World-renowned architect Francois Roche to speak at Syracuse Architecture

Elaine Wackerow
(315) 443-6004

Francois Roche, co-founder/director of R&Sie(n) Architects, Paris, and visiting professor at Columbia University, will speak at the Syracuse University School of Architecture on Thursday, Oct. 16, at 6:30 p.m. in Slocum Hall Auditorium. His lecture, “BI[r]O- BO[o]T/Ecosophical Apparatus + Skizoid Machines,” is free and open to the public.

Roche was born in Paris in 1961 and originally trained and worked as a mathematician. He later graduated from the School of Architecture of Versailles in 1987 and founded R&Sie(n) Architecture Studio in 1989 along with fellow French architects Stephanie Llavaux and Jean Navarro. The studio has built a name for itself with its investigative approach to architecture. It is currently focusing on developing technological experiments, from which it can create architectural “scenarios.” These experiments are designed as forms of cartographic distortion or territorial mutations, transforming nature into a dynamic element of the design. This organic approach is concerned with linking the context with the building and human relations.

R&Sie(n) has exhibited its work at institutions around the world, including the Tate M Modern, London; Columbia University; the Pompidou Center, Paris; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; and MIT’s Medialab. R&Sie(n) also exhibited for France at the 1990, 1996 and 2000 Venice architectural biennales and was also featured in the 2000 and 2004 international selection.

Syracuse University School of Architecture is the fourth-oldest program in the United States and is consistently rated among the top architecture schools in the country. In 2008, the school’s undergraduate program was ranked third in the nation by DesignIntelligence.