Step change: architect Jean Nouvel on reinvigorating his design studio

by Amy Serafin, Wallpaper*

Jean Nouvel at the glass and steel Fondation Cartier Pour L’Art Contemporain, which he completed in 1994
(Image credit: Hannah Starkey )

Back in 1987, the same year architect Jean Nouvel gained international acclaim for his Institut du Monde Arabe in Paris, he also presented six aluminium objects at an exhibition held by the French non-profit VIA (Valorisation de l’Innovation dans l’Ameublement), to a much smaller audience. They included an adjustable table on X-shaped legs, an aluminium-and-rubber folding screen, and a very slick toolbox.

These were Nouvel’s first efforts at design – none of which was ever manufactured. But since then the French Pritzker Prize-winner has produced more than 100 pieces of furniture and design, from lamps to doorknobs, while turning out major architectural projects such as Barcelona’s Torre Agbar, the DR Koncerthuset in Copenhagen, One Central Park in Sydney, the upcoming Louvre Abu Dhabi and New York’s 53W53 tower. In 1995, he founded Jean Nouvel Design (JND) as a sister company to his architecture firm, Ateliers Jean Nouvel.

And yet it is no simple feat to go out and buy a Jean Nouvel dining room set. ‘Most of my objects remain confidential,’ he says. ‘Nobody really knows my jewellery, for example. And we’ve worked on chairs few people have seen.’ That’s about to change, as Nouvel sets out to make his furniture more accessible to the general public – and, at the same time, is unveiling the first museum exhibition ever devoted to his design.

Installation view of Jean Nouvel’s ‘Amber Lamp’, for Martell, at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris.
(Image credit: Luc Boegly)

Last year, at a celebration for his 70th birthday, the architect confided to his friend Franck Argentin that he wanted to give his design studio a boost. Argentin is the founder of RBC, a network of contemporary furniture showrooms in the south of France. The two first met about 25 years ago at a bullfight; twice a year, Nouvel stays at Argentin’s house in Nîmes during the corridas.

Argentin shared some ideas about how JND might move into higher gear. Then Nouvel asked him to head up the design studio, knowing he could bring his keen eye for what sells, as well as his high-level contacts with furniture manufacturers such as Vitra, Poliform and Cassina. ‘I’m looking to work with producers that are serious and significant,’ Nouvel says, ‘and Franck is in a position to talk with them frequently.’

Argentin accepted, taking up the new position in January of this year (he continues to run RBC). ‘It wasn’t my plan, but the challenge excited me,’ he says, sipping espresso from a polished stainless steel cup Nouvel designed for Alessi. 

The first part of Argentin’s strategy was to create greater synergy between the design and architecture firms. As he explains, ‘Neither side really knew what the other was doing anymore, even though they all work for the same person.’ He moved the JND studio, located in a building next to the architecture studio in Paris’ 11th arrondissement, from the third floor to the ground floor – a simple but effective change. ‘Jean used to drop in to our offices maybe three times a month. Now, when he’s in France, he stops by four times a week.’

Closer collaboration means that JND can piggyback more easily on Nouvel’s architectural commissions. For each new building project, Argentin meets the project leader, to explore how JND can contribute to the interiors and furnishings. ‘That in turn seduces furniture manufacturers,’ he explains. ‘If we know we can already sell 2,000 chairs, it’s more appealing than saying, “We’d like you to produce this, but we don’t know if it will sell.”’

For example, JND suggested designing the kitchen, bathroom and closets for the sales centre of Monad Terrace, a luxury condominium complex that Nouvel is working on in Key Biscayne, Florida. ‘The client is extremely flattered,’ says Argentin, ‘because he has a kitchen designed by Jean expressly for his project, not necessarily more expensive than the one he planned to buy, and afterwards it will be produced around the world.’ The studio completed the designs in time for Nouvel and Argentin to present them at the Salone del Mobile last April, including cabinet panels made of a patented aluminium honeycomb under glass. Nouvel was particularly enthusiastic about his first bathtub. ‘I designed it in marble and wood to be luxurious and rare, but not flashy,’ he says. 

Describing himself as an architect who does design, rather than a designer, Nouvel approaches both fields the same way, using context and function as the starting point and avoiding any recognisable style. His designs are clean and precise – they canlook deceptively simple. He strives for what he calls ‘elementarity’, or a solution that seems obvious once it has been found.

‘When I talk about elementarity – or the essence of a table, a storage system, an office – it’s about how furniture can transform the way we work,’ he says. ‘My “Cases” system is a game of construction that defines the geometry of an office, whether you work facing someone, or with separations between people, or at big common tables. Furniture can provoke evolutions in our attitudes about life.’

Working at common tables in an office furnished with ‘Cases’, the JND team tackles everything from furniture to industrial design to interiors. It has designed braided vinyl flooring for the Swedish company Bolon, as well as a rug made of a single, exceptional sheet of marble for the Italian producer Citco. Its interior design work ranges from a private house in the vineyards of Bordeaux to a chain of new Cacharel clothing boutiques throughout France. And it does scenography, too, such as 62 black shipping containers of different heights for exhibiting replicas of the Lascaux cave drawings in Gwangmyeong, South Korea.

Often, Nouvel will revisit a piece of furniture and improve it over the years – his team refers to these as his ‘obsessions’. It is currently reworking his perforated leather ‘Skin’ sofa from 2008, as well as his 1991 cube-shaped ‘Elémentaires’ armchair, both for Molteni & C. If you visit the JND agency, you’ll come upon more of these obsessions, such as the ‘Oxymore’ chair that he has been tinkering with for more than a decade (now produced by Figueras), with rigid lines but a soft back that reclines. A sleek, cherry-red ‘LessLess’ table is a descendant of one that he designed in 1994 for the Fondation Cartier in Paris. 

Against a back wall sits a striking 5m-long wooden ‘Table au Km’, which Nouvel designed as part of a series of limited-edition pieces for the  gallery and Galerie Patrick Seguin in 2011. ‘I’m a specialist in tables,’ the architect says. ‘I find them inspiring. I don’t know if there’s a psychological reason – maybe because of their stability. And there’s an idea of mass and transformability. I like tables you can unfold, extend, stack on top of each other. I see geometric games and combinations.’

Geometric combinations are also the basis for a brand new prefabricated house Nouvel designed for Revolution Precrafted, a venture by the Filipino developer Robbie Antonio. In a nod to Jean Prouvé’s demountable houses, Nouvel designed 6m x 6m modules, each divided by sliding doors into quadrants, so the space can be structured in different ways. The units can exist on their own or linked together, and small blocks containing a kitchen, a bathroom or a closet can be attached to the exterior. The walls are insulated sandwich panels, aluminium outside and wood on the interior. Each house is transportable and easy to install in a matter of days. 

The prefab house is being displayed in the Jardin des Tuileries in October, as part of the FIAC contemporary art fair outdoor exhibitions programme in collaboration with the Louvre. Just steps away, the first museum exhibition dedicated to Nouvel’s design will take place at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, from 27 October to 12 February. Titled ‘Jean Nouvel, mes meubles d’architecte’, the show is an overview of Nouvel’s most important pieces going back 30 years, including those original objects for VIA. Certain items will be shown to the public for the very first time, such as seating for the public areas in the soon-to-open Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Nouvel’s latest exhibition in Paris traces his most important works (pictured, ’Miroir’ B, 2014) from the past 30 years, pitching them against the ornate objects from the Musée des Arts Décoratifs’ permanent collection.
(Image credit: Luc Boegly)

‘It was high time’ for such an exhibition, says the museum’s director, Olivier Gabet, who got to know Nouvel while overseeing the Louvre Abu Dhabi project. ‘He’s one of the great architects of our time.’ Gabet recalls walking through the Musée des Arts Décoratifs with Nouvel and being struck by the architect’s passion for the Middle Ages and Renaissance collections. They decided to go beyond the temporary spaces and install the Nouvel exhibition throughout the entire museum, all 2,000 sq m, including the permanent collections and the Advertising and Graphic Design museum that Nouvel himself designed in 1998. 

The show is divided into two general themes. An overview of Nouvel’s various design philosophies, from elementarity to transformable furniture, occupies the temporary spaces. The second part, in the permanent galleries, is a dialogue between the museum’s historic collection and Nouvel’s work, such as the limited-edition ‘Triptyques’ mirrors he created for the Gagosian gallery and Galerie Patrick Seguin.

The mirrors, of various sizes, measure up to 2.3m in height and extend as wide as 3.7m when unfolded. Their glass is slightly blurry and softly coloured, giving a new perspective to age-old sculptures and furniture from the collection. ‘They exist to reveal the space around them, reflecting objects in another geometry, another light,’ the architect says.

Hearing him talk, it’s clear that Nouvel is eager to finally put his body of design on public display, and in such a prestigious setting. ‘To show one’s own objects alongside masterpieces from earlier centuries, you need courage, some pretentiousness,’ – he pauses for a moment – ‘and a bit of humility, too.’

As originally featured in the November 2016 issue of Wallpaper* (W*212)

JND’s managing director Franck Argentin (left) and art director Ernesto Mistretta at the Molteni & C factory outside Milan, where the studio’s ‘LessLess’ table is produced.
(Image credit: Alberto Zanetti)
Nouvel’s furniture is the subject of a new exhibition recently opened at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. The designer has also created modular exhibition spaces especially for the show.
(Image credit: Luc Boegly)
(Image credit: TBC)
His works create a dialogue with the museum, its history and its collections
(Image credit: TBC)
On the occasion of his first solo furniture show, we take a look back at Nouvel’s greatest hits, from home to workplace. Pictured, ’LessLess’ table, for Molteni & C, 1994
(Image credit: TBC)
’Skin’ sofa, for Molteni & C, 2008
(Image credit: TBC)
’Miroir D’, part of the Triptyques series, for Gagosian and Galerie Patrick Seguin, 2014
(Image credit: TBC)
’Cases’ office system, for Unifor, 2013
(Image credit: TBC)

INFORMATION

‘Jean Nouvel, mes meubles d’architecte. Sens et essence’ is on view until 12 February 2017. For more information, visit Jean Nouvel’s website and Les Arts Décoratifs website

ADDRESS

Musée des Arts décoratifs
107, rue de Rivoli
75001 Paris

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Jean Nouvel Presents His Modular Shelter For Revolution Precrafted

by France Architecture News

Jean Nouvel is one of the designers who develops modular mobile homes for Revolution Precrafted-Nouvel has unveiled his modular shelter, produced as part of a limited edition series for Revolution Precrafted. Named Simple, this house is designed and packaged off-site, delivered in a standard shipping container and easily assembled on-site for the fair.

The architects first presented his design in front of the Louvre in Paris on October 18 – 28. The, Nouvel’s collectible home was showcased during the Foire internationale d’art contemporain (FIAC) in Paris. 

https://vimeo.com/187759976
video by Revolution Precrafted

The structure is comprised of lightweight aluminum exterior panels, a layer of thermally-efficient insulating foam and wooden interior lining. The design is customizable in size and layout, allowing for end-users to define the space to their liking with sliding interior windows and partitions. Collectors can also choose from a variety of interior finishes.

”Housing is the purpose of architecture. What we propose here is the most immediate way to inhabit a space, within a short timeframe, in places that are not designed for residential use today and that become so, spontaneously. All of the essential notions relating to housing must be condensed into a single object that can be built very quickly and inhabited by one, two, three or four people within the same volume,” said Jean Nouvel.

Revolution presents art and design enthusiasts with a new way of collecting and experiencing art. These designer pavilions, envisioned by leading architects, artists and design luminaries, are collectible structures that aim to democratize high-design by making them accessible to a broader audience. 

An exclusive curation of pre-crafted pavilions is made available thru a sophisticated e-commerce platform, making it possible for anyone to own editioned pieces in a click of a button. 

Revolution Precrafted Pavilions are collectible structures with a wide array of functions that will complement a home or an existing space. They are unique space additions that can be anything from a living room, pool, reading area, or a multitude of other functions that are meant to inspire, excite, motivate, and contribute to one’s health and wellbeing.

The project unites over 30 of the world’s preeminent architects, artists and designers to create an exclusive series of prefab, liveable spaces including Zaha Hadid&Patrik Schumacher, Kengo Kuma, Massimiliano&Doriana Fuksas, Ben Van Berkel, Sou Fujimoto, Fernando Romero and many more.

Massimiliano And Doriana Fuksas Design A Polygonal Mobile House For Revolution Precrafted

by Italy Architecture News, WA Contents

The Matilda Home, a special mobile living unit that can be placed in everywhere designed by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, founder and principals of Studio Fuksas, for Revolution Precrafted house series. Fuksas’ design can be conceived as a smallest living unit in the world, consisting of three-storey with a maximum comfort. 

The Matilda Home is a polygonal structure that can also be reproducible by adding new modules, to be adaptable for every region. The design is comprised of two typical units -one of them consists of 2 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, closet and roof deck, occupying 201 square meters area in total. The materials used for the house are teak wood, marble and steel. 

https://player.vimeo.com/video/169660874

”The idea to bring design also in common life attracted us,” says Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas. ”This is a new concept of habitat of house. It’s a mobile home it can be everywhere around the world; everybody can be a client. It’s a modular unit so many of them can be added together like a cloud. It can even be a city.”

”This is not an object, it is a concept, it can be a city, a landscape or simply an home. Easy to build, it can be done in different materials more or less expensive. Matilda is a completely different space since nowadays we don’t need so much storage space, you just need to have a screen. The only thing is important is to have a nice place to eat, to seat and to sleep but also this can be done with something you close when you don’t need.”

”We tried to develop a new formula of the house because also we don’t know who is dedicated and the people who will be living in the house. First of all, it is a house but also a piece of art, sculpture and it is easy to build and can be done with different materials,” says Doriana Fuksas.

The 1-Bedroom and 2-Bedroom units’ dimensions are comprised of 18.72 meters L x 10.80 meters W x 11.70 meters H, while their total areas changing with 155 square meters and 201 square meters.

Revolution is a collection of limited edition, pre-crafted properties, including homes and pavilions, introduced by design & real estate developer Robbie Antonio. The project unites over 30 of the world’s preeminent architects, artists and designers to create an exclusive series of prefabricated, livable spaces. 

With a network of cutting-edge technologies and cost-efficient production systems, Revolution is democratizing high-design and architecture by introducing designed spaces in exclusive collaboration with industry leading creatives.

All images © Studio Fuksas 

For FIAC, Projects Sprawl All Over Paris as Dealers Ring Up Sales Inside the Grand Palais

by Laurie Hurwitz, artnet News

“Art is what helps draw us out of inertia.” On the street in front of the Grand Palais, where the dynamic 43rd edition of the FIAC or Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain, Paris’s international art fair, is being held from October 20 to 23, one can read the words of philosopher Henri Michaux. Spelled out in Michaux’s personal alphabet of symbolic letters, the phrase is the work of Jacques Villeglé, the 90-year-old French affichiste and multimedia artist best known for his lacerated posters.

The words are apt for this year’s fair, which, offering up a bold response to a lukewarm art market and a fragile European economy in a city wounded by the recent terrorist attacks, boldly spills out beyond its usual four walls, into the streets and beyond.

In the most important change this year, the fair’s director, Jennifer Flay, told ARTnews she was especially proud of “reclaiming this public space for art”—she obtained permission from Paris’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo, to close the street in front of the Grand Palais, the majestic Avenue Winston Churchill, to traffic, transforming the street into both a pedestrian zone as well as a showcase for new pieces, including Villeglé’s philosophical phrase and commissioned works by Lawrence Weiner and Ernesto Neto.

Jacques Villeglé’s “L’art est ce qui aide à tirer de l’inertie” – Henri Michaux (2016), on Winston Churchill Avenue, part of FIAC On Site.
MARC DOMAGE/©2016 FIAC/COURTESY GALERIE GP & N VALLOIS, PARIS

The street also leads to a completely new sector, On Site, for sculpture and installations, both contemporary and modern, hosted opposite FIAC’s main venue in the smaller, graceful Petit Palais (which, like its neighbor, was erected for the Exposition Universelle in 1900). Flay considers the sector, agreed upon after four years of discussion with the museum, “the fair’s most significant initiative.” She added, “FIAC is, I believe, the only fair that provides our participants with real museum conditions. We have already used outdoor venues for large-scale sculptures, but this is the first time we have been able to do it indoors.”

Organized in collaboration with Christophe Leribault, director of the Petit Palais, and curator Lorenzo Benedetti, On Site presents nearly 40 sculptures and installations by 35 artists in a more classic “museum” context, creating surprising juxtapositions in the palace’s elegant galleries and gardens or on the esplanade in front of it. Funny, jarring, subtle, and outlandish, the show brings together such works as Atlantis, by Mandla Reuter, a large-format, inflatable balloon; Alain Bublex’s eclectic, boxy installation dealing with different architectural viewpoints; new, white plaster horse “skins” by Guillaume Leblon; and works by Jan Fabre and Barry Flanagan. Others works on display include Marcel Duchamp’s Boîte-en-valise—“because we don’t just deal with the super-contemporary,” said Flay; Damien Hirst’s Anatomy of an Angel (inspired by Alfred Boucher’s 1920 sculpture L’Hirondelle, but revealing anatomically human cross-sections of the angel’s body), Abraham Cruzvillegas’s Empty Lot light sculptures; Lee Ufan’s minimalist Relatum; and Not Vital’s stainless-steel Head No.4.

Guillaume Leblon, Lost Friend, 2014, installation view, at Institut d’art contemporain, Villeurbanne/Rhône-Alpes, 2014.
©BLAISE ADILON/COURTESY GALERIE JOCELYN WOLFF

As part of another initiative, “Parades for FIAC,” which introduces a program of performative, cross-disciplinary practices, the fair had already begun showcasing unusual works in new spots three days before its opening. The program, which began with Corbeaux, a performance at the Louvre by Moroccan dancer and choreographer Bouchra Ouizguen, also includes bird chants by Louise Hervé & Chloé Maillet and a poetry reading by Alex Cecchetti on the theme of heaven and hell, as well as versions of Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man” performed by drummer Nicolas Fenouillat, dressed in a full suit of medieval armor. The performances are being held in the Grand Palais and in empty spaces of the Palais de la Découverte, an old Paris science museum behind the Grand Palais (which has opened up the doors connecting the two spaces); the Gare du Nord train station; and the courtyards of the Louvre.

This year’s FIAC is also continuing to sponsor numerous “Hors les Murs” exhibits around town, although for the moment, it has postponed its sister fair, Officielle, a satellite event that had been showing younger galleries along the River Seine, further from the Grand Palais, at Paris at the Docks / Cité de la Mode et du Design.

At the Tuileries Gardens, this year’s visitors can see Thomas Kilpper’s working lighthouse for Lampedusa, intended to welcome refugee; a hair flag by Claude Closky; Ron Arad’s entitled crazy shell structure, Armadillo Tea Pavilion, which looks like an enormous caterpillar; Mircea Cantor’s intersecting metal flags; and a pair of resin trees by French duo Christophe Berdaguer and Marie Péjus. The Place Vendôme (where Paul McCarthy’s scandalous butt-plug controversial tree was shown two years back) has now become a monumental forest by Ugo Rondinone—according to Flay, “the largest artwork he has ever made… five sculptures of olive trees, a monumental symbol of peace and nature, along with five anthropomorphic figures in stone”; and the Musée Eugène Delacroix has been invested by Stéphane Thidet with a living sound sculpture reminiscent of Thoreau’s Walden.

Ron Arad’s The Armadillo Tea Pavilion, installation view, at the Jardin des Tuileries, Paris.
MARC DOMAGE/PRESENTED BY REVOLUTION PRECRAFTED

And inside the Grand Palais, the fair itself is also spilling over into the Salon Jean Perrin, a roughly 3,200-square-feet space with a cathedral-like ceiling 33 feet high, where nine galleries are presenting solo shows of late 20th-century artists whose work is “currently undergoing critical reassessment and therefore participating in the movement to reevaluate under-appreciated artists,” said Flay. Those galleries include Endre Tót, Darío Villalba, Irma Blank, Henri Chopin, Tetsumi Kudo, György Jovánovics, and writer William S. Burroughs (whose painting Out of the Closet, for instance, is on display).

In all, the fair’s lineup brings together 186 galleries from 27 countries—up from last year’s 173 galleries from 23 countries—including 43 new exhibitors, including first-timers from Hong Kong, Hungary, Japan, and Poland. Heavy hitters include Perrotin’s mostly black-and-white installation of work, curated by Elmgreen & Dragset; Sadie Coles HQ’s display of Urs Fischer’s vibrant snakelike sculpture and foam chairs; and Gagosian’s hyperrealist couple on a bench by Duane Hanson. Ten emerging galleries, in the fair’s Lafayette Sector, who receive financial support to appear, include Paris’s Galerie Allen and TORRI, London’s Arcade and Hollybush Gardens, Experimenter from Kolkata, Freedman Fitzpatrick of Los Angeles, Dubai’s Grey Noise, joségarcía, mx from Mexico City, and Berlin’s Kraupa-Tuskany Zeidler (with monumental works by Guan Xiao) and Micky Schubert.

Aerial view of the 2016 edition of FIAC, at the Grand Palais.
MARC DOMAGE/©2016 FIAC MARC DOMAGE/©2016 FIAC

“There may be a slowdown in the art market, but we are not in crisis,” said Flay. Her statement is so far holding true for several galleries, including Sprüth Magers, who reported strong sales on opening day, including George Condo’s Untitled (Head #2) for $550,000 and a Karen Kilimnik painting for $110,000. Skarstedt Gallery also reported selling a George Condo, Untitled (Head #1), for $500,000, and Mike Kelley’s Three Part Yam Stack, from 1990, made of found stuffed animals, for $275,000.

Several other galleries also reported sales of work, including a Jean Dubuffet by Waddington Custot from London; pieces from Tornobuoni, Lehmann Maupin, and White Cube; Lisson, including works by Cory Archangel and Lee Ufan. And around the city, from the streets in front of the fair and radiating outwards, the city is buzzing everywhere with activity, from the YIA (Young International Artists) fair at the Carreau du Temple to Asia Now, the Outside Art Fair (now in its fourth edition), the Paris Internationale fair, Private Choice, and Rooms Part, along with “La colonie,” the new space by Kader Attia, winner of this year’s Marcel Duchamp prize, a sort of bar/restaurant/think tank in northeastern Paris, at a pleasant remove from the freneticism of FIAC.

Jean Nouvel’s prefab ‘Simple’ home can be reconfigured from the inside out

by Amelia Taylor-Hochberg, Archinect News

The modular, prefab ‘Simple’ house took only two days to build, and is now installed in Paris’ Tuileries Garden, part of the FIAC art fair. Nouvel affectionately referred to Simple as “a mobile home that stays still,” describing the moveable windows and partitions within the structure.

Produced with Revolution Precrafted, a prefab company producing “limited-edition” properties, the structure is made of lightweight aluminum exterior panels, with wood and foam interior lining. “All of the essential notions relating to housing must be condensed into a single object that can be built very quickly and inhabited by one, two, three or four people within the same volume,” said Jean Nouvel of the home.

Ranging in designs from 40-160-square-meters, versions of the Simple house are available to purchase from Revolution, but for now the home will exist simply as a pavilion on the Tuileries grounds until October 28.

Bigger than ever, the 43rd edition of FIAC explores utopias and displacement

BY ROOKSANA HOSSENALLY, Wallpaper*

Paris’ International Contemporary Art Fair (FIAC) usually revolves around the gigantic Grand Palais museum with satellite events across the city. This year, however, things are a little different. FIAC’s 43rd edition (running until 23 October) is the largest to date, with a line-up of 186 galleries from 27 countries, as well as an ever-diverse offering including a contemporary dance section and new On Site venues like the Petit Palais and Palais de la Découverte museums. 

‘Offering the Petit Palais, such a prestigious venue, built at the same time as the Grand Palais for the 1900 World Expo, was a desire many exhibitors expressed,’ explains fair director Jennifer Flay. ‘And to see contemporary sculptures like Damien Hirst’s white marble Anatomy of an Angel exhibited among the paintings of Gustave Courbet for instance, helps to see things in a new and different way.’

Installation view of Elmgreen & Dragset’s one-day takeover of Galerie Perrotin’s booth at the Grand Palais, one month before FIAC officially opened. Pictured, from left, works by Jean-Michel Othoniel, Takashi Murakami and Elmgreen & Dragset.
(Image credit: Claire Dorn)

Flay is also eager to see the Avenue Winston Churchill that runs between the two museums – where several artworks will be shown – restored to a pedestrian esplanade as it was in the 1900s. In addition, the event will also see the reopening (after a decade) of the forgotten corridor between the Grand Palais and the Palais de la Découverte science museum, emphasising the building of links between space and time, as opposed to putting up walls. 

In fact, many of the installations outside the Grand Palais will explore the unofficial theme of utopia. ‘Although it’s not a deliberate response to what’s going on at the moment, there is a link,’ says Flay. 

Another must-see on Flay’s list is Ugo Rondinone’s installation of ten 5m-high sculptures of gnarly olive trees and anthropomorphic stone figures on Place Vendôme. ‘It’s not an easy space to occupy, and this is by far the largest footprint we’ve had on the square,’ says Flay.

‘6×6 flexible, deliverable house’, by Jean Nouvel, 2016
(Image credit: Jean Nouvel)

In the Tuileries Gardens, Pezo Von Ellrichshausen further explores the unofficial theme with a mock-up of the lighthouse he plans on building in Lampedusa to help guide immigrant boats, built from bits of washed up wood from shipwrecks. Nearby, architects Jean Prouvé and Jean Nouvel contribute with their all-terrain emergency housing, a response to homelessness caused by natural and political disasters. For Flay, this FIAC is more meaningful than ever. ‘We are so thrilled to present these pieces in this context because it makes us think about the terrible situation immigrants are in. But also about possible solutions.’

‘The Tapestry’, by Pierre-Alain Cornaz, for Orient Express, from the series Manifest Pieces. Courtesy of Maud Remy Lonvis
(Image credit: Courtesy of Maud Remy Lonvis)
‘The Secretary’, by Pierre-Alain Cornaz, for Orient Express, from Manifest Pieces. 
(Image credit: Courtesy of Maud Remy Lonvis)
Pictured (from left): Broken Suite 1, by Philippe Decrauzat, 2014; and A Lighthouse for Lampedusa!, by Thomas Kilpper, 2016. Courtesy of Thomas Kilpper and Galerie Nagel Draxler Berlin/ Cologne.
(Image credit: Youssef Meftah, Bruxelles)
Rogue, by Bernard Frize, 2015; and Untitled, by Pieter Vermeersch, 2016. 
(Image credit: Courtesy of Galerie Perrotin)
Partner to this year’s edition of FIAC, Orient Express is showing its first series of products (and visual travel inspiration, pictured) in a special exhibition area in the Grand Palais. 
(Image credit: Courtesy of Maud Remy Lonvis)
Tondo N°XH 5, by Daniel Buren, 2016. Brussels; and Dreamtime, by Stanley Whitney, 2016
(Image credit: Courtesy of the artist and Xavier Hufkens)
Woman Crying #9, by Anne Collier, 2016. Courtesy of the artist and Anton Kern Gallery, New York; and Bharat Pehchane (Fatim Diop), by Aurélien Froment, 2016. Courtesy of Marcelle Alix, Paris
(Image credit: Courtesy of the artist and Anton Kern Gallery, Courtesy of Marcelle Alix)
Untitled, David Altmejd, 2014; and Anatomy of an Angel, Damien Hirst, 2008. Courtesy of Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2016. © White Cube (Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd)
(Image credit: Courtesy of Damien Hirst and Science Ltd., © White Cube (Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd))
Meret Oppenheim à la presse, by Man Ray, 1933
(Image credit: Man Ray)
Study for Seascape #29, by Tom Wesselmann, 1967. New York / Licensed by VAGA, New York, NY, Mitchell Innes & Nash, NY; and Deviceless, 2, by Jana Euler, 2015
(Image credit: Courtesy of the Estate of Tom Wesselmann)
Concetto Spaziale, Attesa, by Lucio Fontana, 1967. Courtesy of Tornabuoni Art
(Image credit: Courtesy of Tornabuoni Art)
Diary of a Long Year, by Edmund de Waal, 2016. Courtesy of Galerie Max Hetzler
(Image credit: Mike Bruce)
En route, Pszczóki, by Marie Bovo, 2016. Courtesy of the artist and Kamel Mennour, Paris; and Smentire il bianco, by Carol Rama, 1972. Courtesy of Archivio Carol Rama, Torino and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi, Berlin
(Image credit: Courtesy of the artist and Kamel Mennour, Courtesy of Archivio Carol Rama, Torino and Galerie Isabella Bortolozzi)
Metamorphism XXVI, by Julian Charrière, 2016. Courtesy of Philippe De Putter; and Series II Cube, by Larry Bell, 1985
(Image credit: Courtesy of Philippe De Putter)
Magi© Bullet, by General Idea, 1992. Courtesy of the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin. Kunsthalle Zürich
(Image credit: A Burger)
Ecole de Bouqueval, by Jean Prouvé, 1949. Courtesy of Galerie Patrick Seguin; and Untitled, by Emil Michael Klein, 2015. Courtesy of Gaudel de Stampa, Paris
(Image credit: Courtesy of Galerie Patrick Seguin, Courtesy of Gaudel de Stampa)
Untitled, by Landon Metz, 2015.
(Image credit: Bloomlab.it)
‘The Lanterns’, by Pierre-Alain Cornaz, for Orient Express, from Manifest Pieces. 
(Image credit: Courtesy of Maud Remy Lonvis)
Emma Schönflies, by Raphaël Zarka, 2016. Courtesy of the artist and Michel Rein, Paris/Brussels; and Deci, by Pezo Von Ellrichshausen, 2016.
(Image credit: Marc Domage)
Untitled (Machine Painting), by Daniel Lefcourt, 2016. Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York; and Silent Listen, by Iván Navarro, 2016. Courtesy of Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris et Bruxelles
(Image credit: Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, Courtesy of Galerie Daniel Templon)
Manifest Pieces collection, by Pierre-Alain Cornaz, for Orient Express. 
(Image credit: Courtesy of Maud Remy Lonvis)
The hand of god (table placée sur l’action), by Anri Sala, 2008. Napoli
(Image credit: Courtesy of Galleria Alfonso Artiaco)
Gypsum Flower, by Dove Allouche, 2016
(Image credit: Dove Allouche)

INFORMATION

The 43rd edition of FIAC is on view until 23 October. For more information, visit the FIAC website

Mendes da Rocha, FUKSAS & PJAR Architects Design Pre-Fab Homes for Revolution Precrafted

by Patrick Lynch, Arch Daily

Adding to their collection of pre-fabricated houses by top designers and architects, Robbie Antonio’s “Revolution Pre-Crafted” has released 3 new designs by Paulo Mendes Da Rocha + Metro, Massimiliano & Doriana Fuksas, and Philip Johnson Alan Ritchie Architects.

The three designs follow Revolution Pre-Crafted’s goal of democratizing the design of pre-fab structures, as they offer a line of products that incorporate the distinct spatial and social brands of master designers. The new houses join options from architects including Zaha Hadid, Sou Fujimoto, Daniel Libeskind and Gluckman Tang.

Matilda Home by Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas

The idea to bring design also in common life attracted us. This is a new concept of habitat of house. It’s a mobile home it can be everywhere around the world; everybody can be a client. It’s a modular unit so many of them can be added together like a cloud. It can even be a city.

This is not an object, it is a concept, it can be a city, a landscape or simply a home. Easy to build, it can be done in different materials more or less expensive. Matilda is a completely different space since nowadays we don’t need so much storage space, you just need to have a screen. The only thing is important is to have a nice place to eat, to seat and to sleep but also this can be done with something you close when you don’t need.

 
https://vimeo.com/187303399
https://vimeo.com/169660874

Modular Glass House by Philip Johnson Alan Ritchie Architects

The original Glass House, designed seventy years ago by Philip Johnson as his home in Connecticut, has become a classic representation of modern architecture. The Glass House was not only Philip Johnson’s private residence; it was also his viewing platform for the world. The primary function of a house is to provide for the basic need of shelter. The beauty of a glass house is that it becomes a framework for the viewing of one’s surroundings.

The modular glass house was inspired by the original but has been re‐imagined as a series of modular components that can be pre‐fabricated and shipped to any site. The design follows the principals of the original by introducing a typical window bay and structure that become the outer skin of the building. Alan Ritchie sees residing in a glass house as an enhancement of the living experience by being immersed in your natural surroundings.

 
https://vimeo.com/174315160
https://vimeo.com/181742502

Modular Living Unit by Paulo Mendes Da Rocha + Metro

MODULAR LIVING UNIT by PMR + METRO for Revolution Precrafted is a proposal for a prefabricated dwelling system. The project provides a multi-functional solution through the principles of reduced design grammar and refined construction technique. This flexible system can be employed in a variety of contexts and environments: urban and rural, tropical and temperate, individual and collective.

The basic living unit is 65m2 and is composed of a living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and two verandas. This module can be distributed over a given lot in a variety of situations, creating diverse spatial combinations through multiple units. It may also be extended to two stories.

A simple structural frame permits a great range of arrangements. Its composing elements are dimensioned to allow ease of transportation and to minimize the need for the use of supporting equipment during installation.

An innovative facade system is constructed of durable, fibre-reinforced Ductal® concrete panels with different levels of insulation for different climates. The tone of the concrete may also vary: white, gray and black. The interior is made of a combination of concrete, glass and wooden panels.

For more information on the designs and to see the full collection, visit Revolution Precrafted’s website, here.

News via Revolution Precrafted.