Bodt was born in Paris to French Huguenot parents, but his father came from Mecklenburg.

He studied architecture, but was forced to flee from France after the Edict of Fontainebleau to the Dutch Republic.

[1] In 1699 he moved to Berlin to accomplish the construction of the Zeughaus (arsenal), which was now largely influenced by the French and British style of the late 17th century.

Bodt also worked at the Palaces of Potsdam and Schlodien,[2] and completed the construction plans of the tower of the Berlin Parochialkirche in 1715.

Together with Pöppelmann and Longuelune he converted a small country house into the Japanese Palace at Dresden.