metres below ground level.

Other projects worth noting include the Lucie-Aubrac mediateque in Venissieux (Europa 2002 award); Innsbruck town hall (2002); the expansion of the European Court of Justice (2008); and the Diagonal 123 Office Building in Barcelona (2009).

In recent years he has built numerous multipurpose skyscrapers, including the Fukoku Tower in Osaka, “La Liberté” in Groningen, DC Towers in Vienna and “The Blade” in Seoul (the latter two under construction).

Current projects include the new Longchamp hippodrome in Paris and redevelopment of Piazza Garibaldi in Naples. Dominique Perrault wins the Praemium Imperiale for Architecture 2015.

Dominique Perrault famous works and projects

- The Blade, Seoul (South Korea), 2016

- Vienna DC Towers, Vienna (Austria), 2014-2016

- Redevelopment of Piazza Garibaldi, Naples (Italy), 2015

- Pont De Sèvres Towers, Boulogne-Billancourt (France), 2015

- “La Liberté” Towers, Groningen (the Netherlands), 2011

- Arganzuela Footbridge, Madrid (Spain), 2011

- Fukoku Tower, Osaka (Japan), 2010

- Onix Office Building, Lille (France), 2009

- Olympic Tennis Centre, Madrid (Spain), 2009

- Extension of the European Court of Justice, Luxembourg, 2008