Following the French Revolution, a new administrative division of France was put in place. Several departmental division plans were proposed, including a grid map of France, with each square representing a department.
Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand, Systematization and Composition
Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand was an architect and professor who developed a process of architectural systematization based on a square frame. His theory is augmented by numerous architectural references, organized by typology.
Roger Leenhardt, l’Intelligence
The director and screenwriter Roger Leenhardt made an appearance in the film Une femme mariée by Jean-Luc Godard. Pierre, Charlotte and Leenhardt begin a succession of monologues in three sections: Pierre speaks of memory, Charlotte of the present, while Leenhardt concludes by defining intelligence and praising compromise. His monologue is partly transcribed here.
La Maison au Bord de l’Eau, a Project for the Right to Leisure
Charlotte Perriand left her mark on modern architecture. Although she was erased from history, her activism for the recognition of women in society or her projects claiming the right to leisure and rest, make her a key figure of the 20th century.
The Consolidation of the Amiens Cathedral
The First World War ravaged the French territory. Many cities were drowned under the bombardments and several monuments were destroyed or threatened. It was the case of the Amiens Cathedral which was protected thanks to an ingenious saving intervention.
Palais de la Découverte, Technical Monumentality and Ovoid Forms
During the 1937 Paris Universal Exhibition, three adopted French architects proposed a highly technical building, the Palais de la Découverte (Palace of Discovery), far removed from the new theories of modern architecture.
La Maison de la Publicité, an High Tech Architecture Ahead of its Time
La Maison de la Publicité is a project designed by Oscar Nitzchke in 1936. The building, a kind of media machine, presents a façade with a fine metallic structure, covered with changing advertisements, long before the first examples of high-tech architecture.
The Navigation Manual of Jacques de Vaulx
Jacques de Vaulx (1557-1997) was a French cosmographer and navigator. He is mainly known for his handwritten navigation manual, as well as for his explorations in America. He is one of the emblematic Norman navigators of the 16th century.
Anastasis Church, Álvaro Siza
The Anastasis church, is a white concrete monolith designed by Alvaro Siza, built in the heart of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Lande in France. The sacred building is the first church built in the 21st century in Brittany, but it is also a modular place open to the life of the neighbourhood.
Une femme mariée
Une femme mariée is Godard’s eighth film. The main subject of the film is a woman in her twenties, Charlotte, of course without a conscience of its own, and presented as empty of substance, as is often the case with Godard. She leads her life between her husband Pierre and her lover Robert but doesn’t know which one to choose.