Richez Associes

For 10 years, Paul Andreu was a distinguished guest and partner of Richez_Associés.

We worked together on the Tai Yuan Museum, the Jinan Opera, and the Bordeaux City Hall. Richez_Associés teams, in particular Alessandro Spitilli, accompanied him on his solo projects, such as Peach Trees Island, Shandong. The project concept design had just been completed and - yes, the client commits to it - the project will be built.

These 10 years have been exceptional; intensive discussions, exchanges and projects. And now, these ten years have abruptly ended.

 As our friend Madeleine Houbart wrote so well October 13th,
« Paul Andreu has taken off. Architecture has lost a great author who will always urge us to raise our head to see far and upwards, towards the peaks he frequented, towards the horizons he created. Sadness.

The builder of "many airports" delivered his first major work, Roissy, 1 in 1974 aged 36 years. For a long time, its circular form marked the design of airport terminals around the world.
After having designed many airports in the four corners of the planet, this extraordinary builder of public works was then called upon to complete the Grande Arche de la Défense.
He gave body to the fantastic building by Otto von Spreckelsen.

In its wake, this indefatigable traveller gave rise to many varied works of which the Beijing Opera was the highpoint. China brought him a form of consecration.
Paul Andreu was a complete artist who fervently devoted himself to the practice of architecture with the talent that we know but, lesser known, also to literature and painting.
His work as a writer, novels and professional texts, is remarkable.
His painting production in recent years, imbued with Chinese influences, was his last creative passion.

Never far from architecture, always infatuated by aesthetics, he moved closer to that of mathematics which he thought to be superior to all others.
He leaves us a masterful work and a quote from Lao-Tseu: "The goal is not only the goal, but the path that leads to it"».

Let's take time to revisit three major projects that punctuated this 10-year path we shared.

The city of Taiyuan, 3.3 million inhabitants south of Beijing, entrusted Paul Andreu the design of its archaeological museum. In collaboration with BIAD, we developed the project with him, determined the layout of the exhibition floors, the structures and facade architecture - the five oblique volumes of the museum are clad in kliplock sheets with vertical butt joints enhanced with glass blade upstands.

project architect: Gonzalo Mouesca

concept design 2007 - schematic design 2010 - completion December 2011
location _Taiyuan / China
client _ City of Taiyuan
programme _ archaeological museum
area _ 50.000 m²
cost _ 60 M€
lead architect _ Paul Andreu architecte paris
associate architect _ Richez_Associés
architect and consulting engineer in China _ BIAD (Beijing Institute of Architectural Design)

Jinan stretches west towards the Beijing/Shanghai high speed train station. Part of the neighbourhood programme, a cultural complex comprising three auditoriums. The design intent: to install the 3 auditoriums within 3 independent volumes along the main axis of the district, in the centre of a garden, in front of 3 towers. Local authorities saw in the composition 3 mountains rising above just as many springs the best possible feng shui, and an accurate Chinese portrait of Jinan and the Shandong Region. The project was undertaken fast-track: foundations were poured on completion of the schematic design and construction completed within 20 months.

project architects: Urban Stirnberg, Gonzalo Mouesca, Katharina Kriener, Stéphanie Boufflet

concept design April 2010 - completion October 2013
location _ Jinan / China
client _ Construction & Investment Co., Ltd pour Jinan West District
programme _ 1600-seat opera house + 1500-seat concert hall + 500-seat theatre + 60,000m² shopping centre
surface _ 72.000 m²
coût _ 143 M€
lead architect _ Paul Andreu architecte paris
associate architect _ Richez_Associés
architect and consulting engineer in China _ BIAD (Beijing Institute of Architectural Design)
set designer _ dUCKS scéno
acoustics consultant _ Kahle Acoustics

The city of Bordeaux wanted to consolidate its public services on a site adjoining the Mériadeck 1970 neighbourhood, close to its town hall, the historic Palais Rohan.
With this project, Paul Andreu built in the heart of his hometown, which inspired "La Maison" one of his novels – this he saw as a homecoming, after having travelled the world.
The proposal elaborated with him in contact with the old city, articulates the lower volume clad in stone, laid out around the public atrium and a fully glazed, staggered and floating raised volume. By means of its cantilever, it reaches towards Mériadeck and inscribes a new skyline. The complex provides all employees a daylit office, with a view of the city they serve.

project architect: Alessandro Spitilli

PFI winner September 2011 - planning application 2012 - construction commenced September 2012 - completion August 2014
location _ Bordeaux / France
client _ Mairie de Bordeaux
programme _ public services + municipal services offices + restaurant
area _ 21.350 m²
cost _ 40 M€
PFI _ Linkcity + Bouygues + Exprimm (Bouygues Group)
architects _ Richez_Associés + Paul Andreu architecte paris + King Kong (restaurant)
engineering consultancies _ Franck Boutté Consultants + Math Ingénierie + Gaz de Bordeaux + Bernadberoy + Des Signes + Vincent Hedont Conseil

contact :        
buildings : Donald Christol
public spaces and landscape architecture : Sophie Melchior