source: egsedu

François Roche is a French architect and theorist. Born in 1961 in Paris, François Roche was originally trained in mathematics before graduating from the School of Architecture in Versaille in 1988. Among other teaching positions, François Roche has held visiting appointments at the Bartlett School in London, the Vienna University of Technology, the ESARQ School of Architecture of the International University of Catalunya in Barcelona, the ESA in Paris, the Angewandte in Vienna and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Alongside these appointments he has also lectured extensively at academic and cultural institutions internationally and has taught at Columbia University from 2006 to 2013. He is currently Visiting Professor at the Taubman College of Architecture at the University of Michigan, RMIT in Melbourne and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Roche has been associated with a number of progressive practices over the years, through New-Territories, including R&Sie(n) (since 1993), eIf/bʌt/c (since 2011), and M4 based in Bangkok, New-York and Paris.

In 1993 François Roche co-founded the architectural practice R&Sie(n), initially based in Paris, alongside Stéphanie Lavaux and Gilles Desevedavy. The studio has changed its name regularly since its inception and is now based in both Paris and Bangkok. R&Sie(n) have exhibited their designs at Columbia University in New York, UCLA in Los Angeles, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Barbican and the Tate Modern in London, the Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, the Centre Pompidou and the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris and in Orléans/ArchiLab, as well as partaking in exhibitions, installations, competitions and other projects in numerous venues throughout the world. Work by R&Sie(n) was selected for exhibition at the French pavilion of the Venice Architecture Biennales of 1990, 1996, 2000 and 2002, though the last invitation was rejected by the studio. Their work has also been chosen for the International Section and the Austrian Pavilion of the Biennale, as well as for Dark Side Curating, the Slovenian Pavilion and Writing Architecture in 2012 and Palazzo Bembo in 2014.

In 2011 François Roche also founded [eIf/bʌt/c], a studio for ‘Contingent Scenario’ based in Bangkok, with Camille Lacadé. As president of the research laboratory New-Territories, whose scope includes the various incarnations and names over the years of R&Sie(n) / [eIf/bʌt/c], François Roche describes the theoretical stance of these groups, like the design work itself, as organised around three concurrent themes: Research as Speculation, Fiction as Practice, and Practice as Lifespan (Here & Now), making for works that are simultaneously highly speculative yet eerily plausible.
As sole author but also working as and through New-Territories, François Roche has published a number of monographs. These volumes constitute collations of research projects and exhibition catalogues of the New-Territories group and include Corrupted Biotopes, a contribution the the Design Document series of books in 2004, “i’ve heard about” (2005), Spoiled Climate (2006), Fiction Scripts (2007) and most recently BioReboot (2010). As well as having contributed to various journals of architecture and design, in 2012 François Roche was guest editor of the architectural journal LOG #25, released in the Summer of 2012: Reclaim Resi[lience]stance. In 2014, a book dedicated to the work of François Roche and his work with New-Territories was published, entitled Francois Roche: Heretical Machinism and Living Architecture of New Territories.com.
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source: designboom

was born in paris in 1961. although roche originally trained and worked as a mathematician, he later graduated from the school of architecture of versaille in 1987. he founded R&Sie(n) architecture studio in 1989 along with fellow french architects stephanie lavaux and jean navarro. roche continues to lead the paris based studio which regularly changes its name every few years. after more than 15 years, the studio has built a name for themselves with their investigative approach to architecture.they are currently focusing on developing technological experiments, from which they 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 their work at institutions around the world, including the tate modern, london columbia university, new york the pompidou center, paris modern art museum and MIT’s medialab, massachusetts.
R&Sie(n) also exhibited for france at the 1990, 1996 and 2000 venice architectural biennale and were also featured in the 2000, 2004 international selection. francois roche has been a guest lecturer and professor at a number of prestigious universities and is currently teaching at the advanced research studio at new york’s columbia university.
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source: poptronicsfr

François Roche échappe toujours aux étiquettes : un tant partisan de la vague « blob » (pour blobitecture, un courant d’architecture non standard qui s’inspire des formes organiques), il s’en émancipe pour approcher l’architecture durable. Avec un temps d’avance, il travaille ici avec des chercheurs en nanotechnologies, là avec des artistes plus visionnaires encore que lui (il fait d’ailleurs partie des architectes exposés dans les musées et les galeries d’art). Avec son agence R&Sie(n) (à lire hérésien, l’homme est compliqué, oui), ils construisent très peu mais réfléchissent beaucoup, imaginent des habitats hybrides qui tiennent compte de nos modes de vie nomades et eux aussi complexes, entre vie privée et vie publique, sphère intime et sphère sociale. Membranes, peaux architecturales qui reprendraient les affects de leurs habitants, maisons-araignées…Les concepts qu’ils développent sont autant d’extensions de l’imaginaire d’un Philip K. Dick ou d’un Bruce Sterling, auteurs d’une SF pas si futuriste qu’il y paraît.

De quoi lui conférer une aura de diva de l’architecture d’un nouveau genre. Cet architecte visionnaire, fâché avec beaucoup de commanditaires en France, a beau critiquer ses pairs, il a cette particularité 100 % hexagonale d’user d’un sens critique doublé d’une culture encyclopédique.

Dans le cadre d’Upgrade !, le rendez-vous parisien (connecté au réseau mondial d’événements Upgrade ! International), François Roche fait ce soir une lecture, « Bachelor Machine in Dystopia zones », dont on ne sait rien mais dont on suppute qu’elle fera rêver/cauchemarder sur les visions d’habitat de demain. François Roche, faut-il le préciser, répond à l’archétype qui dit que nul n’est prophète en son pays : véritable star de l’architecture, il est reçu comme tel dans les universités étrangères, mais sa prise de parole en France, à Paris, est un instant rare. A ne pas rater, donc.