Jacques Rougerie (architect)

Jacques Rougerie( born 11 July 1945 in Paris) is a French architect-oceanographer who specializes in underwater habitats.
Biography.
Born in 1945 to a mathematician mother and a biogeographer father, companion of Theodore Monod, Rougerie lived in Ivory Coast until he turned 11. After moving to France, he entered The École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts when he was 19, in 1964, in the Auguste Perret workshop directed by Andre Remondet and Paul Maymont. Inspired by Jacques-Yves Cousteau and first underwater habitats, he took classes in Institut Océanographique de Paris in 1970, while studying at French Institute of Urbanism and Ecole des Arts et Métiers under the lead of Jean Prouvé. In 1972 he got a master's degree in architecture.
Rougerie bases his research on bionic architecture, in accordance with principles of sustainable development, aiming at emphasizing the role of the sea in the history of the humanity. Rougerie builds underwater habitats and laboratories, aquatic centers, transparent shell vessels, subaquatic museums and conceives underwater living areas.
In 2008, Rougerie was elected at the Institut de France - Académie des Beaux-Arts and in 2009, he was awarded the Légion d'Honneur. His flagship project "SeaOrbiter", is a futuristic seabed exploration vessel. Rougerie is also involved in floating hotels and universities projects.