(1940-2009) 

Born in the frontier region of Alsace, the architect Claude Vasconi was an excellent Germanist, as assistant in the German city of Stuttgart to Rolf Gutbrod and?Frei Otto. His first works, carried out with his partner Georges Pencreac’h, include small buildings in recently developed cities, like Cergy-Pontoise, and one of his better known interventions, the shopping center Forum des Halles in Paris (1979). After his separation from Pencreac’h, Vasconi – who received the National Architecture Award in 1982 – stepped up his style, marked by a cold line of strict geometries and metal skins, with realizations such as the 57 Metal building of Renault in Boulougne-Billancourt (1984), the Le Corum opera house in Montpellier (1990), or the cultural center La Filature in Mulhouse (1993). Aside from public buildings in Strasbourg, like the new Administrative Headquarters of the Bas-Rhin Department (1990) or the recently completed Civil Hospital, Vasconi has completed works in Berlin – Quartier 30 office building(2001) –, Dusseldorf – Le Grand Bateau housing (2001) – or Luxembourg – the Chamber of Commerce headquarters (2004).