charlotte perriand’s la maison au bord de l’eau is a louis vuitton tribute

charlotte perriand’s la maison au bord de l’eau is a louis vuitton tribute

louis vuitton, as one of design miami’s satellite exhibitions, has realized an installation of ‘la maison au bord de l’eau’ – one of charlotte perriand’s acclaimed works that never saw physical execution – shown in the beachside garden of the raleigh hotel on miami beach. the plans for ‘the house by the water’ were first drafted over eighty years ago, in 1934.

the pavilion was originally conceived by perriand for an architecture competition sponsored by l’architecture d’aujourd’hui magazine – for which it won second place. she brilliantly prefigures the ease of construction and assembly, and affordability. the pavilion was built (and furnished) by louis vuitton’s inhouse architectural team in collaboration with perriand’s estate to adapt her loose sketches. the design probably would have slipped unnoticed into 20th-century architectural history where it not for julie de libran, the woman’s creative director at louis vuitton. the project follows LV’s icônes spring summer 2014 fashion collection, which took its influences from perriand’s oevre and features strong graphic prints and natural leathers echoing the wood and organic materials she so often used in her post-corbusier career. the project will culminate in january with perriand-themed windows at vuitton’s 468 boutiques worldwide.

space architect and designer charlotte perriand (1903–1999) committed her life to the — sincere and constant quest for an art of living in accord with its time — and, as a major figure of the XXth century, she continues to influence our contemporary habitat. perriand was a theorist of the art of living and an engaged designer, showing major interest to relevant issues of her time tied to housing, collective equipments and the necessity for a functional habitat. she demonstrated that — the important is not the object, but man — and — furniture always has to be discreet and homogenous when facing architecture– . for 10 years perriand took part in le corbusier’s avant-garde research on minimal housing, applying these reflections also to her own work. although perriand was still working for le corbusier when she entered this project and the blueprints to the competition, she did so under her own name. later she reworked the idea into several variations for wealthier vacationers, but (same as for this project) never brought them into being too.

meticulously constructed in italy according to perriand’s sketches, the structure was shipped by boat to florida. the house is furnished with reproductions of charlotte perriand designs from between 1929 and 1942, most of the originals of which have disappeared. the ‘chaise longue pliante’ were designed in 1928 and finalised in 1939. only around 20 examples were manually built, but they never entered into a series production nor have been mass produced.

the entrance is at the rear of ‘maison au bord de’leau’. the challenge was to create low-cost holiday lodging for the mass market, and perriand opted for a U-shaped layout that rings a canopy-covered terrace and sliding floor-to-ceiling screens to maximize exposure to light and the elements. the structure was to have been built on pillars to allow for a garage and storage area on the ground floor.

one of perriand’s great passions was the outdoors, particularly the mountains and the beach.’my mother used to collect beautiful seashells and photograph them‘ says her daughter pernette perriand–barsac, citing a wall specifically designed for displaying beach finds like her mother’s beloved seashells.