“My job is a way of campaigning for an ecological city” (Claire Schorter)

The jury chose her for her ambition.to green the city's fabric“. The Frenchwoman Claire Schorter was named Grand Prize for Urban Planning 2024 by the Ministry of Housing last July, and will receive this award by the end of the year. The architect-urban planner, founder of the LAQ agency, based in Paris and Nantes, and which has around fifteen collaborators (architects-urban planners-landscapers), imagines projects that are sober, pleasant to live in, and resilient, adapted to the effects of climate change.

Since the creation of her agency in 2013, the graduate of the Paris Conflans Up4 School of Architecture (now Paris-Val de Seine) has designed numerous operations. Some, like that of the Île de Nantes and the Saint Sauveur station in Lille, have made it known in the sector. From Rungis to Rennes via Bordeaux, its development projects, which can be defined as urban transformations, aim to provide a better living environment for residents, to preserve living and agricultural soils, to promote biodiversity, to further green urban spaces, to rehabilitate existing areas, to use local resources but also to promote reversibility. Meeting with a passionate person.

Batiactu: You have been named Grand Prix de l’urbanisme 2024. How do you view this award?

Claire Schorter : I am very grateful that the profession is showing an interest in the work of the agency and the fights that I have been waging for ten years. I perceive this award as recognition. It is an opportunity to talk about our way of working within the agency to design cities that are pleasant to live in and resilient.

This award will certainly not change my life or the agency's approach, but it will provide insight and encouragement to continue on this path. I am and remain a grassroots urban planner, and do not seek notoriety. I seek to make our cities more livable, sustainable and resilient. I do this job as a civic commitment, to support simple and frugal lifestyles. It's my way of campaigning for a more ecological city.

Are there any recent events or news that have caught your attention in recent months and that have fueled your thinking about your sector?

Every day, I am challenged by approaches and events on the radio and in the city.