“Beneath the bravado of this deceptively comical Marseille-Pagnol, we discover depth and gravity,” architect Claude Parent has said of him. Against what he calls “conceptual nevrosis” and “minimalist barbarism”, Rudy Ricciotti aims to cast off the formal aporia of a neo-modernity turned academic that thus renders its constructions just as impersonal. In this respect, he affirms himself as a reactionary mannerist. Far from the standardisation that he denounces, his productions vary according to the nature of the project. Thus, the Stadium de Vitrolles (1994) is a kind of suburban bunker made from black concrete that rises up in the heart of the Provençal landscape as an isolated monolith. Conversely, the Musée Cocteau (2007) is a very low-lying building (six metres high) and offers an architecture that blends into the urban fabric of Menton with its clean-cut lines, all in curves, in reference to the fine lines of Cocteau’s drawings. As for the Pavillon Noir (1999) in Aix-en-Provence, another famous edifice by the architect, it harbours the Preljocaj Ballet in its midst, inside a radical monolith of openwork concrete.

Born in 1952 in Algeria, Rudy Ricciotti first studied at the École d’Ingénieurs de Genève, graduating in 1974. He then turned to architecture and entered the École Nationale Supérieure de Marseille. A renowned architect, he was awarded the Grand Prix National d’Architecture. He also works as an editor and has been the manager of Al Dante publishing house since 2007.

 

http://www.rudyricciotti.com