Rudy Ricciotti (born 22 August 1952) is a French
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
and publisher.
[Lanie Goodman]
Ground Breaker
''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', September 17, 2012[Rudy Ricciotti démolit le banal](_blank)
''Arte
Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture.
It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plus ...
'', September 30, 2012[Luc Le Chatelier]
Rudy Ricciotti, architecte brut de décoffrage
''Télérama
''Télérama'' is a weekly French cultural and television magazine published in Paris, France. The name is a contraction of its earlier title: ''Télévision-Radio-Cinéma''. Fabienne Pascaud is currently managing editor. Ludovic Desautez is dep ...
'', 05/12/2011[Aix-en-Provence Tourist Office](_blank)
/ref>
Biography
Early life
He was born in Kouba, Algeria
Kouba is a suburb situated on a height just south-east of the central city of Algiers in northern Algeria.
It is home to the Kouba city council and the church of Kouba, which was built during the French colonial times. Its name refers to "Qubba", ...
of Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
origin on 22 August 1952 and moved to France at the age of three. He studied engineering in Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
and he graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Marseille in 1980.
Career
He has designed the Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée
The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (Mucem; French: ''Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée'') is a national museum located in Marseille, France. It was inaugurated on 7 June 2013 as part of Marseille-Prove ...
(MUCEM) in Marseilles
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
, Pavillon Noir in Aix-en-Provence
Aix-en-Provence (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Ais de Provença in classical norm, or in Mistralian norm, ; la, Aquae Sextiae), or simply Aix ( medieval Occitan: ''Aics''), is a city and commune in southern France, about north of Marseille. ...
, Villa Navarra in Le Muy
Le Muy (; oc, Lo Muei) is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 9,288.
Le Muy was one of the first places to be liberated in the Allied invasion of Sout ...
, the Jean Cocteau Museum
The Jean Cocteau Museum/Séverin Wunderman Collection is a museum in Menton, on the French Riviera, in the Alpes-Maritimes department. Dedicated to the French artist Jean Cocteau, it incorporates the collection of American businessman and Cocteau e ...
in Menton
Menton (; , written ''Menton'' in classical norm or ''Mentan'' in Mistralian norm; it, Mentone ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border.
Me ...
, Les Arts Gstaad in Gstaad
Gstaad ( ; ) is a town in the German-speaking section of the Canton of Bern in southwestern Switzerland. It is part of the municipality of Saanen and is known as a major ski resort and a popular destination amongst high society and the internatio ...
the International Center of Art and Culture in Liège
Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège.
The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...
, Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
. He worked on an exhibition in The Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
with Mario Bellini
Mario Bellini (born February 1, 1935 in Milan) is an Italian architect, critic, and designer. He received a degree in architecture from Milan Polytechnic in 1959 and began working as an architect in the early 1960s. Like many other Italia ...
in 2012. In 2015, he designed the 'Man and the Sea' museum on the Antoine 1er dock in Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
.[Madeleine Adey]
Principality to welcome two new museums
, ''The Monaco Times'', 20 May 2015
He abhors minimalism
In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...
. He supports the "demuseumification of museums."
He runs a small publishing house, Al Dante, which publishes photography, essays on architecture, and poetry, including a French translation of John Ashbery
John Lawrence Ashbery (July 28, 1927 – September 3, 2017) was an American poet and art critic.
Ashbery is considered the most influential American poet of his time. Oxford University literary critic John Bayley wrote that Ashbery "sounded, in ...
.
He is a recipient of the Legion of Honor
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
, the Order of Arts and Letters
The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
and the National Order of Merit.
Personal life
He lives in Cassis
Cassis (; Occitan: ''Cassís'') is a commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, whose coastline is known in English as the French Riviera, in Southern France. In 2016, it ...
and has an office in Bandol
Bandol (; oc, Bandòu) is a commune in Var department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, southeastern France. Bandol and the seat of its eponymous commune, was founded in 1595 and built around a small military fort.
The Bandol wine region, lo ...
. He collects rare books.
Controversy
MUCEM
In February 2015, the French Court of Auditors (“la Cour des comptes”) pointed out "a laborious gestation" with a final cost of €350 million (studies, construction...) instead of €160 million originally planned for the Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée
The Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilisations (Mucem; French: ''Musée des Civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerranée'') is a national museum located in Marseille, France. It was inaugurated on 7 June 2013 as part of Marseille-Prove ...
in Marseilles
Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...
.
His villa in Cassis (France)
On Wednesday, October 17, 2018, Rudy Ricciotti has been heard at the Criminal Court of Toulon for unauthorized work on his property between 2010 and 2012, when he hired workers off the books. His villa is located in the “Parc national des Calanques”, in Cassis, on a natural area classified. He had turned a dovecote from the seventies into a screening room.
On 23 November 2018, the Criminal Court of Toulon convicted him to a four months suspended sentence and a fine of €150,000.
However and luckily for him, this sentence will not be registered into his criminal record. This allows him to still fulfill orders and to participate to public architectural competitions.
The contractor was sentenced to a fine of 120 000 Euros and his villa has been seized.
Bibliography
*''Blitzkrieg : De la culture comme arme fatale'' (with Salvatore Lombardo, Transbordeurs, 2005).
*''HQE'' (Le Gac Press, 2013).
*''L'architecture est un sport de combat'' (with David d'Equainville, Editions Textuel, 2013, 112 pages).
*A. Pergoli Campanelli, ''Point ultime - Rudy RICCIOTTI les interviews al vitriol dun sudiste'
Paris, Sens & Tonka, 1998, pp. 115–125,
Documentaries
*''Le projet Navarra'' (dir. Joël Yvon, 2007, 26 minutes).
*''L'Orchidoclaste'' (dir. Laetitia Masson, 2013, 52 minutes).AlloCine
/ref>
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricciotti, Rudy
Living people
1952 births
20th-century French architects
21st-century French architects
French people of Italian descent
Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur
Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite
French bibliophiles