Paul Andreu (born July 10, 1938 in Caudéran / Gironde) is a renowned French architect. He is best known for having planned numerous airports worldwide, notably in Manila, Jakarta, Abu Dhabi, Cairo, Brunei and Paris.

Other prestigious projects include the Grande Arche at La Défense in Paris (as associate of Johann Otto von Spreckelsen ) and the new opera house at Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Andreu graduated in 1961 from the École Polytechnique.

He has been in charge of planning and constructing Charles de Gaulle International Airport (Roissy) in Paris since 1967. On May 23, 2004, a portion of Terminal 2E's ceiling collapsed, killing four people. Terminal 2E, inaugurated in 2003, is the seventh terminal at Roissy by Andreu, and has been described as one of his boldest designs. The collapse was attributed by the ad hoc administrative enquiry commission to a variety of technical causes and the lack of margins of safety in the design. Andreu blamed the collapse on poor execution by the building companies.

On September 28, 2004, another Andreu-designed terminal, Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport, collapsed while under construction.

External links

• www.paul-andreu.com Andreu's homepage (in French)
• BBC News: Profile: Paul Andreu
• Official report of the enquiry commission (in French)