French architect Paul Andreu, best known for his numerous airport designs, has died at the age of 80. According to the French newspaper Le Monde, he attended a dinner Monday evening at the Centre Pompidou in honor of Tadao Ando, and appeared to be very tired to several journalists at the event.
Originally from the Gironde in southwest France, Andreu designed the Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, an extremely large project that he led from 1967 to 1974. He completed several prestigious projects in China, a country he adored, such as the Grand National Theater of Beijing. He was also in charge of the construction of the Grande Arche in Paris’ La Defense, designed by Johann Otto von Spreckelsen and inaugurated in 1989, two centuries after the French Revolution. He was a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts, and received the National Grand Prix in Architecture in 1977.
In 2004, a terminal at Roissy collapsed, which resulted in several fatalities. Andreu was reportedly very upset by the event, and stopped practice for a time.
Pictured below from left to right: Dominique Perrault, Christian de Portzamparc, Tadao Ando, Renzo Piano, Paul Andreu, and Jean Nouvel.
