French architect and urban planner Dominique Perrault, who is the founder and principal of Dominique Perrault Architecture, will be will be our new guest in WAC's Live Interview Series. The new session will be hosted by WAC editor-in-chief Berrin Chatzi Chousein.

Dominique Perrault is the General Director of the 2021 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism which is themed as "CROSSROADS Building the Resilient City", the theme aims to converge in their intention to promote more responsible and citizen-focused urban growth. 

In its third iteration, the 2021 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism is planned to be held from September to November 2021 in Seoul.  

Perrault has divided the theme into five-subtitles: Crossroad 1 on urbanism: ABOVE / BELOW, Crossroad 2 on architecture: HERITAGE / MODERN, Crossroad 3 on design: CRAFT / DIGITAL, Crossroad 4 on the landscape: NATURAL / ARTIFICIAL, Crossroad 5 on the city: SAFE / RISK, the Biennale accepted international projects from one hundred cities on all five continents that contribute to the theme of the Biennale. The Biennale will announce the selected teams in October. 

In WAC's new live session, Dominique Perrault will discuss the theme of the SBAU 2021 and its five thematic figures in detail, as well as the recent projects of Dominique Perrault Architecture. 

Dominique Perrault. Image © Alexandre Tabaste

Dominique Perrault is world-renowned architect and urban planner and is best known for designing the French National Library in 1995, in which he gained an international recognition with this project. 

This project marked the starting point of many other commissions abroad, such as The Velodrome and Olympic swimming pool of Berlin (1999), the extensions of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg (2008 and 2019), the campus of Ewha’s University in Seoul (2008), the Fukoku Tower in Osaka, Japan (2010) or the DC Tower in Vienna (2014).

Alongside masterplanning and architectural projects, the studio has also carried out various heritage conversion projects, such as the redevelopment of the Pavillon Dufour at the Château de Versailles in 2016, the transformation of the Paris Longchamp racecourse (inaugurated in april 2018) or the transformation of the Poste du Louvre in Paris (completion in 2020).

Perrault founded Dominique Perrault Architecture in 1981 and the studio has offices in Paris and Geneva. Dominique Perrault Architecture produces a large number of projects in architecture, urban planning and design. 

His work received prestigious distinctions such as the Mies van der Rohe Pavilion Award in 1997, the World Architecture Award in 2002, the “Seoul Metropolitan Award” for the Women University of Ewha in 2008, or the Gold Medal of Architecture from the french Accademy of Architecture in 2010. 

Dominique Perrault is also honorary professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland.

Dominique Perrault Architecture is currently working on the Gangnam Intermodal International Transit Center in Seoul. 

WAC Instagram Live Interview

Theme: CROSSROADS Building the Resilient City

Host: WAC editor-in-chief Berrin Chatzi Chousein

Date: Tuesday, September 15th/ 13:00pm (GMT) / 15:00pm (CEST).

Venue: WAC Instagram