François Roche, Stéphanie Lavaux, and Jean Navarro founded R&SIE(n) — pronounced "heresy" in French — in Paris in 1993. Their practice emanates from questions about architecture, context, and the human psyche.

Roche and Navarro, both licensed architects, earned diplomas from U.P.A. no. 3 and 4 in Versailles, while Lavaux studied at the French National School of Fine Arts in the late 1980's. The three joined in 1993 to challenge conventional ways of designing static objects. They rejected traditional drawing and modeling techniques in favor of "emergent" digital technologies that imbued their creations with a sense of continued life and dynamism.

Indeed, many of their creations — including the design for the Museum of Ice in Evolene, Switzerland — appear to live and grow over time. Other recent projects include the Bangkok Art Museum, a structure wrapped in electrically charged wire that attracts airborne pollution, and Asphalt Spot, a landscape installation in rural Japan.