Rudy Ricciotti (born 1952) is a French architect and publisher known for museums and cultural buildings around the Mediterranean. Born in the Kouba district of Algiers to a family of Italian origin, he moved to France at the age of three, studied engineering in Switzerland and graduated from the school of architecture in Marseille in 1980. He has described himself as opposed to minimalism and speaks in favour of the "demuseumification of museums". He received France's Grand Prix national de l'architecture in 2006, and runs a small publishing house, Al Dante, which publishes photography, writing on architecture and poetry.
Read moreShow less
The Pavillon Noir in Aix-en-Provence (2006) is among his best-known buildings. He won the competition for the Musée Jean Cocteau, Séverin Wunderman Collection in Menton (2011). The MuCEM in Marseille (2013), the museum of European and Mediterranean civilisations, opened when the city was European Capital of Culture and welcomed 8.5 million visitors in its first three years; France's Court of Audit later criticised its "laborious gestation" and a final cost of €350 million against the €160 million first planned.