Rudy Ricciotti Exhibition Paris Review, French Architecture Show Design Image

Rudy Ricciotti Exhibition, Paris

Cite de l’architecture Show, France – article by Rebecca Breun

Rudy Ricciotti Exhibition in Paris

Review by e-architect

11 Apr – 8 Sep 2013

‘Architecture is a combat sport’

Rebecca Breun

16 Apr 2013

Cite de l’architecture Paris Exhibition

There can be no question about it: Rudy Ricciotti is the French architect to watch at present. So it was no surprise that Cite de l’architecture in Paris put on an exhibition dedicated to him. Since the construction of the stadium in Vitrolles in the 1990’s, his architecture practice has been responsible for a number of important buildings both in France and elsewhere.

This is not signature architecture. Each building has its own identity, depending on geographical position and its function. With the latest addition to the Louvre Museum, the Department of Islamic Art, Ricciotti almost abandons concrete, his favourite material. However, two things can be said about all his buildings: they are audacious and poetic, not necessarily “pleasing”.

photo © RB

Then, why, oh, why, is this exhibition at the Cite de l’architecture so tame? In addition to 12 watercolour paintings of his buildings and 1:1 elements from various buildings with labels containing minimal information, there are several large screens with images (over 100!) rolling by, one by one, aesthetical pleasing, but… Where are the traces of the vibrant, engaged man that he obviously is? Where is the documentation of the diversity of his buildings? Or his obsessive search for new limits?

Suddenly you hear his voice and realise that, behind a showcase, the curators have hidden a screen showing an interview with the man himself (English subtitles). We see a man who is passionate about his architecture and constructing architecture, talking about details and site experiences with great emotion. He doesn’t shy away from conflict and adamantly insists that constructing architecture is not a one-man show.

photo © RB

Don’t miss the film “Orchidoclaste” by Laetitia Masson, 2012, which shows Ricciotti in his element. Although it has been partly filmed on site at MuCEM in Marseille and at the Louvre, Paris, the film is about the complex person behind these projects.

The exhibition is worth seeing, but I would recommend looking up his buildings before you go. In this case, the interview and the film bring the buildings alive. And I’m sure there are many more exciting, challenging projects to be expected from this curious and innovative maker of buildings.

Cite de l’architecture et du patrimoine
1, place du Trocadéro
75000 Paris

Open everyday from 11am to 7pm except Tuesdays, 11 April – 8 September 2013.

Rudy Ricciotti Exhibition Paris image / information from Rebecca Breun

Louvre Museum Visconti Courtyard
Design: Architects Rudy Ricciotti and Mario Bellini

photograph © R. Ricciotti – M. Bellini / Musée du Louvre © Lisa Ricciotti
Louvre Museum Visconti Courtyard – 21 Sep 2012
A new cutting-edge architectural structure opened to the public after five years of construction work; designed to showcase the museum’s treasures of Islamic art, the new project is located in the Visconti courtyard, at the very centre of the Louvre