Philippe Rahm

Philippe Rahm (born in 1967) is a Swiss architect (M.Arch EPFL, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne in 1993 and Ph.D University of Paris-Saclay in 2019), principal in the office of “Philippe Rahm architects”, based in Paris, France. His work, which extends the field of architecture from the physiological to the meteorological, has received an international audience in the context of sustainability.

In 2002, Mr. Rahm was chosen to represent Switzerland at the 8th Architecture Biennale in Venice and was one of the 25 Manifesto’s Architects of Aaron Betsky’s 2008 Architectural Venice Biennale. He participated in 2017 at the Architecture Biennales of Seoul and Chicago where he will be back for the 2023 edition.

His recent work includes the first prize for the Farini competition in Milan in 2019 with OMA, a masterplan for a 62 hectares new district and a 15 hectares park, the First Prize in 2011 for the 67 hectares Taichung Central Park (Taichung Gateway Park / Jade Eco Park) in Taiwan with Catherine Mosbach and Ricky Liu & Associates, completed in 2020, the First Prize for the 1800 m2 Agora of the French National Radio in Paris, a 2700 m2 Exhibition architecture for the Luma Foundation in Arles, France.

Available English monographic books are Climatic architecture, published by Actar, Spain, Fall 2023, Environ(ne)ment: Approaches for Tomorrow, published by Skira in 2006, Constructed atmospheres published by Postmedia, Milan, Italy in 2014, and Form follows Climate published by OFL in 2017. He has received the Silver Medal of the French Academy of Architecture in 2019 and was made a knight of the Order of Cultural Merit of Monaco in 2017. He has participated in a number of exhibitions worldwide (SF-MoMA 2001; Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2003-2006 and 2007; Louisiana museum, Denmark, 2009; Guggenheim Museum, New-York 2010, Maxxi, Rome 2014, CIVA, Bruxelles 2023). In 2007, he had a personal exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal with Gilles Clément and in 2018 at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Mr. Rahm was a resident at the Villa Medici in Rome (2000). He has held professorships at the AA School in London (2005-2006), Mendrisio Academy of Architecture in Switzerland (2004 - 2005), ETH Lausanne (2006 - 2007), School of Architecture of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts of Copenhagen (2009-2010), in Oslo at the AHO (2010-2011), at Harvard University (2014-2016), and Cornell University in 2019 and 2020. From 2010 to 2012, he held the Jean Labatut Professorship in Princeton University, USA. He is currently a tenured associate professor at the National Superior School of Architecture in Versailles, France (ENSA-V). He has lectured widely, including at Yale, Beijing Forum, UCLA, and the ETH Zürich. In 2020, he was the curator and author of the exhibition and book Natural History of Architecture at the Pavillon de l’Arsenal in Paris.