Claude Parent

Claude Parent is a French architect and designer born in 1923 in Neuilly-sur-Seine and died in 2016. He studied mathematics and in 1936 joined the workshop of Noël Le Maresquier at the School of Fine Arts in Toulouse. Ten years later, he arrived in Paris and trained in numerous workshops, notably those of Jean Trouvelot and Le Corbusier. He was associated with Ionel Schein from 1949 to 1955 and settled in 1955 in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Also close to André Bloc, he became editor-in-chief of the journal L'Architecture moderne and remained a member of the editorial committee for more than 30 years. He is also a member of the Academy of Architecture, and director of the College of Nuclear Architects. He founded the Architecture Principe group with Paul Virilio, defending the idea of a new appropriation of space ordered by the “oblique function”. Among the projects carried out representative of this concept of “oblique function”, we find the Sainte-Bernadette church in Nevers, the Charleville cultural complex, the Reims-Tinqueux and Sens shopping centers. Until 1973, he also undertook an action to popularize architecture within the framework of cultural centers. He also created the Silvia Monfort theater in Paris, the regional hotel in Marseille, and the Lillebonne town hall. In 1979, Claude Parent received the Grand Prix national d'Architecture for all of his work. An exhibition is dedicated to him at the Venice Biennale in 1996, as well as at the City of Architecture and Heritage in 2010.