Atelier d’Architecture Autogérée
Atelier d’Architecture Autogérée (AAA) is a Paris-based collective founded in 2001 that carries out actions and research on participatory urbanism and ecological architecture. It involves local residents in sustaining urban commons and engaging in social and ecological practices, while initiating resilient networks. AAA has completed numerous architectural projects, including EcoBox, Passage56, Wiki Village Factory, and R-Urban — a participatory strategy for ecological transition. The collective has also led several European research projects, such as CoNECT, EcoCare, and Cultures4Resilience.
AAA’s work has been exhibited at the Venice Architecture Biennale, MoMA New York, Architekturzentrum Wien, Berlin Art Biennale, among others, and has received numerous international awards, including the New European Bauhaus (2022), Building4Humanity Resilience Design (2018), Innovation in Politics category Ecology (2017), 100 projects for the Climate / COP21 (2016), European Prize for Urban Public Space (2010).
Key individuals
Constantin Petcou
Anne Querrien
Constantin Petcou is an architect and semiotician. Since 1996 he has taught in various schools and universities including ENSA Malaquais and the University of Paris 8, Harvard and MIT Massachusetts, etc. He is co-founder with Doina Petrescu of the Atelier d'Architecture Autogérée (AAA) and has won several innovation prizes in France, USA, Romania, Belgium and Japan. He has also coordinated several research projects with AAA, amongst which the Rhyzom network (www.rhyzom.eu) and the R- Urban strategy (www.r-urban.net). He is author of Self-managed architecture (2025) and has contributed to numerous publications and co-edited Live-ACT (2023), Urban-ACT: a manual for alternative practice (2007) and TransLocal-ACT: Cultural Practices Within and Across (2010).
