From the farms at Belleville to the cottage estates of Montmorency; workers houses, villas and contemporary residences, weged between party walls, hidden in courtyards or tucked away on roof tops.
This exhibition presented a collection of ‘found objects’ – the secret houses of the city. There are over 12 000 of them, and they recall the history of Paris and contribute to the modern cityscape.
Historic documents, photo reports, films and interviews with architects and owners, contributed to the understanding of this architectural genre. Though each house offers a unique example with its own story to tell, the evolution of the city has turned them into a singular, heterogeneous set, illustrated in this exhibition by the chronology of 340 Parisian houses from 1781 to today.
There were over forty maquettes on display, old and new, including icons like the "Maison de Verre" by Pierre Chareau, a utopian project by Yona Friedmann, and a model by Claude Parent still on the drawing board. Visitors discovered houses depicted by photographers as different as Florence de Comarmond, George Dupin, Mikael Levin and Paola Salerno, as well as utopian pieces by Alain Bublex, the Nomadic House by Andrea Blum and the universe of Pierre Henry.
The mise en scène was arranged around a full-sized house built of polished stainless steel. The mirror surfaces reflected the documents referencing the wide variety of typologies and styles to be found in Parisian houses today.
There were over forty maquettes on display, old and new, including icons like the "Maison de Verre" by Pierre Chareau, a utopian project by Yona Friedmann, and a model by Claude Parent still on the drawing board. Visitors discovered houses depicted by photographers as different as Florence de Comarmond, George Dupin, Mikael Levin and Paola Salerno, as well as utopian pieces by Alain Bublex, the Nomadic House by Andrea Blum and the universe of Pierre Henry.
The mise en scène was arranged around a full-sized house built of polished stainless steel. The mirror surfaces reflected the documents referencing the wide variety of typologies and styles to be found in Parisian houses today.
