Internationally renowned architect and urban planner, Adrien Fainsilber has designed masterful equipment that has marked the last five decades.
For this native of Aisne, the adventure began in 1960 when he graduated from the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He then left for the United States, where he learned, in contact with the architect Hideo Sasaki, that the success of a project lies as much in the response to the needs of its users as in the formalism of the rules of fine arts. From this first experience, fed by the development projects of Watertown (Massachussetts), Adrien Fainsilber acquires a broad vision of his profession, from the city to the building, which will permeate all of his work.
Back in France in 1970, he founded his agency and implemented these principles within the Institut d'Aménagement et d'Urbanisme de la Région Parisienne with the master plan of the Île-de-France region. This period was also the time of pioneering projects, such as the University of Paris XIII-Villetaneuse, this Sorbonne du Nord imagined the day after May 68, where he designed a real university city combining teaching places, facilities and student housing. An expert in these programmes, which illustrate the dynamism of the Thirty Glorious, Adrien Fainsilber then designed France’s first technological university in Compiègne and himself invested in teaching at the Institut d'urbanisme in Paris and the Ecole d'Architecture in Paris-Tolbiac (currently ENSA Paris-Val de Seine).
He is above all one of the masterminds who is associated with the urban policy that profoundly renewed Paris at the end of the 20th century. After a consultation with some 20 architects, he was responsible in 1980 for the construction of the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie in La Villette. With its Geode, this metallic sphere with perfect rotondity that reflects the colors of the sky and hosts an immersive cinema, it has contributed to the transformation of this former industrial sector into a leading cultural district. Monumental and functional, this flagship perfectly illustrates the mastery of Adrien Fainsilber, who manages to combine poetry and High Tech demonstration. His entire work is recognized by his peers, who award him the National Grand Prix of Architecture of 1986.
Architect plural, member of the Academy of Architecture, Adrien Fainsilber worked until 2007 on the entire national territory, delivering libraries, housing, large public buildings such as the Palais de justice in Avignon in 2000 and of course cultural facilities as emblematic as the Musée d'art moderne et contemporain in Strasbourg in 1998.
Attentive to those who occupy the buildings on a daily basis, he was, throughout his career, as concerned with the aesthetic aspect of the places as with the fluidity of their use.
To his family and loved ones, I offer my deepest condolences.