To mark the publication of his new monograph by Gallimard, Dominique Perrault – architect of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, urban planner, member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts and winner of the Praemium Imperiale – talks to Éric de Chassey, director of Beaux-Arts de Paris, Barry Bergdoll, professor of art history at Columbia University, and Nina Léger, writer and professor of art history at Beaux-Arts de Marseille.

They discuss Dominique Perrault's approach and projects, whether imagined, in the process of being designed or already completed, and all three have contributed to the monograph.
 

Halfway between an illustrated encyclopaedia and a literary novel, this monograph offers a unique insight into the world of Dominique Perrault through a constellation of projects spanning from 2008 to 2028. The book is divided into four main chapters: surveying, mapping, writing and rewriting, conceived as reasoned concepts based on attitudes and their consequences in architecture.
 

The discussion will be moderated by journalist Olivia Gesbert.
 

Dominique Perrault is an internationally renowned French architect and urban planner, who rose to prominence in 1989 with the completion of the National Library of France. Since then, he has completed major projects such as the velodrome and Olympic swimming pool in Berlin, the Campus Centre at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, the extensions to the Court of Justice of the European Union in Luxembourg, the roof over the Suzanne Lenglen tennis court in Paris, and the Villejuif-Gustave Roussy station for the Grand Paris Express. He is currently transforming the former Invalides aeroterminal into a museum for the Giacometti Foundation.

Viewing architecture as a discipline intrinsically linked to urban planning, Dominique Perrault has also worked on the future of the Île de la Cité in Paris, designed the Athletes' Village for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, and is currently developing a large intermodal transit centre for the city of Seoul called Lightwalk. 

Winner of the Praemium Imperiale (2015) and honorary professor at EPFL, he directed the Seoul Architecture Biennale in 2021. Partnered since 1989 with architect, scenographer and designer Gaëlle Lauriot-Prévost, they have developed an architectural approach that is attentive to all scales, from objects to territories.

Between 2025 and 2030, many projects designed by Dominique Perrault will be completed in France and abroad, including the extension of the Caja Magica in Madrid, the extension of the EPFL campus in Lausanne, two towers in Vienna, one of which will become the tallest wooden tower in Europe, and several residential and office towers in Seoul, South Korea.
 

Photo credit: © Enrique Pardo / Dominique Perrault Architecte, ADAGP.