Elizabeth de Portzamparc

French-Brazilian Elizabeth de Portzamparc designs buildings that serve as architectural symbols and powerful urban landmarks, which skilfully structure and inhabit the places where they are built. With characteristic innovation and through her dual sociological and architectural approach, Elizabeth de Portzamparc combines the requirements of the social, urban, and ecological scope with construction of optimal forms, a coherent approach that is legible on every scale of her work. This monograph is a collector's volume within IMAGES' renowned Leading Architects series, and showcases the extraordinary award-winning designs of this brilliant Paris-based architect. Lavish full-colour photography and intricate, detailed drawings help to illuminate her process and international achievements across a wide range, including architecture, interiors and urban planning projects, as well as design objects, museography, and scenographic works.

Text in Brazilian Portuguese.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Elizabeth de Portzamparc spent her youth there, following the Frank Schaeffer art workshop before coming to France to complete her studies. In France, she completed urban sociology studies (Master's Degree, then DEA, with Paul-Henri Chombart de Lawe), before orientating her professional activities towards town planning in the Paris urban district from 1977 to 1980, and she taught at the Architecture School of Paris-La-Seine between 1982 and 1987. She created her own agency in 1987. Today, among other realisations, major architectural projects have been launched: the iconic railway station of Le Bourget, the Grand Documentary Equipment of Aubervilliers, the Musee de la Romanite in Nimes, and projects for cultural facilities, building for hotels and houses in France, Brazil, Morocco, China and the United States. Through her involvement with the Grand Paris International Workshop, she is pursuing her research on the identity of places, started 30 years ago and playing a key role in the reflection and discussion on the construction of a metropolis. In the same context, she is conducting pioneering proposals for flexible, sustainable housing, for mixed-use or prefabricated.