Michel Andrault (17 December 1926 – 5 April 2020) was a French architect.

Biography

Andrault was the son of a salesman and a seamstress. He was bedridden for two years due to

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

. He entered the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. After graduating in 1955, Andrault joined his fellow student, Pierre Parat, in business in 1957. The pair won a competition for the construction of the Basilica Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Lacrime in Siracusa in Sicily. The controversial and modern design gained them notoriety, and they were contacted by the

Caisse des dépôts et consignations The Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC; ) is a French public sector financial institution created in 1816, and part of the government institutions under the control of the Parliament. Often described as the "investment arm" of the French ...

for the construction of housing, working with

Bouygues Bouygues S.A. () is a French industrial group headquartered in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Bouygues is listed on the Euronext, Euronext Paris exchange and is a blue chip (stock market), blue chip in the C ...

. Together, they built 19,000 dwellings, favoring pyramid shapes. The housing was constructed in Évry, Villepinte,

Champs-sur-Marne Champs-sur-Marne () is a commune in the eastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris, in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France in the Île-de-France region. The commune of Champs-sur-Marne is part of the Val Maubu ...

Plaisir Plaisir () is a commune located in the heart of the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. It is located in the western suburbs of Paris, from the center of Paris. It borders among others on Élancourt (south), Trapp ...

, Couulommiers, and others. They built the headquarters of

Havas Havas SA is a French multinational advertising and public relations company, headquartered in Paris, France. It operates in more than 100 countries and is one of the largest advertising and communications groups in the world. Havas consists of ...

Neuilly-sur-Seine Neuilly-sur-Seine (; literally 'Neuilly on Seine'), also known simply as Neuilly, is a commune in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in France, just west of Paris. Immediately adjacent to the city, the area is composed of mostly select residentia ...

, the AGF headquarters in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, the

AccorHotels Arena Accor Arena (originally known as Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, and previously as AccorHotels Arena; also known as Bercy in competitions where commercial names are prohibited, such as in the Olympic Games) is an indoor sports arena and concer ...

Bercy Bercy () is a neighbourhood in the 12th arrondissement of Paris, the city's 47th administrative neighbourhood. History Some of the oldest vestiges of human occupation in Paris were found on the territory of Bercy, dating from the late Neolithic ...

, the Tour Totem in Paris, and the

Tours Société Générale Société Générale Twin Towers are two office skyscrapers located in La Défense, a high-rise business district, and in Nanterre, France, west of Paris. Their exterior designs are identical. The towers were built and opened in 1995 to become ...

and

Tour Sequoia Tour Sequoia (previously known as tour Bull, and also known as tour SFR or tour Cegetel) is an office skyscraper located in La Défense business district just west of Paris, France. Built in 1990, the 119-metre-tall tower represents the transi ...

La Défense La Défense () is a major business district in France, located west of the city limits of Paris. It is part of the Paris metropolitan area in the Île-de-France region, located in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in the communes of Courbevoie, ...

. Andrault and Parat parted ways in 1995. Andrault collected pre-colonial artifacts from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, and

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

References

1926 births 2020 deaths People from Montrouge 20th-century French architects École des Beaux-Arts alumni {{France-architect-stub