WAO Architecture

What WAO Architecture does

WAO Architecture (legal entity WAO SAS, registered Paris RCS 531 408 490) is an 11-person Paris-based architecture practice founded in 2012 by Clément Duroselle and Minh Man Nguyen. The firm delivers architectural services across collective and private housing, community facilities, interior/furniture design, and temporary installations, with a distinctive specialization in circular-economy construction — Plan Climat thermal retrofits, occupied-building social-housing rehabilitation, heritage restoration, and reuse-driven scenography. Public-sector social housing operators (Paris Habitat, RIVP, ELOGIE-SIEMP, HSF) anchor the client base, supplemented by municipalities, private developers (Groupe Métis, Bouygues Immobilier consortium), healthcare/education clients, and individual homeowners.

The firm's underlying technology combines parametric design, digital fabrication through co-founded fablab WoMa (CNC, laser cutter, 3D printers, robot), and a proprietary open-source material-scanning device called "dimension-use" (BPI/PIA-FAB funded, Creative Commons licensed, code on GitHub) that digitizes reclaimed materials into a reuse database, with reported outcomes of 90% reclaimed-material projects and ~8 tonnes of wood diverted in a single event installation. WAO is structurally embedded in three circular-construction ecosystems — Re-Store collective (co-founded 2019, 1,500m² Saint-Denis warehouse), WoMa (where its offices are located), and Fab City Grand Paris / EU REFLOW project — which together provide material flows, fabrication access, and event commissions.

Revenue is generated through project-based professional service fees (maîtrise d'oeuvre, conception, suivi de chantier) awarded via French public tenders, architectural competitions, and direct relationships with repeat social-housing clients. Contract values publicly associated with projects range from €1.2M (Marché Couvert renovation) to €18M TTC (Massaye, Groupe Métis). The firm is privately held, unfunded by institutional investors, and operates as a small specialized practice with no disclosed headcount growth, M&A activity, or external capital events.

Name

WAO Architecture

Legal name

WAO SAS

Website

https://wao.paris

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

WAO Architecture is a Paris-based, 11-person architecture practice founded in 2012 by Clément Duroselle and Minh Man Nguyen, specializing in circular-economy construction, material reuse, and parametric design for Paris-region social-housing operators, municipalities, private developers, and event clients.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Architecture and Design Services: Project-based fees for architectural design, construction supervision, and interior design services. Services include full missions (Conception and Maîtrise d'oeuvre), design-only, and construction monitoring (Suivi de chantier).

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

WAO Architecture is a Paris-based architecture firm offering comprehensive architectural services spanning collective and private housing design and rehabilitation, community facilities, furniture and interior design, and temporary installations. The firm specializes in circular economy approaches, including material reuse, upcycling, biosourced construction, thermal rehabilitation (Plan Climat), heritage restoration, and parametric design. Services extend from concept through construction supervision (Maîtrise d'oeuvre) for public sector clients such as Paris Habitat, RIVP, and ELOGIE-SIEMP, as well as private clients.

Product overview

WAO Architecture is a Paris-based architecture firm offering comprehensive architectural services across housing (collective and private), community facilities, furniture design, and temporary installations. The firm specializes in sustainable and circular economy approaches, with particular expertise in material reuse, thermal rehabilitation (Plan Climat), and heritage restoration. Services include parametric design and digital fabrication through the WoMa fab lab network. The portfolio demonstrates a focus on eco-friendly construction including biosourced materials, reuse strategies, and modular configurable systems. Notable projects span housing rehabilitations for public operators (Paris Habitat, RIVP), scenography for major events (Maison & Objet), and innovative reuse installations (Fab City, Re-Store collective).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Collective Housing Architecture Services Design and rehabilitation of collective housing buildings, including social housing (HBM), Plan Climat thermal renovations, and heritage restorations for public housing operators such as Paris Habitat, RIVP, and ELOGIE-SIEMP. Projects range from small rehabilitations to large-scale mixed-use developments (e.g., 28,500 m² at Les Groues, Nanterre; 567 logements HBM with RIVP).
• Private Housing Architecture Services Residential architecture services for private clients including new construction (e.g., Villa Thuan An, Cachan), extensions (Grisy), interior renovations (Appartement Debelleyme, Appartement Clicli the Cat), and parametric design solutions for individual homes and apartments.
• Community Facilities Architecture Design of public and community buildings including associative centers (Pôle associatif bois-paille, Mairie de Chevillon), gymnasiums (Gymnase Liberté, Mairie des Lilas), educational campuses (Campus PassivHaus, Mines ParisTech), healthcare (Polyclinique Chantemerle), and urban agriculture facilities.
• Furniture and Interior Design Custom furniture design and interior architecture, including modular configurable systems (e.g., mobile configurable furniture for Marché Couvert de Châlons-en-Champagne with Emilieu Studio), interior renovations (Devanture SCA, Escalier Créteil), and upcycling of existing furnishings.
• Temporary Installations and Scenography

Quantifiable outcome

• 90% reuse rate achieved in some projects with biosourced materials
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Re-StorecoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2019Collective dedicated to circular economy experimentation in design and architecture. Co-founded by WAO principals Clément Duroselle and Minh Man Nguyen. Participated in EU REFLOW project and prototyped solutions for temporary construction. Located at L'Orfèvrerie in Saint-Denis with 1500m² warehouse.
• WoMa (co-Working co-Making)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNeighborhood fablab and coworking space at 15 bis rue Léon Giraud, Paris 19e. Founded by 7 partners including WAO principals. Provides digital fabrication tools including CNC mill, laser cutter, 3D printers, and robot. WAO operates from this location.
• Fab City Grand ParismajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInitiative focused on circular urban manufacturing and local production. WAO participates in Fab City Summits and develops scenography for events. Partner in EU REFLOW project on material flows.
• REFLOW (EU-funded)majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEU-funded project aiming to understand urban flows and create circular solutions. WAO develops reuse tools and prototypes solutions for temporary construction and events sector. Paris consortium focuses on wood streams in temporary construction.
• Emilieu StudiominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDesign agency specializing in impact projects and circular economy. Collaborated with WAO on Marché Couvert de Châlons-en-Champagne project for mobile configurable furniture design.
• Maison & ObjetmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMajor design trade show (5000 exhibitors, 250,000 visitors). WAO commissioned to design scenography from reclaimed materials for REFLOW exhibition. Project collected ~4 tonnes of wood from September 2021 edition for reuse.
• Bouygues ImmobilierminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with WAO on Inventons la Métropole du Grand Paris bid for Fort des Hautes Bruyères site development, alongside Le Grand Réservoir, BASE, and other partners.
• Les CanauxminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerUrban innovation center on Canal de l'Ourcq. WAO created circular shade house (ombrière) installation with 90% reclaimed wood in collaboration with Re-Store/WoMa.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Rotor: Brussels-based collective deconstructing buildings and reselling reclaimed materials, with parallel architectural design practice. Direct peer because of its pioneering role in circular-economy architecture, EU project participation (including H2020), and overlap with WAO's Re-Store and dimension-use activities.
• Atelier Philippe Madec: Paris-based architect and urbanist recognized for sustainable architecture, bioregional design, and ecological urbanism. Direct peer because both target French public-sector projects, emphasize biosourced materials, and share a planning/design ethos around environmental retrofit.
• Bellastock: Paris-based architecture and research collective working on urban metabolism, reuse of building materials, and circular construction. Direct peer given shared emphasis on reclaimed-material projects, EU-funded research collaborations, and pedagogy-driven practice.
• Tolila+Gillot: Paris-based architecture firm working on social housing, public facilities, and adaptive reuse. Direct peer given overlapping client base (Paris social-housing operators, municipalities), similar project typologies (Plan Climat retrofits, collective housing), and comparable scale.
• Superuse Studios: Rotterdam-based architecture firm specializing in circular design, material reuse, and 'Blue City' style community buildings. Direct peer due to its leadership in circular-economy architecture, public-sector client work, and explicit positioning around 100% reused or recyclable materials.
• Encore Heureux: Paris-based architecture studio with a comparable focus on circular economy, material reuse, and temporary/ephemeral architecture. Direct peer because both firms work on social-housing rehabilitation, low-carbon construction, and reuse-driven installations for public-sector clients in France.
• Muoto: Paris architecture studio working across housing, public facilities, and installations with a research-led approach. Direct peer because both firms are boutique Parisian practices active in social-housing and public-equipment tenders, and both participate in France's experimental architecture scene.

Emerging players

• Wagon Landscaping: Paris-based landscape/architecture practice working on urban agriculture, third places, and circular public spaces. Emerging-player peer because of overlapping interest in reuse-based installations, urban-farming facilities, and collaboration with French social-housing operators.

Broad incumbents

• Jakob + MacFarlane: Established Paris architecture studio with broader portfolio spanning cultural, commercial, and residential projects. Comparable as a Paris-headquartered practice competing for high-profile public tenders, but with a wider design remit beyond WAO's circular-economy specialization.
• Architecture-Studio: Major French architecture firm with global reach across cultural, public, and urban-planning projects. Broad incumbent competitor for large-scale public tenders in France, but with a much larger headcount and broader portfolio than WAO's circular-housing niche.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wao-architecture

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about WAO Architecture