It all began with an invitation: an event organized by GRDF in Rouen to reflect on architecture that “does more with less.” But immediately, the question arose: Architect, who are you?
From the stone builders of the Neolithic period to the Greek arkhitéktôn, from the earliest occurrences to the definitions of the Académie Française, Anne-Charlotte Depondt traces the genealogy of the profession back to her own line of architects. Her father was a landscape designer, her uncle Paul Depondt a student of Mies van der Rohe and an advocate of sober, luminous modernity: through them, a lineage of thought and loving rigor emerges.
But this lineage is crumbling in the contemporary turmoil. Today's architects, often caught up in image and speed, seem to have forgotten their primary mission: to provide shelter for humans.
Anne-Charlotte questions the lost meaning, the reign of the artificial, the temptation of the virtual where everything is built without substance. Quoting Arendt and Jankélévitch, she reminds us that thought alone is the foundation of ethics, that “evil comes from an inability to think.”
Architecture is not just a form: it is a moral act, a fidelity to life, a resistance to emptiness.
Thus, beyond fads and quarrels, she calls for a requirement: to be upright, in humanity.
And to close the circle on the event in Rouen—because building better today means first and foremost rediscovering the meaning of the word “architect.”
This English version was generated using AI with voice cloning, preserving the speakers’ timbre (Anne-Charlotte) and their natural French accent.
Audio production comdarchipodcast
Image teaser © Blonde Woman Walking Through a Luxury Shopping Mall by Kuroneko Mac Generated using AI
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