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Architecture studio RREEL has given a more contemporary feel to this apartment inside Immeuble Molitor, the residential building where architect Le Corbusier lived for more than three decades. Immeuble Molitor is located on the edge of Paris’ 16th arrondissement and was designed by Le Corbusier and his close collaborator, Swiss architect Pierre Jeanneret, in 1931. […] More
French designers Marie Cornil and Alexandre Willaume have filled an apartment in Le Corbusier’s iconic Cité Radieuse housing block in Marseille with custom furniture, including a leather-and-metal armchair informed by the architect’s work.
Marie & Alexandre is the latest design studio to create a scenography within Appartement N°50 after it was restored to its original condition by owners Jean-Marc Drut and Patrick Blauwart.
Marie & Alexandre has taken over Appartement N°50 at La Cité RadieuseInfluenced by the creative salons hosted by the apartment’s original occupant – school teacher Lilette Ripert who lived there from 1952 to 2000 – Drut and Blauwart invited the likes of Jasper Morrison and Konstantin Grcic to transform the space and opened it up to the public during the summer.
The duplex apartment, completed in 1952 and later classified as a historical monument, hosted installations by well-known designers every second year from 2008 to 2018.
The duo created a series of custom furniture for the flatNow, the programme has returned after a six-year hiatus with an intervention by Marie & Alexandre, who created several bespoke pieces to be exhibited alongside some of their existing works.
The duo is known for their collaborations with artisanal producers, and research into materials and making processes that inform their designs for unique or limited-edition objects.
Among them is a desk formed from stacked glass boxes”We wanted this exhibition to combine our work from the past four years and for the pieces to highlight the numerous workshops and techniques we have worked with recently,” the duo told Dezeen.
The designers met while working at Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec’s studio in Paris and subsequently began developing their own projects through a series of workshops and residencies.
The same standardised boxes can also be used to form a shelving unitSince 2022 their work has been exhibited by Galerie Signé, whose founder Maxime Bouzidi helped to facilitate the collaboration with Drut.
One of the pieces created specially for the exhibition is a series of coloured glass boxes developed with help from manufacturing company Glas Italia that responds directly to hues found in the apartment.
Alex Israel projects Bat Signal from roof of Le Corbusier’s Cite Radieuse
The use of glass was inspired by the orientation of apartments within the Unité d’Habitation complex, which receive both morning and afternoon light. Each piece incorporates two coloured strips that create a third colour where they overlap.
Le Corbusier’s ideas about using modular elements to create harmonious proportions informed the design of standard-sized boxes that can be stacked to create totemic shelves or combined with a tabletop to form a desk.
Marie & Alexandre’s rippled glass table was born from a residencyMarie & Alexandre developed further pieces for the exhibition during a residency at the Lycée Jean Monnet academy in Moulins, including a glass table and various furniture items made in wrought iron.
Collaborations with staff and students at the school informed the creation of the rectangular table, which features a rippled surface made from industrial float glass.
A sling-seat armchair was designed to respond to the weight of the sitterDuring the residency, the designers experimented with metal forging and designed an armchair with a leather sling seat, produced by Cressange metal workshop Flammes de Créations.
The chair’s simple forms reference the furniture designed by Le Corbusier and frequent collaborator Charlotte Perriand. It features a metal framework with three detachable legs and a tensioned seat that responds to the weight of the sitter.
The aluminium kitchen table is height-adjustableFor the kitchen, Marie & Alexandre created a height-adjustable aluminium table to fit the limited space. Made by Atelier BLAM in Nantes, the piece features subtle bumps where the legs attach to the top.
The duo’s experiments with ceramics include a tile collection created in collaboration with the Alain Vagh factory in Salernes, as well as chairs with coloured backs that were produced for the exhibition by ceramicist Jean Marie Foubert.
The designers said they were appreciative of the opportunity to display their work in such an iconic location, adding that they set out “to proceed with the same intention as the previous exhibitions as if visitors were coming to see an inhabited apartment”.
Ceramicist Jean Marie Foubert helped to create a series of chairs with coloured backsThe exhibition will be on display until 15 August before travelling to Paris, where it will be adapted to occupy Galerie Signé from 5 September to 21 October.
Marie & Alexandre follows six other design studios, whose work has been presented at Appartement N°50 following its restoration.
These include Pierre Cardin, who added colourful furniture and artwork to the space, and the Bouroullec brothers whose scenography featured their SteelWood furniture and Clouds wall hangings.
Marie & Alexandre at La Cité Radieuse, Apartement 50 is on show at La Cité Radieuse until 15 August. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
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Galerie Philia has unveiled Héritages, an exhibition at the Le Corbusier-designed Cité Radieuse building featuring work by designers such as Rick Owens that respond to the Swiss-French architect’s theories of modernism.
Héritages presents work by eight international designers and seven visual artists that reference the modernist theories pioneered by Le Corbusier, whose designs are known for their functionality and minimalism.
A daybed by Arno Declercq features in the “resonances” room. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirGalerie Philia joined forces with the Parisian arts magazine Eclipse to curate the exhibition at Le Corbusier’s iconic Cité Radieuse building in Marseille, which includes a range of both design and art.
Spread across two rooms in an apartment, the exhibited designers respond to the theme of “resonances” with work that is heavily influenced by Le Corbusier’s theories, while the artists are guided by the theme of “dissonances” and present work that opposes the theories.
Fabrice Hyber created an oil painting for the “dissonances” space. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirIn the first room, a brutalist yellow chair by Italian designer Pietro Franceschini is displayed alongside other work, including a geometric bronze candlestick crafted with clean lines by Californian fashion designer Owens.
“For the ‘resonances’ room, I selected sculptural designers that are deeply influenced by Le Corbusier,” Galerie Philia co-founder Ygaël Attali told Dezeen.
“Le Corbusier’s theory, especially in his writings published in the 1920s, was provocative and militant both in his refusal of decoration without functionality, his industrial-inspired aesthetic, and his clear and marked difference between fine arts and design.”
A brutalist yellow chair by Pietro Franceschini features. Photo is by LodoclickAlso featured in this space are pieces such as a chunky daybed by Belgian designer Arno Declercq crafted from patinated and raw steel with sheep’s wool.
Contrastingly, the “dissonances” room includes pieces by artists that intend to question Le Corbusier’s theories. For example, artist Flora Temnouche created three abstract oil paintings featuring organic or curved forms with soft lines.
Marc Hagan-Guirey uses kirigami to recreate Le Corbusier’s buildings in paper
“Le Corbusier’s theory almost denies a particular relationship with nature,” Temnouche told Dezeen. “My paintings show the inertia of the plant, diminished under the influence of humans.”
“I was inspired by the idea of this meager relationship that persists despite everything in Le Corbusier’s work and theories.”
Jojo Corväiá designed a table using volcanic clay. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirOther works in this room range from an eclectic table by visual artist Jojo Corväiá crafted from volcanic clay and an ethereal, blown-glass light sculpture by Jérôme Pereira.
“All of the works in one way or another are an answer to Le Corbusier’s theoretical and aesthetic heritage, either as a mark of resistance or a touching homage to his legacy,” concluded Attali.
The exhibition intends to echo its location. Photo is by Maison Mounton NoirHéritages takes place until July at Le Corbusier’s modernist housing complex Cité Radieuse to coincide with the building’s 70th anniversary.
Galerie Philia is an international contemporary design and art gallery with locations in Geneva, New York City and Singapore.
Previous Galerie Philia exhibitions include a show that presented Latin American and European sculptural design and an exhibition of furniture by emerging Italian designers created in response to the work of Owens.
The photography is by Lodoclick and Maison Mouton Noir.
Héritages takes place at Kolektiv Cité Radieuse, Unité d’Habitation Le Corbusier, Marseille, France, until 2 July 2022. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.
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Mexican studio Escobedo Soliz has renovated a family’s residence inside a 1940s housing complex that was modelled on Le Corbusier’s Radiant City masterplan. More
