Audat Krauss Architectes et Associés

A Conversation Between

By Olivier Namias

Atelier Krauss — Atelier Krauss Architecture and Pierre Audat & Associés, two firms with a combined thirty years of experience, are merging today to form a single entity.

Before discussing the identity of your respective agencies, could you briefly recount your early career beginnings?

 

Itamar Krauss / My career began with three intensive years at Paul Chemetov's firm, where I worked on sports and cultural projects—including media libraries in Rueil and Serris, a multisport complex in Metz, and various competitions developed up to the construction phase.
After a brief stint at Valode et Pistre, I joined Chaix & Morel, where I was involved in cultural and office projects, particularly the Physics Faculty of Paris VII University in the Seine-Rive Gauche district—a project I followed from the competition stage to the construction handover.

 

Pierre Audat / During a study trip to Tokyo in my third year of architecture school, I met a French architect. Beyond the pleasure of sharing a Pastis at the other end of the world between two Marseillais, I experimented with a work methodology around shop, office, and house design projects. When I returned to France, I continued this collaboration to develop the French-Japanese agency in the country while launching new projects and finishing my studies.

 

What led you to start your own agency? 

 

PA / After several years developing the French branch of the agency, I started receiving small personal commissions, including my parents' workshops. These allowed me to develop my own approach, which I synthesized in my application for the NAJA (formerly AJAP). Winning the 2008 Young Architects' Albums was the deciding factor for me to embark on my own journey.

 

IK / I met Keichi Tahara while he was working on the 1% artistic contribution for the Physics Faculty in Paris. A renowned photographer, Tahara also created many works and installations for commissions he initiated himself. One day, he asked me to handle the architectural aspect of a hotel renovation project in Beauvallon, a stunning location facing the bay of Saint-Tropez. A Chinese investor wanted to create a spa and villas based on an off-site prefabrication system using container-frame elements. Ultimately, due to local political issues, the project couldn’t materialize—the investor left for London, and I set up my office on the Grands Boulevards in what was essentially an architect incubator before the term even existed.  

 

What are the key elements or themes that guide your architecture?

PA / My aesthetic inclinations lean towards color, abstraction, repetitive systems, and the element of chance in working with folds. While exploring Marseille—which I did extensively during and after my studies—I was struck by the collisions between past and present, the successive stratifications of history. I am particularly interested in repurposing materials and the strategies needed to create something new from recycled elements. I was deeply influenced by the avant-gardes, particularly the Russians—their relationship to utopia, the fusion of arts, images, and text in Rodchenko’s work—as well as the concept of the ready-made, transforming the ordinary into art that reinterprets our everyday environment. My photographic work focused on the aesthetic qualities of elements not designed by architects or artists. I also collected windows and other objects that created beauty through simple means (textures, materials, landscapes, and on construction sites as well).
 
 
IK / I am very interested in layering systems, which add depth and an architectural equivalent of epidermis. One example is a building by Kumiko Inui for Dior in Ginza. You can also see this effect in Antony Gormley’s sculptures, where transparency suggests volume and depth through both graphic and architectural play. Another reference is the convent designed by Pinsard in Lille, with its exposed terracotta vaults, the material interplay of brick, repetitive elements, and the occasional disappearance of one of them. I find similar ideas of depth and interstitial space in the Bordeaux offices of RCR Architects, where they have integrated micro glass patios open to the elements.

 

Why be an architect in 2022? What do you want to advocate for in your projects?

PA / We share the desire to avoid being trapped in our respective routines, to remain open to other practices, and to keep our curiosity about the world alive.
 
 
IK / Our strength lies in our complementarity. I am not as skilled with color as Pierre, and until now, I have rarely worked on heritage projects. However, I believe I can apply my interest in layered complexity—geographical, economic, and aesthetic—to existing structures in a way that enriches the project.
 
 
PA / We reject the idea that design should be based solely on a functional relationship with space. To us, a project should have an offbeat relationship with its program—like what Itamar did in Saint-Denis, where the generosity of the shared spaces encourages uses beyond mere access to one’s home.

 

 

You aim to push the boundaries of a project. What limits have you set for yourselves?

 

PA / We embrace a receptive radicality, one that is sensitive to its context. We are not afraid to challenge habits and preconceived notions, even if it means confronting legal, social, or doctrinal constraints. Take, for example, a project in the Marais, where I replaced existing floors with glass ones—a deliberate choice to highlight raw materials, steel, and metal elements. The project fit seamlessly into an 18th-century space, but the idea of integrating through contrast was a bold gamble. It is precisely to take such risks that we are pooling our strengths.

 

IK / A housing competition in Switzerland gives us the opportunity to test shared, modular spaces, naturally lit circulation areas, and other design strategies I have explored before. I hope to see such ideas gain traction in France. Our contribution may seem modest—we are not claiming to reinvent the wheel or revolutionize collective housing—but we are committed to designing generous outdoor spaces and open common areas. These are the elements that differentiate a building where people merely reside from one where they truly live. The experience of lockdowns may help push these simple yet challenging-to-implement design principles forward. We are far from the Vorarlberg model, where residential buildings share rooftop terraces among neighbors.

 

How do you envision the agency’s development in the coming years?

 

PA / Our partnership should allow us to take on larger and more complex projects that would be out of reach for smaller firms. I also want to engage with other architects and work on programs I have never tackled before, such as public facilities. At the same time, I don’t want to distance myself from construction sites or the execution phase, which Itamar and I both consider an integral part of the project.

 

IK / The agency is a tool that will enable us to spend more time designing and less time justifying our expertise. Beyond strategic considerations, we want to maintain the joy of creating and remain open to new encounters. What excites us is taking a path without knowing exactly where it will lead—armed only with the certainty that we are well-equipped for the journey, stopping wherever projects take us, much like the Cistercian masons described by Pouillon in The Stones of the Abbey.