Year of the Dragan

Radu Dragan.
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Romanian-born Radu Dragan heads up a French design firm that’s built work is all to be found in the Middle East. CID meets him.

Romanian-born, Paris-based Radu Dragan takes a highly intellectual approach to design. As well as being an architect, urban planner and the founder of Dragan Architecture, he is also a doctor of social anthropology and ethnology, and the author of two books, La représentation de l’espace dans la société traditionnelle: les mondes renversés, and Symbols and Language in Sacred Christian Architecture. He is a member of the French Order of Architects, has been an associate professor at the Ion Mincu Institute of Architecture in Bucharest since 1982, and has lectured at the renowned Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes of Sorbonne. But what looks like a decidedly European CV also has a surprising Middle Eastern twist.

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Since launching Dragan Architecture, a multi-disciplinary design firm that does everything from urban planning to interior design, in 2000, Dragan has enjoyed notable success in the GCC, particularly in Saudi Arabia – to such an extent that all of the French firm’s completed projects are now to be found in this part of the world. Commercial Interior Design caught up with Radu Dragan to find out why.

Tell us about your career so far.

I started my career in Romania, where I worked for some years before settling in France in 1990.

I then worked in prestigious French firms such as Vasconi Architecture, Ingenierie (where I contributed to the design of the Palace of Justice in Grenoble) and François Deslaugiers. I opened my own office in 2000. There were only a few of us in the beginning, but the office has developed over the last few years, mainly due to important commissions from Middle Eastern developers. All of our built projects are in the Middle East. We also have some important projects in Europe on standby. Due to the economic crisis, many of these projects remain unbuilt.

I have a Doctorate in Social Anthropology and another one in the History of Religions from Sorbonne. For some years, I taught at Sorbonne and am currently a visiting professor at the University of Architecture in Bucharest. I have also published a couple of books on anthropology.

Why design?

For a long time, common philosophical thought preached that form follows function. The architectural theories of the 20th century are largely indebted to it. However, and on a larger scale one might suggest, form also determines function. And form is design, if we accept a definition larger than that in the fashion magazines!

So, I think that ‘designing’ things is bringing them into existence.

What are the defining characteristics of your work?

I think it is a continuous (and often tortured) search.

What are the most interesting projects that you have worked on?

Undoubtedly, the unbuilt ones… our five-star hotel project in Bucharest, the Towers of Cluj, the Library of Prague. There are too many imperfections in finished buildings.

How important is the Middle East market for you?

In recent years, the largest part of our work has been for Middle Eastern customers, so I can say that today it is our most important market. We have designed the common spaces of a luxury hotel in the region, and the King Abdullah International Conference Centre, which is currently under construction in Jeddah. We have also designed many luxury villas and private residences, and an urban project in Riyadh.

Tell us about the high-end hotel project in Riyadh.

It is a luxury hotel of 360 rooms and suites, with a restaurant for 600 people and another one for 240 people. The rooms are set around five large inner atriums. The decoration of the four lateral wings symbolises the four elements: earth, water, air and fire. In the middle of them is the central atrium, which has the symbol of the sun.

It was difficult to propose a very modern design as it is an official building. However, I tried to bring in some art deco style themes.