AZC

AZC was founded in 2001 with the idea that ​​exploring architecture and its techniques could help to improve our built environments. Our interest does not lie in inventing concepts, we have always sought to realize buildings for real life's needs.

Through competitions and direct commissions, our office has worked on over a hundred projects of varied scales and uses. Most of our built projects are intended for a wide audience; sports facilities, lecture halls, office buildings and residential, some of which very specific for vulnerable populations. We also have, eight metro stations under construction, including four in Paris and four in Rennes and studies for a new station in Lyon, are ongoing.

Through some recently completed buildings, which have different purposes, we want to share our current concerns of coherence with global and local contexts which today represent the major issues of architecture.

We are not alone in the projects process, our clients and our partners share this common experience, which is engaging and meaningful; they allow us to reflect on our own actions that relate to the projects. We aspire to a high quality in any form of collaboration.

Most of our work has been published, displayed, sometimes awarded and we have often been given the opportunity to speak on topics of sustainability, diversity and innovative techniques, which all illustrate our commitments.

Our approach

The most fascinating thing about architecture is the amount of creative energy that goes into it. This energy is what mobilizes the effort and the means required to conceive and realize projects. Being creative is being able to produce work that is both new and adapted to its varied contexts. Being creative, is also maintaining an interest in others and in the world around us.

Our concern is people's happiness – those who live in the cities and apartment buildings, who use public spaces and public transport, and who work in the office buildings that we design.

For each and every project we think about how a building is used. The energy put into bringing a project to fruition must ensure that the building is readily flexible and transformable for changing requirements over time.

Architecture must leave room for a bit of freedom, a degree of incompletion. Architectural gestures don’t interest us, we are more interested in, for example, an inflatable pavilion in the courtyard of a very simple building. We want to make architecture that allows for collisions, unexpected combinations, rather than imposing our mark.

Architecture that is too expressive, too involved in relating to its time, takes aesthetics hostage and risks creating architectural and urban dead-ends. Our cities shouldn’t be turned into architectural catalogues. We push ourselves to design buildings that are beautifully built and that are efficient and pragmatic, that create a background for unforeseen events, whether temporary or more permanent.

Biography

Grégoire Zündel

1995- Graduated of ENSA in Strasbourg, France

1996-2000- Collaborations with M. Fuksas, J. Ferrier- Paris, Terry Farrell & Partners- HK

2004-2006- Visiting teacher to ENSA of Strasbourg

2001- Founding of AZC with Irina Cristea

Nationalities: French, Swiss, American

Irina Cristea

1995- Graduated of ENSA in Strasbourg, France

1996-2000- Collaborations with M. Fuksas, Du Besset-Lyon- Paris, Hsin Yieh- HK

2001- Founding of AZC with Grégoire Zündel

Nationalities: Romanian, French

2015- GERMAN DESIGN AWARD - Special Mention for Metro Line 14 in Paris

2014- NEW LONDON AWARDS- Special Mention for ‘Peace Pavilion’

2014- PYRAMIDE D’ARGENT DE L’INNOVATION- for ‘Green Home’ in Nanterre

2014- PYRAMIDE DE L’INNOVATION EDF - for ‘Green Home’ in Nanterre

2014- ARCHITIZER A+ AWARDS- Special Mention for ‘Peace Pavilion’

2014- SALFORD MEADOWS BRIDGE COMPETITION- RIBA – 2nd prize

2013- ICONIC AWARDS – Architecture winner for Bouncing Bridge

2013- ICONIC AWARDS- Architecture winner for ‘Peace Pavilion’

2013- ARCHTRIUMPH COMPETITION – 1st prize for ‘Triumph Pavilion’

2013- ARCHTRIUMPH COMPETITION – 1st prize for Architectural Museum

2013- ARCHITIZER A+ AWARDS – Public award for Bouncing Bridge

2012- ARCHTRIUMPH COMPETITION – 3rd prize for Contemporary Bridge

2012- BEST RESIDENTIAL MIPIM AWARDS- for ZAC ‘Claude Bernard’

2011- WORLD ARCHITECTURE FESTIWAL AWARDS – Special Mention for Metro in Rennes

2010- EVOLO COMPETITION- Special Mention for ‘Grenelle Tower’ in Paris

2009- EDF BAS CARBONE- 1st prize for Family House in Vincennes

2005- ARCHITECTURE DU GRAND EST- 1st prize for Tax Office Building in Muntzenheim