ArchitectureTalks 2008

Atelier Christian de Portzamparc
architect, Paris

© photo: Emilien Urbano

André Terzibachian is one of five studio managers who lead the ninety-strong architectural team in major projects at Atelier Christian de Portzamparc. He has been collaborating with Christian de Portzamparc for eleven years, both as head designer and as project manager.

Founded in 1980 by Christian de Portzamparc, the eponymous Atelier possesses an unusually clear and consistent vision, devising highly original spaces that serve a variety of functions at an urban level. With its projects, it demonstrates that contemporary developments can be woven into the urban fabric, transforming a site rather than dividing it. This concept of urban transformation stemming from "occupied voids" led to research on the "intimate bloc", a form of micro-urbanism according to which an interactive human domain relies on volumes being created at a scale lying between that of the city block and that of individual buildings. A successful example is given by De Citadel in Almere/NL, realised under the supervision of André Terzibachian: a multi-layered shopping and apartment complex with a cubist touch in the new city centre, two shopping streets at ground level, a green high plateau on top with 46 playful, colourful terraced houses and a six-story residential tower. This "city within the city" is part of OMA/Rem Koolhaas‘ master plan for the densification of the city centre. From an urbanistic perspective, De Citadel is the cornerstone which ensures the functioning of the city centre. One year after its completion (2006), citizens have unreservedly adopted the project as a central element of their new city centre. The project won the 2006 Almere Architecture Award.

André Terzibachian graduated in 1990 and worked for several architectural firms as well as the Architectural Department of Bouygues International Engineering, France’s premier contractor, before joining the Atelier in 1997. His previous experience on large scale projects, such as the François Mitterrand Public Library in Paris, a skyscraper development in Bangkok/Thailand, and Kuala Lumpur’s central station roof, led him to play a key role in the studio. He currently manages projects primarily in the United States and the Middle East, such as the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Hollywood, Los Angeles (2007 - in progress); the Riverside Center project, a high-rise mixed-use development on the West side of Manhattan, New York City (2005 - in progress); a high-rise housing tower in Manhattan, New York City (2006 – in progress); the Beirut Gate project, a high-rise mixed-use development in Beirut, Lebanon (2005 – in progress); and a high-rise mixed-use tower in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (2008 - in progress). Other significant projects he has managed include: the Westend Plaza, an urban entertainment and retail centre with cinemas in Frankfurt, Germany (1999); the Moulin & Madone twin towers in Monaco (1997); the Espace Lumière office complex in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris (1996 - 1999); the Zeil project, a mixed-use urban development with towers in Frankfurt, Germany (2002); the city centre block C So Bella, a retail and housing project in Las Vegas (2005); the Signal Tower, a mixed-use tower in La Défense, France (2007); the Sheikh Zayed Museum in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (2007); and the competition for the extension of the seaside urban development of Monaco, which is a collaborative project involving Atelier Christian de Portzamparc, Elizabeth de Portzamparc Agency, OMA Rem Koolhaas and Frank O. Gehry (2007 - in progress).

Further major projects realised by Atelier Christian de Portzamparc are a.o. the Ecole de Danse de Nanterre (1987), the Cité de la Musique in Paris (1995), the LVMH Tower in New York (1995), the Luxemburg Philharmonic (2005), the residential tower at 400 Park Avenue in Manhattan (construction of which begins 2008) and the Cidade da Musica in Rio de Janeiro (under construction, scheduled to open in 2009) which will provide concert halls, a cinema and a music school.

Atelier Christian de Portzamparc

De Citadel, Almere

Valid as of: 27.5.2008