TVK is an international office of architecture and urban design, created by Pierre Alain Trévelo and Antoine Viger-Kohler in Paris in 2003. Trained in Paris and at Harvard and involved in teaching from the outset, they together pursue an approach where theory and practice mutually respond to and enrich each other. Through projects, research and writing they have steadily produced a singular œuvre, at once theoretical and built. Their aim is to capture the complexity and the paradoxical character of the contemporary earthly situation, in order to contribute to making it habitable and desirable. Since its creation, TVK has acquired a strong reputation, ranking among the most recognised French agencies, and as having a singular approach among international agencies. Effectively, TVK owes its specificity to the combination of two approaches. On the one hand, TVK produces an essential architecture, in which space, geometry and building are the key elements. The projects are both direct and rooted in the theory and history of architecture. On the other hand, TVK conducts strategic research on the major themes conditioning the design of the planet. This research is open, collective and allows the inclusion of the complexity and instability of the most urgent issues. TVK represents the synthesis of this double approach, both essentialist and open, thereby engaging in works at all levels, from furniture to land, from the edifice to the planet.