| NEWS | DESIGN | BUILDING | DESIGN TOOLS | ENVIRONMENT | CULTURE |
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Foster's New City Hall | |
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Art Life Paris | |
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Santa Monica Electric | |
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Art Life Paris Comparing Old and New It is easy, at first glance, to establish similarities between these two buildings, because of the strong horizontal lines in the windows, window sills, and balustrades, and the use of the corner windows with black steel frames. Ozenfant's studio also features a play of volumes and mezzanines. The similarities extend to functional details. Because the staircases are too small to accommodate large paintings, Quéré and Vaughan have integrated in their facades, as Le Corbusier did in the Ozenfant studio, large vertical windows through which the paintings can be hoisted. But one should be careful in comparing buildings because the circumstances of their design are never the same. The studios of Quéré and Vaughan were a public commission, with an unknown future client, while the Ozenfant House and Studio had been developed in a close relationship between architect and artist. Quéré and Vaughan have designed a building that offers to four artists a great place to work and to live. The building will play, through its high quality, a strong role in the development of the neighborhood. But they are following a tradition of Parisian architecture, not introducing a new way of thinking about architecture, art, and design, as their famous predecessor did. Christian Horn lives and works in France and Germany. He is an associate of ON-AIR, a Paris-based, Europe-oriented architecture firm, focusing on experimental architecture and project management. He is a frequent contributor to several German and French architecture magazines.
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