Architecture serves as both a political duty and an art of living together, according to Christophe Millet, President of the National Council of the Order of Architects. His perspective comes in the wake of discussions surrounding "The Unknown of the Grande Arche," a film that explores the complex relationships between architecture and politics while highlighting the challenges facing a profession undergoing significant transformation.
Millet emphasizes that architecture fundamentally structures our living environment through both grand gestures and small actions - from building a fence wall or planting a tree to destroying a building or constructing an ecological neighborhood. "In architecture schools, we learn that the moment a human being stacks one stone on another, they are creating architecture," he explains. This discipline participates in organizing life in society, which is also the role of politics, making the profession of architect a response to political necessity.
The film "The Unknown of the Grande Arche" provides a compelling illustration of this intersection between art and political decision-making. Millet describes the production as containing "poetry, genius, technical mastery, politics, and economics," representing a beautiful example of the architect's profession and the tension between commissioning and translating projects on the ground. The project showcased the delicate balance between President Mitterrand's idealistic vision, architect Johann Otto von Spreckelsen's uncompromising approach, Paul Andreu's moderating role as another architect, and advisor Subilon's counsel.
This equilibrium between different stakeholders, according to Millet, produces successful results. He notes that sometimes politicians seek to appropriate the architect's role in writing the framework for living together, while conversely, architects translate political convictions into their projects. "It's when these two ambitions intersect that projects succeed," he states. Former President François Hollande once told him that they essentially practiced the same profession - both carrying the responsibility for living together, ambitious comfortable living environments, and reflecting local culture while driving economic activity.
Defining the architectural profession in 2025, Millet points out that communities rarely invite architects to solve societal problems, leading to the Order of Architects' slogan: "architecture is a solution." Architects are professionals of daily life who improve their fellow citizens' living conditions, particularly facing accelerating climate change and other crises. The profession will celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the 1977 architecture law at the 2027 Venice Biennale, marking legislation that transformed the field by structuring the profession with a national and regional Order of Architects.
The Order of Architects organizes the profession by maintaining a registry of the 30,000 architects practicing in France. These professionals take an oath at the beginning of their careers to practice with conscience and integrity while respecting the general interest. Millet's role as president of the National Council involves working alongside the government and parliament to define public policies regarding development and construction, ensuring all French citizens can transform their environment in response to climate change while maintaining comfortable daily life that reflects local identity.
The importance of the Order and the professional oath stems from the fact that architect independence and general interest are indispensable conditions for quality of life. "Designing citizens' landscapes is an immense responsibility," Millet explains, using a pedagogical example he shares in schools: when a family builds their house, everything inside is at their discretion, but the facade belongs to the landscape, which belongs to the community and people who pass by daily. This represents the public interest aspect of architecture, with architects serving as trusted third parties.
France has one of the lowest ratios of architects among developed nations, with only 44 per 100,000 inhabitants, below European neighbors. Despite approximately 100,000 graduates from twenty-one architecture schools, only 30,000 are registered with the Order of Architects, a figure that remains stable year after year. Culturally, France has separated the designer from the implementer over recent decades, removing the construction third of the architect's work - traditionally one-third conception, one-third description, and one-third construction - particularly in housing projects.
This separation impacts architectural quality, as the quality of architectural work is measured by the quality of realization. In other countries, particularly Northern European ones, it would be unthinkable to move a window without consulting an architect. The architect serves as a conductor with a comprehensive vision of all trades related to their work, also responsible for bridging the gap with political commissioning. For commissions to be reasonable and economically viable, architects must be consulted about a building's capacity for transformation and better utilization, addressing both economic and ecological concerns.
Architects master a discipline that represents the first of the arts, extending far beyond construction. "Inventing for 68 million French people is a real responsibility," Millet concludes, emphasizing the importance of taking an oath to display independence whether designing a school shelter, a house, a school, or the Grande Arche itself.
