Architecure
E-1027 at Roquebrune, near Menton 1926-29.
Though she began as a designer of furniture and ornaments, it
was clear from an early stage that she had an interest in architectural
elements. In her early lacquer work she had designed door panels. later
in an apartment for Madame Matrhieu Levy on the Rue de Lota she designed
wall screens and doors.
Her interest in de Stijl and other art movements of the time not least the
'Modern Movement' in Architecture which was gaining momentum in Europe and
would have been keenly felt in Paris in the twenties led her also in the
direction of Architecture.
The catalyst for her entry into the field of building design was an Eastern
European architect, Jean Badovici who became her close friend. Badovici
was the editor of L'Architecture Vivant, a highly regarded architectural
journal. Through Badovici, Gray met Le Corbusier and other important architects
who were bursting with enthusiam for the "spirit of a new age".
In 1926 she began construcion of the 'Maison en bord de mer' - E 1027, her
first house, sited on a cliff edge over looking the Mediterranean near St.
Tropez. She lived on the site and conducted the work of the builders on
a daily basis. Badovici came down from Paris occassionally and helped with
structural matters.
This house was uncompromisingly modern, and expressed and explored many
of the theories that were abounding at the time about the new Architecture,
but also included her own distinctive creativity and critical awareness.
In the thirties she built a second house 'Tempe a pailla'. - A house for
herself, it is regarded as being more mature though less spectacular than
E1027. Here again every last detail of the house is designed including of
course the furniture.
Her last house 'Lou Perou' also built near St. Tropez, she began when she
was seventy five years old. This, a summer residence for herself, was an
extension of an old barn on top of a hill.
Her contribution to architecture of the twentieth century though small is
significant. She is regarded by present day commentators as a critical observer
of the Modern Movement, who pursued an independant creative journey towards
the expression of architecture as "the shell of man, his extension
, his release, his spiritual emanation,".
Project in detail
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