Tiphaine Abenia

Tiphaine Abenia is a civil engineer and an architect. She holds a PhD in architectural theory from the University of Montreal and the University Toulouse (2019). She is the co-founder of the association ACĒ (Atelier de Conception Non Extractive), defining alternative resources regimes to rethink architectural practice in face of climate emergency. Her research focuses on liminal urban phenomena, opened structures in architecture and critical design tools. Her PhD thesis, untitled “Potential Architecture of Abandoned Large Structure (ALS)” brings the attention to heterogeneous built environments that have been abandoned for more than a decade, placing them at the intersection of constructive, ecological, social and political challenges. Her thesis questions the possibilities for a categorization of ALS, both as a disciplinary problem (categorization as a framework of knowledge) and as a practical issue (categorization as a framework for intervention).

Her research results were widely published and were awarded research excellence distinctions. Involved in pedagogy practices since 2013 (in Canada, France and Switzerland), she is currently teaching design studio, inquiry through drawing and constructive practices at EPFL (Lausanne, CH). Tiphaine is also part of the French pavilion curating team for the 17th Architecture Biennale in Venice with the project “Communities at work”.