DORELL.GHOTMEH.TANE / ARCHITECTS is founded in January 2006 in Paris and practicing Architecture, Urbanism and Space Design. It is lead by three architects: Dan Dorell, Lina Ghotmeh and Tsuyoshi Tane and collaborates with a multicultural team of 14 architects and professionals of interdisciplinary fields. The partnership gained an international reputation through its design of the Estonian National Museum which is currently under construction and through a series of cutting edge yet phenomenally sensitive projects. DGT is today one of the leading practices of the new generation of architects. The Practice has been awarded the NAJAP 2007-08' – French Ministry of Culture Architecture 2008 Prize, The Ressegna Lombardia di Archittettura 2008 Prize in Italy and has been nominated for Ian Chernikhov 2010 Prize.

THINKING ARCHITECTURE

It is in an increasingly globalized world that three architects having worked in a wide range of different cities on major cultural and multifunctional projects were able to join into one practice their different methodologies on the production of architecture. When solicited to design projects in diverse distant contexts, DGT is keen to develop phenomenal and specific architecture. The practice believes that, despite the homogenizing effects of globalization on architecture and design, unique and sensitive designs can escape the strict boundary of “architecture” and its “trendy” form through an informed and multidisciplinary design process.

DGT aims at achieving high quality, precise and unique projects be it an ‘object’ design, a scenography or a multifunctional building. In this perspective, concept research and detailing go hand in hand and are of main concerns even at the earliest stages of its projects.

DESIGN PROCESS

Archeology: The practice's creative process involves an archaeology of the physical, historical and social traces layered in the project's place and time. This Archaeological process, conducted in the form of in-depth research on the context, the client's vision and the users of the projects, represents an important design tool and becomes an 'integral' part of the project that generates the ‘global specificity’ of it.

Intersections: TThe team believes that the richness of Architecture comes from the fact that it is contingent upon other disciplines. On their projects, they constantly seek to collaborate with professionals from different disciplines and backgrounds: Innovative Engineers, Artists, Designers, Scientists or Sociologists. As such, DGT is working with the photographer Fouad ElKhoury, the designer Johnny Farah, the conductor Seiji Ozawa, the choreographer Jo Kanamori, the fashion designers Yasuhiro Mihara and Akira Minagawa.
In this same quest for multi-disciplinarity, DGT believes that the client plays a primordial role in the design process. A continuous communication and participation is insured with the latter through graphic tools, models, and common working sessions.