Paul Andreu Architect

Trained at the École polytechnique, the École des ponts et chaussées as well as at the École des beauxarts, Paul Andreu is one of the major figures of the international architectural scene of the second half of the 20th century. He joined the Aéroports de Paris company in 1963, and was entrusted, at the age of 29, with the design of the new terminal 1 of Paris-Nord, the future Roissy-Charles-de-Gaulle (1967-1974), built as an emblem of modernity and immediately followed by the worksite of terminal 2 (1972-1982).
 

After the first oil shock, the company’s architectural activity turned to locations outside France (Abu Dhabi, Jakarta, Dar es Salam, Cairo, etc.) and imposed Paul Andreu as one of the principal architects of airport architecture. In the 1980s, when he was responsible for the execution of the Arche de La Défense (1984 - 1989) after Johann Otto von Spreckelsen’s plans, the architect won several major commissions in Japan
and China, including the functional concept of the Kansai airport (1987-1988), the maritime museum of Osaka (1993-2000) and the Shanghai-Pudong airport (1996-1999).

Paul Andreu knew how to give an architectural expression to flight, whether it is real or poetic.
 

Deployed through a theme-based itinerary, the exhibition, which will present 280 original works, will evoke this desire that is both telluric and aerial through three major scenographic systems: the exhibition’s spinal column, the 69 sketchbooks form a whole, a genuine narrative of creation that bears witness to the architect’s design process. Reactivated for the event, a group of original spherical models encapsulate the spatial symbolism developed in the course of the projects, while Paul Andreu’s writings, spectacularly presented, bring up a parallel narration on architecture, an intellectual and research work before the builder’s gesture.