Odile Decq is a French architect and urban planner. International renown came in 1990 with her first major commission: La Banque Populaire de l’Ouest in Rennes, France. Since then, she has been faithful to her fighting attitude while diversifying and radicalizing her research. Being awarded The Golden Lion of Architecture during the Venice Biennale in 1996 acknowledged her early and unusual career. Other than just a style, an attitude or a process, Odile Decq’s work materializes a complete universe that embraces urban planning, architecture, design and art. Her multidisciplinary approach was recognized with the Jane Drew Prize in 2016, and this year she was honored with Architizer’s Lifetime Achievement Award not only for her pioneering work, but also her engagement with and contribution to the current debates about architecture.
Odile Decq has been teaching architecture for the past 25 years. She has been invited to be a guest professor in prestigious universities such as the Bartlett (London), the Kunstakademie (Vienna & Düsseldorf), SCI-Arch (Los Angeles) or Columbia University (New York). In France, she was Head of l’École Spéciale d’Architecture (ESA) in Paris from 2007 to 2012. Following this experience, she created her own school in Lyon in 2014: the Confluence Institute for Innovation and Creative Strategies in Architecture. Her most recent projects include Le Cargo (Paris, 2016); La Résidence Saint-Ange (Seyssins, 2015); Fangshan Tangshan National Geopark Museum (Nanjing, 2015); GL Events Headquarters (Lyon, 2014); FRAC Bretagne (Rennes, 2012); Phantom: Opéra Garnier’s restaurant (Paris, 2011) and MACRO Contemporary Art Museum (Rome, 2010). In this lecture, Odile Decq will present her work across different disciplines, including architecture, design, visual arts, and education.
