Jean Pierre Pranlas Descours

Biography

Pranlas-Descours received his undergraduate education from the Ecole D’Architecture de Versailles and a Masters in Medieval History from the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, expanding his exploration in the architectural complex societies of the Medieval cities in Italy. Immediately upon completion, he launched his firm, Pranlas-Descours Architect & Associates (1990 to present) and began teaching at the Ecole D’Architecture de Strasbourg, the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussée, the Ecole D’Architecture de Rennes, Paris-Tolbiac, Ecole Nationale D’Architecture de Paris-La-Villette, and is presently, a professor at the Ecole D’Architecture Paris-Malaquais. His guest-lecturing has taken him to architectural schools in France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Iceland, Germany, Singapore, Brazil, Peru as well as the United States: Cornell University, Columbia University, and Parson’s School of Design.

Honors and awards

In 1986, Pranlas-Descours received the prestigious Rome Prize in Architecture from L’Academie de France in Rome. To further his research, the following year he was honored with a residency at the Academy’s campus, Villa Medici. He was nominated for the Equerre d’Argent Architectural Prize of the AMC Review, 2000, 2003, 2006. In 2004, Pranlas-Descours’ project for the new center of Saint-Jacques-de-La-lande was shortlisted for the European Urban Prize. For his Bottière Chenaie Urban Design, Nantes, he was the recipient for the distinguished Robert Auzelle Prize. In 2012 Pranlas-Descours received the Honor Medaille from L’Academie D’Architecture de France.

Selected projects

Publications

1. 5 projects (French Academy in Rome, Villa Médicis, 1990)
2. European Panorama Capitols (Picard, 2000)
3. Metropolitan archipelo, Paris suburb (Picard, 2003)
4. Pranlas-Descours, Architecture situations (Ante Prima, 2011)
5. Density, Architecture and Territory, 5 european stories (Jovis, Berlin 2016)