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RFR was founded in Paris in 1981 as Rice Francis Ritchie sarl, by Peter Rice (structural engineer), Martin Francis (industrial and yacht designer) and Ian Ritchie (architect). It had offices in Stuttgart, Germany; Shanghai, China; and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
RFR is a design engineering firm with its head office based in Paris and specialises in the design of complex structures and sophisticated building envelopes that reconcile engineering and architecture. RFR has designed structures intended for unique locations like the Musée du Louvre or the Louis Vuitton store on the avenue des Champs Elysées in Paris, the Capitol in Washington, the Irish Parliament and CHQ Building in Dublin, and the library of the Indian Parliament in New Delhi.
Ian Ritchie retired from RFR at the end of the 1980s to focus his work on architecture from his studio in London. Martin Francis also resumed working for RFR quite soon. Peter Rice ran the office until his death in 1992. After that date, the company had to reorganize, but continued working on all scale projects in France and abroad. These projects include: the Passerelle Simone de Beauvoir, several TGV stations, the Fondation Louis Vuitton or the renovation of the Eiffel tower 1st floor.
RFR was placed in judicial liquidation in late 2015 due to financial problems largely stemming from its subsidiary RFR Gros Oeuvre + (RFR GO+). The French court awarded the company to Artelia, a large French engineering conglomerate that had made an offer among others to purchase RFR.
Since 2015, RFR has started a new part of its history as "RFR Structure et Enveloppe" an independent branch of Artelia Group. Several RFR employees joined back the office, and the team reaches now about 25 engineers and architects . The office is still based on the same location in the center of Paris, an pursues working on high quality structures and façade projects, as for example: La Samaritaine Department Store renovation with SANNA Architects [ fr ], the Tribunal de Paris with Renzo Piano [1] or the Saint-Denis Pleyel station with Kengo Kuma. [2]
RFR has won international laurels and awards including French/European steel awards, RIBA Awards, INGENIEURBAUPREIS 2006 for the AWD stadium in Hanover, Académie de l'Architecture Silver Medal for Research and Technique.
• Le verre structurel, Peter Rice, Hugh Dutton, Editions du Moniteur, Paris, 1990
• Exploring materials, the work of Peter Rice, RIBA Gallery, London1992
• Peter Rice, An Engineer imagines, Artemis, London, 1994
• L'art de l'ingénieur, B.Vaudeville, JF.Blassel, H.Bardsley, M.Kutterer, Petit journal de l'exposition, 1997
• L'art de l'ingénieur : constructeur, entrepreneur, inventeur, Antoine Picon, 1997
Members of RFR regularly lecture internationally on glass structures and new geometric applications, including the Pisa university, Technical University Vienna, Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), and Ecole Spéciale d'Architecture, Paris, France.
Peter R. Rice was an Irish structural engineer.
Pont Neuf is a station on Line 7 of the Paris Métro. Located in the heart of old Paris, it is connected to the Île de la Cité by the nearby Pont Neuf after which it is named. It opened in 1926 with the line's extension from Palais Royal–Musée du Louvre to Pont Marie.
La Samaritaine is a large department store in Paris owned by LVMH. It is located in the first arrondissement; the nearest métro station is Pont-Neuf, directly in front at the quai du Louvre and the rue de la Monnaie. The company was owned by Ernest Cognacq and Marie-Louise Jaÿ who hired architect Frantz Jourdain to expand their original store, starting as a small apparel shop and over time expanding into an ensemble of department store buildings with a total of 90 different departments. It has been a member of the International Association of Department Stores from 1985 to 1992.
The Shukhov Radio Tower, also known as the Shabolovka Tower, is a broadcasting tower deriving from the Russian avant-garde in Moscow designed by Vladimir Shukhov. The 160-metre-high (520 ft) free-standing steel diagrid structure was built between 1920 and 1922, during the Russian Civil War.
Bordeaux-Saint-Jean or formerly Bordeaux-Midi is the main railway station in the French city of Bordeaux. It is the southern terminus of the Paris–Bordeaux railway, and the western terminus of the Chemins de fer du Midi main line from Toulouse. The station is the main railway interchange in Aquitaine and links Bordeaux to Paris, Sète, Toulouse Matabiau and Spain.
Gare de la Part-Dieu is the primary railway station of Lyon's Central Business District in France. It belongs to the Paris-Lyon-Marseille railway. Train services are mainly operated by SNCF with frequent TGV high-speed and TER regional services as well as Eurostar and Deutsche Bahn. Lyon's second railway station, Lyon-Perrache station, is located in the south of the historical centre.
Kengo Kuma is a Japanese architect and emeritus professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Tokyo. Frequently compared to contemporaries Shigeru Ban and Kazuyo Sejima, Kuma is also noted for his prolific writings. He is the designer of the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo, which was built for the 2020 Summer Olympics. He is married to architect Satoko Shinohara, and they have one son, Taichi, also an architect. He is an advisor for Kitakyushu-city in Japan.
Ian Ritchie Architects Ltd is a British architectural and design practice, based in London led by its founder Ian Ritchie. The practice changed its name to 'Ritchie Studio' on 24 June 2021. Recently completed projects include the RIBA Award-winning Susie Sainsbury Theatre, the Angela Burgess Recital Hall for the Royal Academy of Music, and the Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London.
Ian Ritchie is a British architect who founded Ian Ritchie Architects in 1981. His projects include the RIBA Award-winning Susie Sainsbury Theatre and Angela Burgess Recital Hall for the Royal Academy of Music, Sainsbury Wellcome Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University College London and the American Institute of Architects Award-winning Royal Shakespeare Company Courtyard Theatre. Ritchie was the first foreign architect to receive the French Academie d'Architecture Grand Silver Medal for Innovation.
The Passerelle Simone-de-Beauvoir is a bridge solely for pedestrians and cyclists across the Seine River in Paris. It is the 37th bridge on the Seine in Paris. It is located between the bridges of Pont de Bercy and Pont de Tolbiac and links up the 12th and 13th arrondissements of Paris. Its nearest Paris Metro station is Quai de la Gare.
Tourism in Paris is a major income source. Paris received 12.6 million visitors in 2020, measured by hotel stays, a drop of 73 percent from 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of foreign visitors declined by 80.7 percent. Museums re-opened in 2021, with limitations on the number of visitors at a time and a requirement that visitors wear masks.
Aéroport Charles de Gaulle 1 is one of two railway stations at Charles de Gaulle Airport, the primary airport for the Paris region and the largest in France. The station is served by RER B and CDGVAL.
Museum architecture has been of increasing importance over the centuries, especially more recently.
The year 2012 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.
The year 2014 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.
The year 2020 in architecture involved some significant architectural events and new buildings.
Jean-François Blassel, is a French architect of bridges, Viaducts, and railway bridges.
Saint-Denis Pleyel is a future Paris Métro station located in Saint-Denis, in the northern suburbs of Paris. Currently under construction as part of the Grand Paris Express project, the station is proposed to open in 2024 as the terminus of line 14. In future, the station will serve the orbital line 15 and be the terminus of lines 16 and 17. The station will be operated by Keolis, which will also operate lines 16 and 17.