Maison de Verre by Pierre Charreau [Architecture Enthusiast]
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- Опубликовано: 27 авг 2024
- Maison de Verre by Pierre Charreau completed in 1932 in Paris, France. “Form Follows Function.” Every great Modern architect thought, designed by and breathed these very words. Or at least, their design principles evolved from them. For Charreau, Form didn’t just follow function, function defined the space. By focusing on the relationship between the architecture and the interior elements, Chareau’s Maison de Verre expanded the idea of functionalism to include not only the architecture but also the space it creates and how people function within that space.
First and foremost are the architectural elements. These encompass the structural components that Chareau uses to emphasize the current site’s condition, the regularity of the grid used, the characteristics of the materials, the spatial alignment of the program, and so forth. As you enter the house you pass through the disappearing walls, pivoting doors, retractable stairs, and floating floors. It incorporates architecture, interior architecture and furniture design to create a total design that can be modified for different occupants. It truly is functional space.
In 1928 the Dalsace marriage bought an old building in Paris with the intention of demolishing it and building a new construction in which their home and the clinic of Dr. Dalsace would be located. This project’s original design needed to be modified because the former owner of the second floor refused to sell her apartment and so the new design needed to incorporate that apartment.
In order to move forward with the project, the architects Pierre Chareau and Bernard Bijvoet resolved to shore up the second floor of the hotel through a new metal structure and demolish the lower floors. As a result they obtained a new structure on 3 levels, with double heights in some places, keeping in sight the beams and metal columns that offer a vision of the structure and the materials used.
In the Maison de Verre the spatial limits are blurred by a constructive complexity in their partitions. The external shape is defined by translucent glass block walls, with selected areas of transparent glazing. Internally, the spatial division is variable with the use of sliding, folding or rotating screens of either glass, sheet or perforated metal, or a combination of all of them.
Maison de Verre or The Crystal House was built between 1928 - 1932 in a timeless style in the history of architecture, the result of the complexity of the finishes and the mobile elements that compose it, move it away from the basic principles of the modern movement, although It fits into that style, and bringing it closer to an aesthetic that would not become popular until the 50s.
The design of the house emphasized three main features: honesty of the materials, variable transparency of the forms and juxtaposition of “industrial” materials and accessories with a more traditional style of home decoration.
Going up the stairs you access the main space of the house where public functions are performed: a living room with a double height ceiling in which the interior effect of the glass facade is fully perceived and with sufficient capacity to hold small domestic concerts. The north face, with a constant natural light shows all the intentions of Pierre Chareau‘s design for the Maison de Verre, a structural sincerity that exposes the metal profiles and an ornamentation based on the combination of a complex system of partitions and furniture mobiles, mainly made of wood and reminiscent of the Art Nouveau style.
The main materials used for the construction of the Maison de Verre were steel, glass and glass blocks. Although all these materials belonged to the new architectural avant-garde impregnated with industrial potential, the construction of a prototype house like this required very particular, uniquely crafted construction techniques and methods, moving it away from the typical industrial construction.
Chareau himself confirmed it with the following comment: “… the house is a model made by artisans with claims of standardization …”. The consequence of this situation were enormous cost over-runs and that its realization was delayed for 4 years.
The house has been compared to a Surrealist artwork, a theater stage and an operating room. That effect is animated by the play of light. During the day the facade has a strange milky glow; at night floodlights illuminate the wall from the outdoors, so that it glows like a lantern, bathing the salon in amber light. A single-story dining room and a smaller salon are set just off this central space, so that you are always conscious of its dramatic scale.
The Maison de Verre had a profound impact on generations of architects who were seeking to free themselves from the rigid orthodoxies of mainstream Modernism.
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Maison de Verre by Pierre Charreau [Architecture Enthusiast]
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Thanks for this, my house will have inspiration from this ingenious use of glass blocks and metal