Rudy Ricciotti (born 22 August 1952) is a French

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and publisher.Lanie Goodman
Ground Breaker
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The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', September 17, 2012Rudy Ricciotti démolit le banal
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Arte Arte (, , ; ' ('), sometimes stylised in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European Union, European public service Television channel, channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based Europea ...

'', September 30, 2012Luc Le Chatelier
Rudy Ricciotti, architecte brut de décoffrage
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Télérama ''Télérama'' is a weekly French language, French cultural and television magazine published in Paris, France. The name is a contraction of its earlier title: ''Télévision-Radio-Cinéma''. Fabienne Pascaud is currently managing editor. Ludovic ...

'', 05/12/2011Aix-en-Provence Tourist Office
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Biography

Early life

He was born in

Kouba, Algeria Kouba is a suburb situated on a height just south-east of the central city of Algiers in northern Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered t ...

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

origin on 22 August 1952 and moved to France at the age of three. He studied engineering in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

and he graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Marseille in 1980.

Career

He has designed the

Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations (Mucem; French: ''Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée'') is a national museum located in Marseille, France. It was inaugurated on 7 June 2013 as part of Marseille-Prove ...

(MUCEM) in

Marseilles Marseille (; ; see below) is a city in southern France, the prefecture of the department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the Provence region, it is located on the coast of the Mediterranean S ...

, Pavillon Noir in

Aix-en-Provence Aix-en-Provence, or simply Aix, is a List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, city and Communes of France, commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. A former capital of Provence, it is the Subprefectures in France, s ...

, Villa Navarra in Le Muy, the Jean Cocteau Museum in

Menton Menton (; in classical norm or in Mistralian norm, , ; ; or depending on the orthography) is a Commune in France, commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italia ...

, Les Arts Gstaad in

Gstaad Gstaad ( , ) is a town in the German language, German-speaking section of the Canton of Bern in southwestern Switzerland. It is part of the municipality of Saanen and is known as a major ski resort and a popular destination amongst high society ...

the International Center of Art and Culture in

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. He worked on an exhibition in

The Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

with Mario Bellini in 2012. In 2015, he designed the 'Man and the Sea' museum on the Antoine 1er dock in

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

.Madeleine Adey
Principality to welcome two new museums
, ''The Monaco Times'', 20 May 2015 He abhors

minimalism 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 ...

. He supports the "demuseumification of museums." He runs a small publishing house, Al Dante, which publishes photography, essays on architecture, and poetry, including a French translation of

John Ashbery John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic. Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...

. He is a recipient of the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

, the Order of Arts and Letters and the National Order of Merit.

Personal life

He lives in

Cassis Cassis (; Occitan: ''Cassís'') is a commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, whose coastline is known in English as the French Riviera, in Southern France. It is a ...

and has an office in

Bandol Bandol (; ) is a commune in Var department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, southeastern France. Bandol and the seat of its eponymous commune, was founded in 1595 and built around a small military fort. The region, located near the coast ...

. He collects rare books.

Controversy

MUCEM

In February 2015, the French Court of Auditors (“la Cour des comptes”) pointed out "a laborious gestation" with a final cost of €350 million (studies, construction...) instead of €160 million originally planned for the

His villa in Cassis (France)

On Wednesday, October 17, 2018, Rudy Ricciotti has been heard at the Criminal Court of Toulon for unauthorized work on his property between 2010 and 2012, when he hired workers off the books. His villa is located in the “Parc national des Calanques”, in Cassis, on a natural area classified. He had turned a dovecote from the seventies into a screening room. On 23 November 2018, the Criminal Court of Toulon convicted him to a four months suspended sentence and a fine of €150,000. However and luckily for him, this sentence will not be registered into his criminal record. This allows him to still fulfill orders and to participate to public architectural competitions. The contractor was sentenced to a fine of 120 000 Euros and his villa has been seized.

Bibliography

*''Blitzkrieg : De la culture comme arme fatale'' (with Salvatore Lombardo, Transbordeurs, 2005). *''HQE'' (Le Gac Press, 2013). *''L'architecture est un sport de combat'' (with David d'Equainville, Editions Textuel, 2013, 112 pages). *A. Pergoli Campanelli, ''Point ultime - Rudy RICCIOTTI les interviews al vitriol dun sudiste'

Paris, Sens & Tonka, 1998, pp. 115–125,

Documentaries

*''Le projet Navarra'' (dir. Joël Yvon, 2007, 26 minutes). *''L'Orchidoclaste'' (dir. Laetitia Masson, 2013, 52 minutes).AlloCine
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricciotti, Rudy Living people 1952 births 20th-century French architects 21st-century French architects French people of Italian descent Knights of the Legion of Honour Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite French bibliophiles