Author of Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle airport (1967-1974), whose sleek and resolutely innovative design he conceived, Paul Andreu (1938-2018) is one of the key figures in the architecture of the second half of the 20th century.
"Whenever I think about a project, I don't create a box to organize movement in, but I design the walls according to the movement that people will make inside," said this champion of the curved line.
Besides the concrete shells and fascinating spirals of airport terminals which he would specialize in, from Jakarta to Dubai via Shanghai, the large curved glass roof of the Beijing Opera House – a gigantic ellipsoidal dome of titanium and glass placed on the water in 2008 – or the glass sphere that seems to float on the ocean which constitutes the fantastic maritime museum of Osaka, to name only two of his master works, attest to this propensity for purity and undulating forms.
Coupled with a remarkable economy of materials, this quest for pure lines, defined by the perfect geometry of the circle, makes Paul Andreu a worthy heir to the great architects of Antiquity and the Renaissance, but also to another master of curves and elasticity to whom he claimed descent: the great Finnish architect and designer Alvar Aalto. A line of gentleness and fluidity, creating "ever-changing perspectives," can be discovered in the retrospective that the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine in Paris is dedicating to the architect who was also a painter and writer.
« PAUL ANDREU. ARCHITECTURE IS AN ART »
CITY OF ARCHITECTURE AND HERITAGE
1, PLACE DU TROCADÉRO, PARIS 16TH
UNTIL JUNE 2, 2024
CITEDELARCHITECTURE.FR
Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle Airport Terminal 1 (1967-1974), from the main access road. Photographic print, undated
ADP Group Archives © ADP/Paul Andreu – Adagp, Paris 2024
Osaka Maritime Museum, also known as "Sea Sphere," Japan (1992-2000). Photograph, undated
