Born in Brittany (France) in 1954, Philippe Madec is a pioneer of sustainable development in urban planning and architecture and lives in Paris and Brussels. He trained as an architect at the Grand-Palais in Paris (Ciriani/Maroti studio) from 1972 to 1979 and set up his own studio in Paris in 1989. In the meantime, he has no professional practice, travels and lives abroad, conducts research on architectural pedagogy and theory and writes his first book on Etienne Louis Boullée.

Since then, he has pursued three activities in tandem: writing, teaching and professional practice as an architect and urban planner.

From his family heritage, through personal commitment and thanks to his meeting with Kenneth Frampton in 1983/84, Philippe Madec has been developing an eco-responsible approach to architectural and urban projects since the beginning of his professional practice. As an architect, he designs all types of buildings from social housing to cultural facilities. As an urban planner, he works on very different scales, from small towns to ecological cities (Morocco).

In addition to his professional practice, which has earned him numerous awards, including the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2012 (see the 'Awards' tab in Home http://www.madec.net), he participates in the general policy of architecture and urban planning in France: expert for the Grenelle de l'Environnement, member of the Conseil National des Villes et Territoires d'Art et d'Histoire (National Council of Cities and Territories of Art and History), scientific council of the PUCA, member of Europan France, member of the national jury EcoQuartiers / EcoCités, etc.

It is :
- Architect d.p.l.g. since 1979;
- Consultant architect for the State since 1995;
- Professor of architecture since 1996;
- Full member of the Academy of Architecture since 2007;
- Knight of the Legion of Honour for Ecology since 2008;
- President of the Board of the Corps of Consulting Architects in 2012 ;
- Full member of the Europe Chapter of the "Club of Rome" since 2010.

In 2015 he became an expert to the UN for the preparation of the Habitat III summit in Quito in October 2016.

A writer, he has published numerous books, articles and films on art, architecture, landscape, urbanism, architectural theory and pedagogy.

For a long time a nomadic teacher (Columbia University, ENSPaysage de Versailles, University of Montreal, Harvard University, Paris-Tolbiac, Grenoble, Rouen, Lyon, Technische Universität de Vienne), he has been a professor at ENSA de Rennes since 2010, where he teaches "The Invention of Sustainable Territory".

Director of research, he has been and is engaged in research on architectural drawings at the Ecole des Pont et Chaussées in the 18th century, on the theory/pedagogy relationship in architecture, on environmental quality, on the indefinition of architecture, on natural ventilation, etc. ...