These architecture firms are leading the way in France and beyond. The post 30 Best Architecture Firms in France appeared first on Journal.

These annual rankings were last updated on December 29th, 2023. Want to see your firm on next year’s list? Continue reading for more on how you can improve your studio’s ranking. 

The French are formative cultural leaders in many respects — from cuisine to art tp fashion. They are viewed as global front-runners in several disciplines, and architecture is undeniably one of them. When we think of France, we often admire the illustrious Gothic churches, the Haussmannian Parisian boulevards, the ornate Baroque palaces, Le Corbusier’s modernist triumphs and the charming countryside towns.

The French built environment is swimming in architectural history, but equally so in contemporary triumphs. It’s not only the Gothic and Renaissance châteaux that make this paysage français so exciting to explore, it is also the architectural innovation taking place today. Revolution is rooted in the French DNA, and the commitment to transforming and creating is not lost in its architectural community. Whether they are reinventing established architectural typologies like school design or invigorating their public spaces through green architecture, the French remain governors of architecture incroyable.

With so many architecture firms to choose from, it’s challenging for clients to identify the industry leaders that will be an ideal fit for their project needs. Fortunately, Architizer is able to provide guidance on the top design firms in France based on more than a decade of data and industry knowledge.

How are these architecture firms ranked?

The following ranking has been created according to key statistics that demonstrate each firm’s level of architectural excellence. The following metrics have been accumulated to establish each architecture firm’s ranking, in order of priority:

The number of A+Awards won (2013 to 2023) The number of A+Awards finalists (2013 to 2023) The number of projects selected as “Project of the Day” (2009 to 2023) The number of projects selected as “Featured Project” (2009 to 2023) The number of projects uploaded to Architizer (2009 to 2023)

Each of these metrics is explained in more detail at the foot of this article. This ranking list will be updated annually, taking into account new achievements of France architecture firms throughout the year.

Without further ado, here are the 30 best architecture firms in France:

30. BFV ARCHITECTES

BFV Architectes is an architecture studio funded by Jean Bocabeille, Olivier Fassio and Jean-Brice Viaud. This acronym stands for more than 20 years of experience. It embodies both a historical continuity and a strong desire to grow together and broaden the scope of action. The idea of creating a new practice was obvious to the three men, as much as their will to keep building a consistent, efficient and meaningful kind of architecture. Bocabeille, Fassio and Viaud’s projects have been carried out either as collective journeys ([BP] Architectures, Plan01 or Fassio-Viaud Architectes) or individual adventures (Jean Bocabeille Architecte).

Some of BFV ARCHITECTES’s most prominent projects include:

PULSE, Saint-Denis, France A MIXED USE PROGRAM: 132 housing units + 1 religious center + 2 retail businesses, Paris, France NURSERY SCHOOL, Épinay-sous-Sénart, France HOUSING PROJECT (& Rooftop), Pontoise, France MORE WITH LESS, Paris, France

The following statistics helped BFV ARCHITECTES achieve 30th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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29. Architecture Patrick Mauger

The agency contributes to the transformation of the city, designing buildings that enrich life by multiplying their possible uses. The fields of activity are highly varied, ranging from urban spaces with studies to modify the reception areas in the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie and the northern Vilette esplanade (definition study) to interior architecture and design for the new layouts of the Louvre museum restaurants and delivery of the first “monolith”, inspired by an lfood on the terraces of the Richelieu wing.

Through their uses, contexts and budgets, the projects reveal a strong personality and are characterized by the emphasis on materials, such as marble powder on a honeycomb structure and Corian for the Louvre, or The Arte Povera treated wood for the CROUS centre in Mabillon.

Some of Architecture Patrick Mauger’s most prominent projects include:

Cultural Center, Auneau, France Nièvre’s Departmental Archives, Nevers, France IGN and Météo France Geosciences Centre, Saint-Mandé, France Secrétan covered market, Paris, France Center for Research and Interdisciplinarity, Paris, France

The following statistics helped Architecture Patrick Mauger achieve 29th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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28. A+Architecture

A+Architecture, leaded by nine partners, Philippe Bonon, Philippe Cervantes, Gilles Gal, Issis Raman, Christophe Aubailly, Vincent Nogaret, Julie Carayon-Couderc, Fabien Thuile et Clément Rabourdin is a team of architects, urban planners and designers with various backgrounds and cultures. Design is always the result of a collective work. Indeed, sharing a large open space favors group dynamics.

Some of A+Architecture’s most prominent projects include:

A+Agency, Montpellier, France NEW NATIONAL STADIUM TOKYO 2020, Shinjuku, Japan Jean-Claude Carrie?re Theatre, Montpellier, France Cultural Centre , Agde, France Port Marianne Secondary School, Montpellier, France

The following statistics helped A+Architecture achieve 28th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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27. Dorell.Ghotmeh.Tane / Architects (DGT)

DORELL.GHOTMEH.TANE / ARCHITECTS is a partnership founded in January 2006 in Paris and practicing Architecture, Urbanism and Space Design.

Some of Dorell.Ghotmeh.Tane / Architects (DGT)’s most prominent projects include:

THE BUMP, Paris, France LIGHT IS TIME, Milano, Italy NEW NATIONAL STADIUM TOKYO 2020, Shinjuku, Japan Estonian National Museum / “Memory Field”, Tartu, Estonia A HOUSE FOR OISO, Naka District, Japan

The following statistics helped Dorell.Ghotmeh.Tane / Architects (DGT) achieve 27th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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26. PETITDIDIERPRIOUX

Cédric Petitdidier and Vincent Prioux founded Petitdidierprioux Architectes in 2004. With more than forty staff and two offices in Paris and Lyon, PPX has completed more than forty projects, with just as many currently in development and in construction. Through its work, PPX has garnered expertise in residential housing, consistently striving for social mixing and ‘pleasurable density’ in an effort to reconcile individual and collective housing, including for high-rise buildings.

Each project delivers thoughtful consideration of typological variations and the notion of comfort, through particular attention to context, orientation, materials and energy use. PPX makes understanding any new situation the starting point of its process, and approaches each project free of preconceptions, always with a fresh, yet seasoned perspective.

Some of PETITDIDIERPRIOUX’s most prominent projects include:

152 HOUSING UNITS, Villeurbanne, France 71 HOUSING UNITS IN A SOCIAL RESIDENCE, Paris, France SOCIAL RESIDENCE, Bordeaux, France ATHLETES’ VILLAGE OLYMPIC GAMES 2024, L’Île-Saint-Denis, France 30 SOCIAL HOUSING UNITS, Villefranche-sur-Saone, France

The following statistics helped PETITDIDIERPRIOUX achieve 26th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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25. PCA-STREAM

The PCA-STREAM agency brings together 90 architects, urban planners, designers and engineers, capable of responding to the complex challenges of the contemporary world. PCA is the architecture and urban planning agency, STREAM, a unique transdisciplinary research program to which more than 150 researchers from around the world contribute, and whose work is widely disseminated and applied in PCA’s large-scale projects.

Some of PCA-STREAM’s most prominent projects include:

LABORDE, Paris, France 175HAUSSMANN, Paris, France PCA-STREAM’s CLUSTER, Paris, France TALLEYRAND, Paris, France #CLOUD.PARIS, Paris, France

The following statistics helped PCA-STREAM achieve 25th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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24. NZI Architectes

We founded the NZI ARCHITECTES agency in 2012. Our association is based on a project approach by creative, complementary and participatory experimentation. Fervent activists for environmental innovation, our work is based on the search for contextual urban insertions, paying constant attention to sustainable development.

We are lucky to be able to work on atypical programs that range from participatory housing to straw construction, but also from wood construction to the recycling of offices into housing. This journey, enriched by the diversity of solutions we experience on programs, requires us to be combative to get out of the pre-established standards. Our work is oriented towards the exploration of other and innovative techniques.

Some of NZI Architectes’ most prominent projects include:

Transformation of an office building into a wood and straw 139 student rooms, Paris, France Shop to Loft Conversion, Paris, France Levallois Apartment, Levallois-Perret, France PARTICIPATORY HABITAT IN MONTREUIL, Montreuil, France Wood and Stone Early childhood home, Vauréal, France

The following statistics helped NZI Architectes achieve 24th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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23. GARDERA-D

GARDERA-D is a pluridisciplinary architecture agency established in Paris and Biarritz, France. The agency explores a wide scope of investigation and responds to a varied demand for projects, ranging from architecture (housing, workplaces, teaching, equipment …) to interior design and object design.

Each project is approached and studied in a specific way, according to an approach based specifically on a particular attention to usages of buildings and the search for an optimum level in the relationship between architecture and location.

Some of GARDERA-D’s most prominent projects include:

ACBA, Agglomération Côte Basque Adour, Bayonne, France House R, Anglet, France 145 Student Housing, Bordeaux, France AZALA, Biarritz, France H+L House, Biarritz, France

The following statistics helped GARDERA-D achieve 23rd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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22. STUDIO 02

Based in Vannes since 2007 and claiming the ocean scenery as an inspiration, Studio 02 has found its place among the most prolific architect duos from the new generation. From the Binic nautical pole and the Plomodiern town hall to the overlays at the Baud Cultural Center, Romain Grégoire and Thomas Collet, set their enthusiastic vision of modernity, of a rational architecture, elegant and sophisticated made to please the client.

Faced with the context of each project, Studio 02’s style feeds itself from successive transformations, affirming the idea that no construction can simply just be abstract or monumental. Their architecture has clearly chosen a playground: clear lines, shades and frails… of these living buildings with hung images.

Some of STUDIO 02’s most prominent projects include:

City Hall, Plomodiern, France LOTUS, Rennes, France Monterblanc, Monterblanc, France PLUMERGAT, Plumergat, France Cultural center, Baud, France

The following statistics helped STUDIO 02 achieve 22nd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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21. Taillandier Architectes Associés

Founded in 1993 by Pierre-Louis Taillandier, Taillandier Architectes Associés (TAA) is an architecture and urbanism agency based in Toulouse, France. TAA is an open-minded organisation, working side by side with private and public partners. The people at TAA give their best to develop architectural solutions aimed to enhance the general experience: regardless of the nature of the project, the answer has to improve the quality of life of the end user and the direct environment.

To reach this goal, the approach needs to be well designed and well built. Every step must be taken very carefully within a structured and professional organization. Much more than a mere architectural momentum, every project designed by Taillandier Architectes Associés solves a series of equations blending program, user and environmental specifics.

Some of Taillandier Architectes Associés’s most prominent projects include:

Païcherou Aquatic Center, Carcassonne, France Campus Vidal & Forum des Arènes, Toulouse, France ZAC Niel, Toulouse, France Cour Saint Cyp, Toulouse, France INFINITY, Toulouse, France

The following statistics helped Taillandier Architectes Associés achieve 21st place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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20. Atelier Stéphane Fernandez

The studio is based in Aix en Provence in the south of France, not far from Marseille. The studio’s work focuses on landscape issues. From the urban landscape to the historical landscape, from the built to the unbuilt, our approach being the field of architecture to a much more complex reality.

With this in mind, the studio works in collaboration with a variety of disciplines (landscape architects, designers, photographers and writers) to produce an approach to the project that is as complete as possible, but above all as sensitive as possible.

Some of Atelier Stéphane Fernandez’s most prominent projects include:

Ecole Communale Jacqueline de Romilly, Cannes, France International Accommodation Centre for the Oceanological Observatory, Banyuls-sur-Mer, France Cour et Jardin, Vertou, France Espace Arbois Duranne, Aix-en-Provence, France Logements Monfleuri social housing, Carnoux-en-Provence, France

The following statistics helped Atelier Stéphane Fernandez achieve 20th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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19. Mikou Design Studio

Mikou Design Studio is a place of creation and experimentation in architecture and its inter-disciplinary cross-fertilization. We work in a continuous workshop spirit with a multidisciplinary team of architects, engineers, graphic artists, scenographers and town planners from very different cultural backgrounds.

Every project is an excuse for re-questioning and redefining the meaning of a brief, a function, and an urban, social and human context, in order to invent new ways of living, places for sharing and gathering that are more sensitive and more sensual, and which stimulate feelings. Our aim is to get away from preconceptions of form and function in order to transmit more and better.

Some of Mikou Design Studio’s most prominent projects include:

Balsanéo Aquatics Centre, Châteauroux, France Swimming Pool Feng Shui, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France Olympic Swimming Pool Tourcoing, Tourcoing, France House of Art and Culture, Beirut, Lebanon High School Jean Lurçat, Saint-Denis, France

The following statistics helped Mikou Design Studio achieve 19th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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18. studio razavi architecture

Our work rests on a fundamental principal: the mediation between engineering & architectural culture. It is our belief that successful designs can only materialize by fully synthesizing building technology and architectural sensitivity. Our approach to space is hence determined by a rigorous understanding of existing relationships between technique and culture, free of stylistic limitations, open to context.

Our designs cover a wide spectrum or architectural services from interiors to master planning services for clients in both the public and private sectors. Operating as one firm with two offices (Paris and New York) our portfolio of works spans from Europe to the Americas and includes residential, corporate, hospitality, civic, transportation, and mixed-use projects.

Some of studio razavi architecture’s most prominent projects include:

August Debouzy, Paris, France Concrete Town House, New York, New York Mountain House, Manigod, France Apartment XVII, Lyon, France Apartment XVI, Paris, France

The following statistics helped studio razavi architecture achieve 18th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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17. designbuildLAB

The design/buildLAB is a project-based experiential learning program focused on the research, development and implementation of innovative construction methods and architectural designs. Students collaborate with local communities and industry experts to conceive and realize built works of architecture that are both educational and charitable in nature. The aspirations of the program are simultaneously to reinforce the knowledge and skills necessary to the students’ successful and meaningful practice of architecture and to support development efforts in distressed communities by enriching the quality of their built environment.

Some of designbuildLAB’s most prominent projects include:

Smith Creek Park, Clifton Forge, VA, United States Maison Pour Tous, Four, France Sharon Fieldhouse, Alleghany County, VA, United States Sharon Fields, Alleghany County, VA, United States Nomad Shelters, Villard-de-Lans, France

The following statistics helped designbuildLAB achieve 17th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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16. Nomade Architectes

Raphaël Chivot, Matthieu Laviolle and Vincent Le Garrec – open-neck shirts and no Rolexes – are self-made men. An early schoolboy encounter was important; a sail together across the Atlantic, decisive. An agency was born first from camaraderie, then friendship: Nomade… all clear on the horizon and open-mindedness at a maximum. Which means, no borders. Between Paris and Vannes (its two locations) the agency specializes in all projects. And it works everywhere. Nomade moves and grows.

Ideas swarm in the inventive minds of some thirty faithful co-workers who have taken to organizing themselves around centers of interest, from design to the worksite via research, communication and even computer science.

Some of Nomade Architectes’s most prominent projects include:

Janine Jambu Gymnasium, Bagneux, France Valerie Nicolas Gymnasium, Cancale, France “Maison air et lumière” an Active House by Nomade, Verrières-le-Buisson, France Delegation of the vineyard, Clisson, France St Brieuc’s Elderly Establishment, Saint-Brieuc, France

The following statistics helped Nomade Architectes achieve 16th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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15. AUM Pierre Minassian

AUM Pierre Minassian is a firm that started its activity by designing houses. Since then the firm has diversified and now deals with a variety of subjects in various fields such as hotels, company headquarters, art galleries, cultural centers, educational buildings, sports facilities and even multi-unit housing. There are however common points between all the projects designed by Pierre Minassian and his team: the minimal design that integrates discreetly and efficiently into the landscape, the use of raw materials such as concrete, steel, wood, stone and glass, the priority given to natural light through the presence of very large-scale glazed façades, and the idea that any building designed by the firm should provide the residents and visitors with a unique living experience.

Some of AUM Pierre Minassian’s most prominent projects include:

Chipster Blister House, Lyon, France La Mira Ra, France White Snake House, France Le siphon de la Mulatière, Lyon, France Library and Cultural Center, Saint-Cyr-au-Mont-d’Or, France

The following statistics helped AUM Pierre Minassian achieve 15th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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14. LCR ARCHITECTES

LCR ARCHITECTES was founded in 1992 by architects Philippe Lapeyre, Jean-Claude Coustillières and Xavier Ratynski. The team is mainly made up of architects, but also graphic designers, draftsmen and a construction economist among others. Accustomed to carrying out major operations in fields such as culture, education, the tertiary sector, student housing, health, research, collective housing, transport, industry and banking for the most part, this multidisciplinary and expert team guarantees a contextual proposal as well as a real proximity with the contracting authority.

Some of LCR ARCHITECTES’s most prominent projects include:

SOUTHERN URBAN TELEPHERIC, Toulouse, France Public College of Labarthe-sur-Lèze, Labarthe-sur-Lèze, France Academy of Art Crafts (ESMA), Auzeville-Tolosane, France EURALIS Headquarters in Lescar, Lescar, France Jean Jaurès subway station, Toulouse, France

The following statistics helped LCR ARCHITECTES achieve 14th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in France:

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13. Atelier Roberta

Roberta is a creature with three heads. Three backgrounds, three skills, three landscape practices united in a single vision of the project. Roberta

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