JUROR 2018

Born on the Atlantic coast, of Franco-Belgian of Franco-Belgian roots, Martin Duplantier grew up between Bordeaux and the United States.  He earned his five-year degree from HEC Paris in 2003, his Masters from the ETSAB (Barcelona) and the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris - Malaquais in 2007. He then attended an urban education course at Institut d’Urbanisme (2012).

Engaged in a global vision of architecture and sustainability, he draws from his experiences in China, Mexico, and Niger, where Martin developed a method of earthen construction that uses no wood. He began his career in world-renowned architecture firms, at Gerkan, Marg und Partners Architekten in Berlin.  He was then an employee at David Chipperfield Architects in London, where he was part of the Concept Team in charge of international competitions.

Martin's international collaborations', his dual specialization, and the multipolar foundation of his office (between Paris and Bordeaux) form a singular approach to a project in which production and creation, issues of urbanity and the challenges that society faces are put into dialogue with one another, while forming a calling at a larger scale.  He's practice devotes its efforts largely to research and experimentation that are framed by a desire to find feasible responses to architectural problems.

Stemming from his previous collaboration with David Chipperfield, the pair decided to work together on the extension of the HEC campus at Jouy-en-Josas, which was delivered in Summer 2012. In the same stride, Martin is working on other campus-based projects, both urban and rural, that act as reservoirs for people and ideas where knowledge, the intangible, and the immaterial, mesh.

Martin Duplantier has also worked on a number of projects at the regional scale:  the Seafront at Anglet, the development of Simrishamn Harbour (Sweden), and Le Corbusier Cité Radieuse urban renewal in Marseille.

Driven by the desire to explore the design problems of our time (the rethinking of the campus ideal, the densification of urban centers, new materials for new architecture, autonomous buildings, the rehabilitation of once-pristine lands, etc.), and the wish to enrich both his practice and approach, Martin organizes workshops in numerous universities (Chinese University of Hong Kong, Kiev University, Polytechnic Lviv, Taichung University) while keeping up with his firm. He was awarded among others International Fellow of Guangzhou Design Academy, was finalist of the Sterling Prize for the HEC Paris MBA, and won a great number of first prizes.