The Cité de l'Architecture pays tribute to Paul Andreu with a major retrospective exhibition

The Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine is devoting a major exhibition to Paul Andreu. Discover the retrospective "Architecture is an Art", from February 14 to June 2, 2024.

You know his work, but you don't know his name: Paul Andreu was a brilliant architect who designed Terminal 1 at RoissyCharles-de-Gaulle airport. An achievement so impressive that it made him the master of airports the world over, from Seoul to Chile, via Japan, Iran and Dubai.

To celebrate the donation of his archives and sketchbooks, the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine is organizing a major retrospective in honor of Paul Andreu. Entitled L'architecture est un art, the exhibition runs from February 14 to June 2, 2024.

The exhibition invites us to admire 280 original works, archives, models and sketchbooks, in a journey that plunges us into the architect's creative universe.

A graduate of the École Polytechnique and the Beaux-Arts, Paul Andreu was quick to distinguish himself from his colleagues: at just 29, he was entrusted with the creation of a new airport in Paris-Nord, the future Roissy-Charles de Gaulle. A modern, ambitious and striking project. Paul Andreu's art has won him international acclaim, with major commissions in Asia, Europe and the Middle East. Paul Andreu creates a large number of stations, airports, museums, stadiums and cultural centers around the world.

The exhibition presents the architect's major works, but also, and above all, his way of thinking, his way of seeing the world, his way of reconciling the material and the immaterial.

With his buildings, Paul Andreu builds portals between earth and sky, between light and shadow, between space and time, between opposites. The choice of materials, shapes and transparencies combine poetry and practicality. The works in the exhibition and the scenography highlight the thoughts and artistic intentions behind each creation.

Numerous sketchbooks, models, visuals and studies of the architect's various buildings can be admired. Along the way, you can see how Paul Andreu evolved, and the challenges he faced... You'll also learn more about how airports work, and the needs and vision that this gateway represents for a city.

Architecture lovers, come and meet Paul Andreu and his work at the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine.