urbanmakers is an architecture, urbanism and design agency established in Nantes since 2010.
urbanmakers now consists in around twenty co-workers dedicated to public and private clients. After the hand-over of nearly twenty buildings mostly located in the west part of France (Nantes – Rennes – Angers – Caen), urbanmakers is now nationally involved (Paris – Bordeaux – Besançon). In 2019, urbanmakers was nominated for several awards with the Normandie-Saumurois project, for its work around the urban renewal project (Leaf Awards, prix national AMO, prix d’architecture de Bretagne).
Antoine Motte, DPLG architect, associate and partner
Born in 1975, Antoine Motte graduated from Paris-la-Seine School of Architecture. In 2001 the French architecture academy rewarded him with the best diploma award (Robert Camelot award) for “the hedgehog’s dilemma”, a project that was also prizewinner of the Europan 6 competition. Then he joined Jacques Ferrier Architecture (Paris) for a decade where he managed several projects, including large scale public and private developments. Two years in Shanghai (2004-2005) helped him improve his knowledge of international working methods and allowed him to lead the international projects of Jfa. He founded Urbanmakers in Nantes in 2010 in the belief that the historical European city is an incredible source of inspiration in terms of emotion, poetry, density and for its resilience abilities. He is passionate with materiality & symbolic meaning and has a strong interest in mixed-use buildings where several activities or people are living together. Street pleasure is extremely important for him. Antoine Motte regularly takes part into competition juries.
Axel Le Mintier, ESTP engineer, associate and partner
Born in 1976, Axel graduated from Paris ESTP Civil engineering school in 2000. After four years as engineering consultant for Altran group working on buildings Project Ownership Assistance he joined real estate development companies (Cil Atlantique, Atrealis and then Ataraxia) where he gained housing operational experience through project contracting of several residential developments in the west part of France.
Actively involved in city development, he is always looking for the best compromise and good relationships between cities, planners and architects. This active participation in urban territory transformation increases his architecture sensitivity.
He co-founded urbanmakers in 2010 where mathematical and quantitative approach and his rationality are dedicated to the design. He ensures the plan accuracy, consistency of the project between shapes and use and cost control. Having a global view on the project he is the conductor during study phases. Axel does have a strong sensitivity to space reversibility, especially for ground floors.
Bruno Trovalet, DE HMONP architect, associated
Born in 1985, Bruno graduated from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture (National School of Architecture) in Nantes. He started studying civil engineering for 3 years mainly in Denmark, and this Scandinavian experience was a real eye-opener for him: with the willingness to broaden the scope, he naturally moves towards architecture & urban planning.
Eager to face challenges, Bruno takes part in several student competitions, and is awarded to the Construire Acier contest. He has joined urbanmakers as a young graduate since its launch in 2010 and has quickly become the historical partner, showing his ability to lead projects of various scales according to the agency growth (student housing in Rennes, school equipment, large scale housings). In 2019 the restaurant project Canopée proves his sense of aesthetics and his real talent for interior design. Bruno is a fabric, colors and lights enthusiastic. He has a strong interest in spaces sensuality, focusing on their arrangement abilities. Perceiving architecture as a link between various areas, Bruno is fond of design teamwork, gathering several experts around the same project.
people
Antoine Motte, associate founding partner, architect
Axel Le Mintier, associate founding partner, managing director, ESTP engineer
Bruno Trovalet, associate architect
Ehsan Farooghi, project architect, BIM manager, agency director in Paris
Sabrina Cathelin, project architect
Benoit Peigné, project architect
Fabian Godineau-Le Roy, project architect
Christophe Dubois, architect
Camille Madinier, architect
Florian Hameau, architectural technician
Marie Bahuaud, intern, architectural technician
Alexis Madeline, quantity surveyor
Audrey Besinge, intern, quantity surveyor
Alexis Boyard, construction manager
Ronan Jacq, site supervisor, architect
Arnaud Plouzen, intern site supervisor
Stanislas Dervaux, site supervisor, architect
Sarah Lemercier, head of communication
Myriam Lethelier, administrative secretary
Victoire Faugeron, executive assistant
equipement
workstationses (23), processor i7, portable workstations (2), processor i7, serveur réseau (10)To Network server with « cloud » backup, 128Go, Retina screen 9,7’’ color printer A0 Canon IPF 785, multifunction copier A3 Canon IR C5535, flat screen TV led Samsung UHD 55″ with webcam for videoconferencing, appareil photo hybride FUJIFILM X-T3 reflex camera Canon Eos 40 D 15M pix, Dremel modeling toolkit , laser telemeter , 3D resin printer SLA, model « form2 », Formlabs.
sotware
Autodesk Building Design Suite 2019 (Revit / Autocad / 3DS max / Navis Works) • Trimble Connect – VRay pour Revit – BIM Vision • Adobe Creative Suite CC 2019 (Photoshop / Illustrator / Indesign / LightRoom / After Effect) • Google Sketchup Pro 2018 – Twinmotion 2022.1 • Microsoft Suite Office – Microsoft Project, MindMap – Monday
premises
Our 300 Sqm office is located in the city center of Nantes is organised into several areas : management, administration & communication, project design & development, economics, material library, model workshop / « print farm », virtual reality room, etc.)