PROFILE: IAD (International Architecture Development) is one of the emerging players in the new European architecture scene. The studio, led by French architects Cottrell & Michelangeli, produces an architecture based on ergonomics, functionality and contextuality which has recently been recognized with the "2008 Europe 40 under 40” award by the European Center for Architecture & Urban Studies, both the 2009 and 2010 "International Architecture Award" by The Chicago Athenaeum, various short-listings by the World Architecture News and a High Commendation at the 2010 MIPIM AR Future Awards, as well as having participated as keynote speakers in the City and the World Architecture Symposium in Florence in November 2009.

PHILOSOPHY: "We don’t invent words, each day we learn a new one. That is how we compose our architecture, expressed on a larger scale." IAD interprets architecture as the substance of its own language, because only in language is there knowledge. IAD is always ready to speculate, analyze, and reflect on their architectural pieces (yes, this is a most French legacy), always preparing the field of their opinions with three seeds: ergonomics, functionality and contextuality. Ergonomics: the idea of the adapted object, according to its function, Functionality: because the program is not just a two dimensional sheet of paper, Contextuality: because of the pedagogical inheritance of our Architectural school, as free as it is visual. “On our journey, we’ve learned to be economical with words, trying to achieve pure lines. It is true that in order for the project to follow the idea it needs technology or innovation, but always with the intention of making the project more natural, more legible." Unpolluted in their dealings with clients, IAD goes out of its way in offering all its constructive knowledge without getting carried away by the difficulty of the subject. The determining factor is the capacity of the individual to locate himself in his time, knowing enough to be able to move ahead of it. This is how you can imagine IAD’s team, around a table, debating and reaching agreements as to the best architectonic form for a particular place in the world.