When Marc Sautereau and Christophe Le Gac launched Archistorm in Paris in June 2003, they made a series of decisions that signalled exactly what kind of publication this would be. The format was tabloid. The paper was newsprint. The price was two euros. The frequency was monthly. Everything about it said: this is not a coffee-table object for people who like looking at buildings. This is a newspaper for people who think about them.
Sautereau, who had founded the architecture publishing house Bookstorming, brought the production expertise. Le Gac — an architect by training, an art and architecture critic by practice, and the co-founder of several previous publications including Parpaings and Visuel(s) — became the first editor-in-chief and set the editorial direction. He chose Jérôme Lefèvre as co-editor, and together they assembled a roster of contributors that read like a who's who of French architectural criticism: Paul Ardenne, Stéphane Delage, Etienne Bernard, Juliette Soulez. The ambition was clear from the first issue: Archistorm would be a generalist publication with architecture at its centre, committed to surfacing the debates that drive the fields of creation and decision-making — not just showcasing the results.
Over two decades, the magazine has evolved from that original newsprint tabloid into a bimonthly publication with higher production values, but the editorial DNA remains intact. Under current editor-in-chief Michèle Leloup, Archistorm continues to privilege process over spectacle, publishing in-depth features on the reasoning behind architectural projects rather than simply presenting finished buildings as objects of admiration. The monographic special editions — hors-séries dedicated to the work of individual agencies — have become some of the publication's most valuable contributions, offering the kind of sustained critical attention that most architecture magazines reserve for books.
By early 2026, Archistorm had reached its 136th issue, available at kiosks, specialised bookshops, and by subscription across France and internationally. For a publication that began life as a two-euro tabloid on newsprint, that is a remarkable trajectory — and a testament to the idea that architecture media does not need to be glossy to be essential. It just needs to be serious.
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