Chris YOUNES
Philosopher Chris Younès is a professor at the École Spéciale d'Architecture de Paris and professor emeritus at the École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture Paris-La Villette. Founder and deputy director of the GERPHAU laboratory (Philosophy, Architecture, Urban Studies and Research Group), she chairs the international thematic network PhilAU (Philosophy, Architecture, Urban Planning), and is the editor of the review Le Philotope. She is also a member of the Council of the European Association for Architectural Education and a founding member of ARENA, the Architectural Research Network, and of the magazine L'esprit des villes.
C
hris Younès is the author of countless articles and more than a dozen international scientific book reviews on the metamorphosis of inhabited environments. Through her work, she strives to scrupulously answer the question posed by Martin Heidegger and taken up again by Henri Lefebvre, namely "the meaning of inhabiting a space", with the aim of laying the foundations of a spatial philosophy or anthropology at the crossroads of concepts such as nature and culture, heritage and creation, ethics and aesthetics. Her recent works include "Ressources urbaines latentes" (with R. D'Arienzo (co-author), MétisPresses, 2016), "Encore l'architecture. Encore la philosophie" (with C. Bodart (co-author), Hermann, 2016), "Lignes d'univers. Métamorphoses des vies urbaines" (with B. Giorgini (Ed.), Les points sur les i, 2017), "Au tournant de l'expérience" (with C. Bodart (co-author), Hermann, 2018), "Architectures de l'existence" (Hermann, 2018), "Synergies urbaines" (with R. D'Arienzo (co-author), MétisPresses, 2018), and "Villes et architectures et débat. Europan" (with A. Maugard (co-author), Parentheses, 2019).
Chris Younès is a member of the scientific committee of the EUROPAN competition and gives numerous conferences in France, Europe, the Middle East, China, Canada and South America. In 2019, she was awarded the Medal for Teaching and Research by the Académie d'Architecture and since 2014 she has been a knight of the Légion d'honneur.
Through contacts and collaborations over the past ten years, an international Franco-Belgian network has been established between the young Faculty of Architecture of the University of Liège and its DIVA laboratory (Documentation, Interpretation, and Valorisation of Architecture and its heritage), the GERPHAU laboratory (ENSA Paris-La-Villette) and the PhilAU network of the French Ministry of Culture. It is thanks to the support of Professor Younès that the Faculty of Architecture of the University of Liège is now tackling research themes such as the philosophy of architecture and heritage.
This award is reflective of the strong commitment Chris Younès has shown to the development of research in French schools of architecture, and her great reputation. The Faculty of Architecture of the University of Liège is very pleased to express its gratitude to her today, both for the scientific interest she has already inspired and for the positive dynamic she continues to generate.
