Ricardo Porro settled in France in 1966, and became associated in 1986 with the French architect Renaud de la Noue. Together, they produced numerous public projects, especially in Saint-Denis, one more spectacular than the last. Driven by a vitalist inspiration, the buildings of Porro & de la Noue mainly proposed natural evocations, and vegetable and animal metaphors. So for the Collège Elsa Triolet in Saint-Denis (1987-1990), the shape of a moving dove determines the plan and the organization of the functions, with its two-coloured wings placing the classroom under their protection. Porro & de la Noue also built housing units at Stains and developed an urban renewal project (Chaudron, La Plaine Saint Denis, 1990-94). Persuaded by the dramatic effect that architecture can assume (in 1981, Porro had designed a housing project in Calais evoking the theme of the Apocalypse in referring to the figures in Picasso’s famous work Guernica), the architects organized nothing less than a mise-en-scène for the Caserne des Gardes Républicains de Vélizy, (1997-99). In reinterpreting the theme of the historical battle and drawing inspiration from the famous Battle of San Romano by Paolo Uccello (1456-1460), behind a forest of huge lances they depicted soldiers perched on horses, in a dynamic clash.
Renaud de la Noue (1956) obtained his degree in architecture in 1984 and embarked on his career with the mission of the Institut Français d’Archéologie du Proche-Orient (IFAPO). It was on his return from Jordan in 1986 that he met Ricardo Porro (1925-2014). Their association would give rise to many projects in the Paris region, including colleges, housing, and university residences, as well as a barracks for the CRS riot police, projects which would be published in France and abroad.
