Jean Dubuisson

Jean Dubuisson (18 September 1914 – 22 October 2011) was a French architect who is regarded as one of the leading practitioners of the French post-World War II years.

Biography Jean René Julien Dubuisson was born in Lille, France. He was the son of the architect Émile Dubuisson (1873–1947).

He began his architecture studies in the École des Beaux Arts in Lille, before continuing at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. He received his diploma in 1939, in the studio of Emmanuel Pontremoli. He was Second Grand Prix de Rome in 1943 and First Grand Prix de Rome in 1945, following which he lived in Rome, in the Villa Medici, and in Athens from 1946 to 1949. Upon returning to France, he joined in the rebuilding of France after the massive destruction during World War II.

His submission in the Strasbourg competition of 1951, won by Eugène Beaudouin, secured him a place as one of the limited number of architects commissioned by the national government to build housing projects.

Beyond a classical culture gained at the École des Beaux Arts and on his travels in Italy and Greece, Dubuisson was strongly influenced by Mies van der Rohe, Arne Jacobsen, and Walter Gropius. His numerous projects are characterized by the search for a personal language to resolve the drastic constraints of the immense programs of the time. He alone designed approximately 20,000 units of social housing.

Dubuisson is remembered as one of the major figures of the post-World War II period in France, especially as related to housing: the Shape Village in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (1951–1952), La Caravelle in Villeneuve-la-Garenne (1959–1967) and the apartment blocks of Maine-Montparnasse in Paris (1959–1964). He is also known for the National Museum of Folk Arts and Traditions in Paris He won the Grand Prix National de l'Architecture in 1996.

His son is designer Sylvain Dubuisson (born in 1946).

Selected buildings 1948: Botanical Garden in Lille 1951: SHAPE Village in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines) (263 units) 1952-1956: "Résidence du parc" housing project in rue Lacépède in Croix (Nord) 1953: Housing project in the railway station neighborhood and rue de la Marne in Saint-Lô 1954-1962: "Les Hauts-Champs" and "Terrains Cavrois" housing projects in Roubaix 1955-1964: Housing project in les Basses-Terres in Pierrefitte-Stains (Seine-Saint-Denis) 1957-1973: Crédit Lyonnais Tower, in la Défense, Puteaux (demolished) 1958-1966: Mouchotte building in rue du Commandant-René-Mouchotte in Paris 1959-1967: Housing project in La Caravelle in Villeneuve-la-Garenne 1961-1964: Cormontaigne residence in Thionville 1961-1967: Parc Saint-Maur residence in rue Réaumur in Lille (726 units) 1962 : Building at 63 avenue de la Bourdonnais in Paris with Michel Jausserand et Olivier Vaudou 1962-1980: "Les Hauts de Chambéry" urban development 1964-1973: Borny urban development in Metz 1964: Saint-Louis Church in Belfort 1964-1967: "Les Érables" housing in la Duchère, Lyon 1965-1977: CFS headquarters in Rocquencourt, Yvelines 1966-1970: André-Weill residential building in Pontpoint, Oise 1967: High school (currently Madame de Staël High School) in Montluçon 1969: National Museum of Folk Arts and Traditions in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris 1969: Exhibition pavilion at the Parc des Expositions de Lac, Bordeaux in collaboration with Francisque Perrier 1969: Athéna Port Residence, 1390 boulevard des Graviers, Bandol, Var 1969-1971: Advisory architect for the building of the Saint-Laurent nuclear plant in Saint-Laurent-Nouan, Loir-et-Cher, in collaboration with Jean de Mailly. 1972: Porte-Verte housing project, 13 avenue du Général-Pershing, in Versailles