PEOPLE
The Architectural Institute remains uniquely connected to industry and research allowing its staff to provide a teaching experience that is relevant to contemporary practice.
DIRECTORS & STAFF
All teaching staff at the Architectural Institute Paris, be they architects, artists, designers, or other professionals are practitioners of their discipline. Every member of staff is actively involved in practice or has founded their own studio or firm.
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Agnė Beech Mole RIBA
Board of Directors
Chief Executive Officer
Architect
Ordre des Architectes (FR), RIBA (UK)
____Agne is the Executive Chair & CEO of the Architectural Institute Paris, where she oversees the corporate and financial management of the Institute.
She has 5 years experience at the CEO level within French companies, and combines this corporate management experience with considerable experience in construction project management.
Agnė is a French-registered architect, she co-founded BoBo Paris in Montmartre, Paris in 2017, specialising in the technical and construction stages of residential and hotel projects.
Agnė trained at École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris-Belleville, graduating with Distinction before completing her HMONP at École Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Nantes. Her practice has been featured in the Architects’ Journal in the UK.
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Henry Beech Mole RIBA
Board of Directors
Head of School
Architect
ARB (UK), RIBA (UK), Ordre des Architectes (FR)
____Henry is a registered architect in both the UK and France, having worked for practices in both Paris and London, he co-founded architectural studio, BoBo Paris, in Montmartre, Paris in 2017, opening its second office in the UK in 2020.
He is Provost of the Architectural Institute and Chair of the Board of Directors. He combines nearly a decade of leadership experience within Higher Education and Architectural Practice with a pedagogical approach based on critical design and architectural speculation.
Henry is also Chief Design Officer for AICI, a Robotics & Artificial Intelligence design company based in Munich, where he supports the leadership team to imagine and develop new design and product concepts for the applications of future technology in architecture and construction.
Henry studied at the Architectural Association and the Royal College of Art in London where he graduated with a Distinction. He also has a First Class degree from the Canterbury School of Architecture. He has been nominated for the RIBA Bronze Medal, received the RIBA South East award and his practice, BoBo Paris, featured in the Architects' Journal in the UK.
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James A M Smith RIBA
Board of Directors
Academic Registrar
Architect
ARB (UK), RIBA (UK)
____James is an architect currently based in Zurich, Switzerland, where he works with Hurst Song Architekten, having previously worked in London and Berlin.
James studied at the University of Cambridge and the Royal College of Art. His thesis project explored the potential of an infrastructural environmental architecture in the Pearl River Delta of China.
His current research explores the intersection of emerging digital technologies and the environmental imperative of the 21st century.
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Robert B Mole RIBA
Board of Directors
Head of Professional Practice
Architect
ARB (UK), RIBA (UK), Ordre des Architectes (FR)
____Robert trained at the Oxford School of Architecture, Oxford Polytechnic, and has practiced as an architect for 40 years in London and the South-West of England. He is registered to practice as an architect in both France and the UK.
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Paul Gresham
Board of Directors
Chief External Examiner
Architect
Virginia (USA), Ordre des Architectes (FR)
____Paul Gresham is a licensed practicing architect in France and in the USA. Native of Virginia, graduate of the University of Virginia School of Architecture (BSArch) and Princeton University School of Architecture (MArch), his French practice began in 1992 with various collaborative associations including partners in Asia , Europe , and the USA , involving problems, contexts, and scales ranging from the domestic to the urban.
The teaching of architecture is a central component of his activity, both at the level of theory and of practice. Adjunct studio professor at Princeton university School of Architecture and Georgia Institute of Technology School of Architecture, assistant professor of architecture and history at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville, he is currently a tenured professor of architecture at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Paris-Belleville.
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Dr. Jens Ludmann
Board of Directors
Non-Executive Director
____Dr. Jens Ludmann held various leadership positions in the automotive and supplier industry. He combines a strong technical background with comprehensive management experience.
With a PhD from Aachen University in the field of automotives, he has led the development of over 14 full vehicle programs. The main highlights in his career are the creation of the Ford S-Max, the leadership position in McLaren Automotive as COO and currently running the European business of the automotive supplier Bharat Forge as CEO.
Jens is a non-executive director on the board of the Architectural Institute, advising on sound financial, business, and management aspects of the Institute.
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Dr. José Aragüez
History & Theory Tutor
Architect
Málaga College of Architects (SP)
____José Aragüez, PhD is a licensed practicing architect, writer, and educator.
In addition to the Architectural Institute Paris, he teaches at Yale University, having previously led graduate studios and seminars at Columbia University GSAPP from 2013–20, and having held the 2020–21 H. Deane Pearce Endowed Chair at Texas Tech. Aragüez obtained a PhD in the History and Theory of Architecture from Princeton University.
Earlier he graduated with a Master of Architecture and Urbanism from the University of Granada, Spain (Honorable Mention, University Graduation Extraordinary Award, and 1st National Prize in Architecture) and, from Columbia GSAPP, with a post-professional Master’s degree (Honor Award for Excellence in Design) and a Graduate Certificate in Advanced Architectural Research.
Aragüez has lectured extensively across Europe and North America—including most of the top schools—in addition to the Middle East and Japan. Besides Yale, Columbia, and Texas Tech, he has taught at Cornell, Princeton, Penn, Rice University in Paris, and University of Granada. His six-year project, involving the publication of The Building (Lars Müller Pub., 2016), is widely regarded in international circles as one of the most significant contributions to architectural discourse in the 2010s. His writings have also appeared in Domus, e-flux, Flat Out, The Routledge Companion to Criticality in Art, Architecture and Design (Routledge, 2018), Radical Pedagogies (MIT Press, 2022), and TECNOSCAPE: The Architecture of Engineers (Fondazione MAXXI, 2022), among other media. His second book, titled Spatial Infrastructure, was published by Actar in fall 2022—as will his third, Dispositional Intelligence in Architecture, to come out in fall 2024.
Aragüez is the founding principal of José Aragüez Architects, a Paris-based practice for architecture, urbanism, and the production of discourse that maintains substantial connections with New York and Málaga. In the past, he worked as an architect for Antonio J. Torrecillas (Spain), MVRDV (Rotterdam), and Idom/ACXT (London).
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Helmi Mhiri
Studio Tutor
____Helmi graduated with Distinction from the National School of Architecture and Urban Planning of Tunisia (ENAU) in 2019. He furthered his education by becoming one of the inaugural graduates of the Architectural Institute Paris after finishing his masters there in 2024, also graduating with Distinction.
Helmi is due to obtain his Architect's license from the Tunisian Order of Architects (OAT) in the Autumn of 2024 while actively contributing to the field as a designer at BoBo, Paris, and also as a studio tutor at the Architectural Institute Paris.
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Bessie Lemann
Studio Tutor
Architect
ABWA (AUS)
____Bessie is an architect with urban design, architecture and landscape experience.
Graduating from The University of Western Australia in 2016, Bessie worked for multidisciplinary offices in both Melbourne and Perth before obtaining architectural registration.
Bessie has previously taught landscape design studios and architectural electives in Australia. These experiences have broadened her appreciation and understanding of both the study and practice of architecture.
She is currently working remotely for an Australian company as well as a studio tutor on the Master’s architecture course at the Institute, following on from her role as External Examiner in the 2023/24 academic year.
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Harry Postins
Studio Tutor
____Harry is a designer based in Paris, working between France and the UK, bridging the fields of architecture, filmmaking and artistic research.
He graduated from University of Bath and the Royal College of Art, where his research focussed on the profound social implications of the evolution of contemporary society, in an era of information and surveillance.
For many years he worked in London for a well-renowned architectural practice, before crossing the channel to pursue a career integrating more varied disciplines.
Under the moniker of his design studio ‘blincoe’ he is currently delivering multiple architectural projects, whilst also assisting filmmakers and fashion houses in the role of Artistic Director and Production Designer. He also remains a visiting juror and occasional tutor at the Royal College of Art, notably with Benjamin Reynolds and Valle Medina (ADS12).
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Mazen Alameddin
Studio Assistant
____After graduating from the Polytechnic University of Turin in 2021, Mazen has accumulated diverse experience in managing and leading architectural projects across the Middle East.
He further advanced his education by graduating with distinction from the Architectural Institute Paris in 2024, where he now looks forward to continuing his academic career as a studio assistant while actively working on architectural projects.
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Emilio Koutsoftides
Residency Programme Director
Architect
Architects' Association (CY)
____Emilio Koutsoftides is an architect and artist living and working in Paphos, Cyprus.
After studying architecture at the Canterbury School of Architecture he worked for firms in Cyprus and Malaysia and successfully participated in international competitions.
From 2016 to 2018, Emilio worked at Teecom, involving designing exhibition venues worldwide. He has worked for the Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum, Miami at the M+ Museum, Hong Kong, the National Museum of Jordan, the American Natural History Museum, New York and for the EXPO 2020, Dubai.
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Jade Mroueh
French Language Tutor
____Jade is a tutor for French as a foreign language.
A native of Lyon, she qualified in International Business, French as a Foreign Language and Linguistics.
She studied and worked for 10 years in a number of different countries, including Argentina, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Lebanon, Mexico, Myanmar, Ukraine and the USA.
Passionate about all languages, she has taught herself many foreign languages and through this developed teaching techniques that she brings to the study of French.
She now lives in Paris where she teaches to Professionals and International students.
RECRUITMENT
Our staff, be they architects, artists, designers, or other professionals are practitioners of their discipline. See our positions here.