Philippe Rahm

Philippe Rahm (born 1967) is a Swiss-born architect and educator. He is the principal architect in the office of Philippe Rahm architectes, based in Paris, France. His work, which extends the field of architecture from the physiological scale of the body to the climatic scale of the city has received an international audience in the context of sustainability.^[1]

Philippe Rahm inside his Spectral Light in 2015

Biography

Dipl. EPFL 1993 - Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne - Switzerland.

Central Park, Taichung, Taiwan, 2011-2019

In 2002, Rahm was chosen to represent Switzerland at the 8th Architectural Venice Biennale^[2] in Italy. He was also one of twenty international architects selected for the 2008 Venice Biennale, which was curated by Aaron Betsky and participates^[3] to the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennial directed by Carlo Ratti in 2025.

He has participated in a number of exhibitions worldwide, including (Archilab, Orléans, France 2000; SF-MoMA 2001; CCA Kitakyushu 2004; Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2003–2006 and 2007; Manifesta 7, 2008; Louisiana museum, Denmark, 2009; Guggenheim Museum,^[4] New-York 2010). In 2007, he had a personal exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture^[5] in Montreal. Mr. Rahm was a resident at the Villa Medici^[6] in Rome (2000). Since 2005, he has been a member of the Artistic Council of the Foundation Prince Pierre^[7] in Monaco. He has lectured widely, including at Cooper Union, Harvard School of Design, Bartlett School of Architecture UCL, UCLA and the ETH Zürich. He has worked on several private and public projects in France, England, Italy, Germany and Taiwan. His work includes in 2010 the project of an office building of 13000 m2 in La Défense in France for the EPADESA; convective apartments^[8] for the IBA in Hamburg, Germany; the White geology, a stage design for contemporary art^[9] in the Grand-Palais on the Champs-Elysées in Paris in 2009; a studio house for the artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster in 2008 and the 70 hectares Central Central Park in Taichung, Taiwan (2011-2020) with mosbach paysagistes and Ricky Liu & Associates.^[10] In 2025, Philippe Rahm is co-curator of the Biennial of architecture and landscape of Île-de-France^[11] and the Saint-Étienne International Design Biennial.^[12]

Academic experience

He was Headmaster at the AA School of Architecture in London in 2005-2006, visiting professor in Mendrisio Academy of Architecture in Switzerland in 2004 and 2005, at the ETH Lausanne in 2006 and 2007, at the School of Architecture of the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts of Copenhagen^[13] in 2009-2010, in Oslo at the AHO in 2010-2011. He was visiting professor at School of Architecture of Princeton University,^[14] USA, from 2011 to 2013. In the Fall 2011 semester, Philippe was the Michale Fellow at the University at Buffalo - State University of New York.He was a visiting professor in BiArch ( Barcelona Institute Of Architecture) for 2011-12 MBiArch program. He taught Architectural design at the Graduate School of Design in Harvard from 2014 to 2016^[15] and at Cornell University AAP from 2018 to 2020.^[16]

Since 2023, Philippe is Dean’s Visiting Associate Professor at GSAPP, Columbia University in the City of New York.^[17] He is a tenured teacher for architectural design and theory at the ENSAV, national school of architecture of Versailles in France^[18] and at the HEAD-Genève.^[19]

Awards

In 2011, Rahm won the international competition with mosbach paysagistes for the Jade Eco Park, a 70 hectares park in Taichung, Taiwan, which opened to the public in December 2020. In 2019, together with OMA, he won the urban planning competition for Farini (44 hectares) and San Cristoforo (15 hectares) in Milan.^[20]

Year	Award	Result	Organization	Ref
2017	Order of Cultural Merit	Insignia of Knight	Principality of Monaco	[21]
2019	Prix d'Architecture	Silver Medal	Académie d'architecture (France)	[22]
2016	Design Award, Best Bright Ideas, ‘Spectral Light’	Won	Wallpaper*	[23]
2003	Architecture	Won	Swiss Art Awards
2008	Iakov Chernikhov Prize	Top ten	ICIF (Russia)
2009	Ordos Prize	Nominated	City of Ordos (China)
2009	Carte blanche VIA grant	Won	Industries Françaises de l’Ameublement, France
2010	Iakov Chernikhov Prize	Nominated	ICIF (Russia)

Further reading

In English:

• 2002, « Physiologique architecture » Décosterd & Rahm, Birkhauser, Basel, Boston, Berlin, ISBN 3-7643-6944-2.
• 2005, « Distorsions », HYX éditeurs, Orléans, France, ISBN 2-910385-40-X.
• 2005, « Ghost flat », Philippe Rahm, Marie Darrieussecq, CCA Kitakyushu, Japan.
• 2006, « Environ(ne)ment : approaches for tomorrow», Gilles Clément, Philippe Rahm, Skira, Milan, Italie, ISBN 88-7624-959-1.
• 2010, « Meteorological Typologies », Am weissenhof Galerie, Stuttgart, Germany.
• 2014, « Constructed Atmospheres », Postmediabooks, Paris, France, ISBN 978-88-7490-124-1.
• 2017, « Form follows climate», Oil Forest League, Italy, ISBN 978-88-941394-6-4
• 2023, « The anthropocene style », HEAD Publishing, Switzerland, ISBN 978-2-940510-79-5.
• 2023, « Climatic architecture », Actar, Spain, ISBN 978-1-63840-039-4.
• 2025, « 4°C entre toi et moi », (bilingual FR-EN), Actar, Spain, ISBN 978-1638401841.

In Spanish:

• 2020, « Arquitectura Meteorológica» , Editor Arquine, Mexico, ISBN 978-607-9489-69-4
• 2021, « Escritos climáticos », Puente Editores, Spain, ISBN 978-84-124287-0-4.
• 2022, « Meteorología de los sentimientos », Ediciones Asimétricas, Spain, ISBN 978-84-19050-15-1.
• 2024, « Historia natural de la arquitectura », Editorial GG, Spain, ISBN 978-84-252-3543-6.

In French:

• 2004, « Ghostscape » Monum, ENSBA, Paris, ISBN 2-84056-169-7.
• 2009, « Architecture météorologique », Archibooks, Paris, France, ISBN 2-35733-049-X.
• 2015, « Météorologie des sentiments», Les Petits matins, Paris, France, ISBN 978-2-36383-073-9.
• 2019, « Le jardin météorologique, et autres constructions climatiques», Editions B2, Paris, France, ISBN 978-2-36509-100-8
• 2020, « Écrits climatiques », Éditions B2, France, ISBN 978-2-36509-114-5
• 2020, « Histoire naturelle de l'architecture », Éditions du Pavillon de l'Arsenal, France, ISBN 978-2-35487-058-4
• 2023, « Histoire naturelle de l'architecture » (paperback), Éditions POINTS, France, ISBN 979-1041413843
• 2023, « Le style anthropocène », HEAD Publishing, Suisse, ISBN 978-2-940510-77-1.
• 2025, « 4 Degrés Celsius entre toi et moi », (paperback, collective), Éditions POINTS, France, ISBN 979-1041424696.
• 2025, « 4°C entre toi et moi », (bilingue FR-EN), Actar, Spain, ISBN 978-1638401841.