Architecture is reflected in the desire not to create limits for oneself, to abolish one's own borders. Mathieu Nicol, associate architect and programmatic analyst at the prestigious architecture and town planning studio Jim Clemes Associates, is proof of this. Meet.
Coming from a family of entrepreneurs from father to son, he quickly came into contact with the world of construction. He was barely 12 years old when he visited for the first time the achievements of architectural projects. School holidays and internships allow him to regularly attend architects with whom he invests himself and initially participates in the design before embarking on the realization of projects. "My first internships in an agency date back to the last century; we had almost no computer equipment. Our only tools were the Rotrings, the tee and the drawing board" he said with a smile, adding: "we still had ammonia copiers to duplicate plans and a typewriter to type mail, then some agencies embarked on the IT adventure and today it is a fantastic tool that allows us great anticipation, especially of the phases of production". A decisive period for his future, however, since at the end of his initial school career, he began studying architecture where he met a panel of "interesting, remarkable and incredible teachers".
After obtaining a scientific baccalaureate, he naturally moved to Paris to study architecture at the National School of Architecture of Val-de-Seine. "Throughout my career, I have had the chance to meet interesting personalities, who have enabled me to understand that there is no single answer in architecture and that research must be structured in order to be able to offer a fair and elegant response ".
Jim Clemes, the materialization of ideas workshop
Breton of origin, it is in the geometry of the horizontality that he bathed before succumbing to the verticality of Paris. "There is a poetry of the horizon in Brittany which is anchored in me, but Paris to me. reminded that the finesse can also be vertical "he says before taking us to Athens. While a student, an opportunity presented itself to him: that of doing a year at the Polytechnic of Athens in Greece. He discovers a country which, for him, is at the genesis of contemporary architecture. It was also on Greek soil that he met a young architect from Luxembourg who then invited him to discover Luxembourg. Curious and navigator at heart, it was alongside Beiler and François Architects that he made his first steps into the world of architecture in Luxembourg before joining Jim Clemes two years later.