Jean-Pierre Pranlas-Descours is a French architect and

urban planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, tow ...

associated with a

minimalist In visual arts, music, and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in the post-war era in western art. The movement is often interpreted as a reaction to abstract expressionism and modernism; it anticipated contemporary post-mi ...

aesthetic.Eric Firley, Caroline Stahl : The Urban Housing Handbook, “The interrupted spatial sequence of Faubourg architecture: appartements and studios in rue Charonne in Paris” (Wiley edition, 2009)

Biography

Pranlas-Descours received his undergraduate education from the Ecole D’Architecture de Versailles and a Masters in

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

History from the

Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (, EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and '' grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The school awards Master and PhD degrees alone and conjoi ...

, Paris, expanding his exploration in the architectural complex societies of the Medieval cities in Italy. Immediately upon completion, he launched his firm, Pranlas-Descours Architect & Associates (1990 to present) and began teaching at the Ecole D’Architecture de Strasbourg, the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussée, the Ecole D’Architecture de Rennes, Paris-Tolbiac, École nationale supérieure d'architecture de Paris-La Villette, and is presently, a full professor at the Ecole nationale supérieure d’architecture de Paris-Malaquais. His guest-lecturing has taken him to architectural schools in France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Iceland, Germany, Singapore, Brazil, Peru as well as the United States:

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, and Parson's School of Design. He was visiting professor at the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture - City College - New-York.

Honors and awards

In 1986, Pranlas-Descours received the

Rome Prize The Rome Prize is awarded by the American Academy in Rome, in Rome, Italy. Approximately thirty scholars and artists are selected each year to receive a study fellowship at the academy. Recipients must be American citizens. Prizes have been aw ...

in Architecture from L’Academie de France in Rome. To further his research, the following year he was honored with a residency at the academy's campus,

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a sixteenth-century Italian Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with 7-hectare Italian garden, contiguous with the more extensive Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in the historic ...

. He was nominated for the Equerre d’Argent Architectural Prize of the AMC Review, 2000, 2003, 2006. In 2004, Pranlas-Descours’ project for the new center of Saint-Jacques-de-La-lande was shortlisted for the European Urban Prize. For his Bottière Chenaie Urban Design, Nantes, he was the recipient for the distinguished Robert Auzelle Prize. In 2012 Pranlas-Descours received the Honor Medaille from the French Academy of Architecture.In 2019 he received the S-Arch International prize and the D'A architectural Prize for the Chambre des Métiers project in Lille, project who was nominated to the Mies Van Der Hohe prize. In 2021 he received the Award Gold prize (Asia -Pacific) from the Holcim Foundation for the Yuzhong project in China. In 2022 he was nominated as a new member of the French Academy of Architecture.

Selected projects

* International urban competition in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

for the extension of the Diagonal avenue (1990) First prize * Media Library,

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

(2000) * Cemetery Pavilion in Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande (2007) * Housing projects: Paris (2003 and 2006), Montreuil (2007 and 2008),

Pantin Pantin () is a Communes of France, commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. In 2019 its population was estimated to be 59,846. Pantin is located on the edge of ...

(2013),

Clamart Clamart () is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. The town is divided into two parts, separated by a forest: ''bas Clamart'', the historical centre, and ''petit Clamart'' with urban ...

(2015),

Grenoble Grenoble ( ; ; or ; or ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Isère Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region ...

(2015) * International Urban Competition for the extension of downtown

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

(2008) First Prize * International Urban Competition for the extension of the city

El Prat de Llobregat El Prat de Llobregat (), commonly known as El Prat , is a municipality of Spain located in the ''comarca'' of Baix Llobregat in Catalonia. The Josep Tarradellas Barcelona–El Prat Airport largely lies within the municipal limits. It is part of ...

, Barcelona (2009) First Prize * Technical school

Nantes Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...

(2010) * Hotel-restaurant, project

Sag Harbor Sag Harbor is an incorporated village in Suffolk County, New York, United States, in the towns of Southampton and East Hampton on eastern Long Island. The village developed as a working port on Gardiners Bay. The population was 2,772 at the 2 ...

, Long Island, New York (2013) * Office building

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

(2014) * Urban projects Lille, Nantes, Rennes, Paris, Geneva,

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

(1992–2028) * Guild Association building in Lille (2009–2019)* * Church with Alvaro Siza Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande (2009–2018) * Parking lot Lille (2014–2016) * Hospital in Nantes (2014) Competition * Mixed building—parking lot, sports facility, and offices in Lille (2015–2019) * Exhibitions of Pranlas-Descours, Architecture Situations: Gallery of Architecture, Paris (2011); Aedes Gallery, Berlin (2012); Burgau Architectural Center,

Ulm Ulm () is the sixth-largest city of the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with around 129,000 inhabitants, it is Germany's 60th-largest city. Ulm is located on the eastern edges of the Swabian Jura mountain range, on the up ...

(2012–2013).

Publications

# 5 projects (French Academy in Rome,(Villa Médicis, 1988) # European architectural Situations, (Villa Médicis, 1989) # European Panorama Capitols (Picard, 2000) # Metropolitan Archipelo, Paris suburb (Picard, 2003) # Pranlas-Descours, Architecture situations (Ante Prima, 2011) # Density, Architecture and Territory, 5 European stories (Jovis, Berlin 2016) # Pranlas-Descours, The depth of the landscape, ( Jovis, Berlin 2022)

References

External links

Pranlas-Descours Architect and Associates website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pranlas-Descours, Jean-Pierre Pranlas-Descours Pranlas-Descours Architects from Paris 1956 births Living people