Christian de Portzamparc met Gilbert Costes for the first time in December 1985 and it was shortly afterwards that they decided to embark together on the Café Beaubourg project. Driven by the ambition to “make a place exist for its own sake”, Christian de Portzamparc designed, then conceived and built the Café Beaubourg over a full year. Working on materials and colors, but also on furniture and acoustics, Christian de Portzamparc combines and deploys all his talents as a painter and architect for the Café Beaubourg. Today, his studio, composed of about a hundred people, carries out projects of various programs and scales, with a predominant focus on the city and urban structure. Christian de Portzamparc is also the first French architect to have received the Pritzker Prize in 1994, the highest distinction in architecture.
