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Discover›Design & architecture
Contents
Jean-Philippe Vassal
Architect

Jean-Philippe Vassal

Famoose for

Transforming existing buildings through the Lacaton & Vassal practice.

Palais de Tokyo · Grand Parc Bordeaux

Born
22 February 1954
Birthplace
Casablanca

More people

Zaha HadidDesigning buildings with sweeping, fluid forms.Coco ChanelBuilding Chanel and popularising a simpler style of women’s dress.Christian DiorIntroducing the New Look that reshaped postwar fashion.

Jean-Philippe Vassal

French architect whose partnership with Anne Lacaton emphasises generous living space and reuse. Their work challenges demolition as the automatic answer to ageing housing.

Early life

Bordeaux and Niger

Born in Casablanca, he graduated from architecture school in Bordeaux in 1980 and spent five years working in Niger.

Career

  1. 1987

    Joint practice

    Founded Lacaton & Vassal with Anne Lacaton.

  2. 2000

    Paris move

    Relocated the practice from Bordeaux.

  3. 2021

    Pritzker Prize

    Shared the architecture award with Lacaton.

Selected buildings

Palais de Tokyo

Adapted the existing building for contemporary art.

Grand Parc Bordeaux

The housing transformation with Frédéric Druot and Christophe Hutin won the Mies van der Rohe Award.

Beyond architecture

Teaching

Held visiting academic roles in Versailles, Lausanne and Berlin, sharing the practice’s approach with architecture students.

Sources & photo creditBiography and career ↗Biographical references ↗Additional biographical or achievement source ↗

Original photograph. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.

Photo: User:GSAPPstudent. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Original image. Cropped and displayed in monochrome.