Mary@MaryBrush.com     restorechic@mac.com     www.marybrush.com

  July 24, 2005      

Paris in July.  The city is busy with last minute preparations before the August holidays.

The month of July brought the end of a wonderful sejour at the office of Didier Repellin (AEC Archi Euro Conseil) in Lyon  and the start at the office of Pierre Antoine Gatier in Paris.  It also brought the celebration of the 4th of July with the American Club in Lyon, and a relaxing visit with distant cousins for Bastille Day.

Architecturally my visits continue to span the richness of history in France. 

Le Corbusier’s buildings are reaching their 50 year anniversaries, and perhaps as a testament to the construction of the modern era, many are being restored.  The complex at Firminy is both being restored and completed.  The church construction was not finished.  The base is being restored by Jean Francois Grange Chavanis, (AEC), while the completion of the church is being performed by an architect who once worked with Le Corbusier.

The last day of site visits in Lyon included a creative conversion of a ruined church on the Ile de Barbe.  The church disappeared during the revolution (they were very busy removing buildings) and all that remained are fragments of the walls.  In the 1800s one wall was essentially turned inside out:  the exterior wall became the inside wall for a home, leaving the more elaborate interior face as the new facade.  This home is now being converted by the architecture firm Archipat into apartments.

I had the pleasure of being a guest critic at the final presentations of the Ecole de Chaillot restoration program.  The student projects addressed the concerns of a small village of Tonnerre, which is of historic importance due to a natural spring and water basin which brought markets and commerce and early industry to the Chablis region.  The industry has left, and now have many of the people, and now the discussion is open as to how to save or convert or reinvigorate the town.

A quick trip to Germany diversified my architectural and language experience of this trip.  I have been speaking French every day and it was a bit disconcerting to suddenly be illiterate.  Germany was wonderful, but I was happy to return to France.

A visit to the Bourgogne region for the 14 juillet holiday reunited me with distant cousins - but the family connection is still there, and all were so welcoming.  A  sketching lesson may have inspired a new artist or even young architect!

Architectural tourism in the Bourgogne region included visits, cultural enhancement and sketching sessions at the Chateau de Sens, Vezelay, and the many many small churches, abbayes, and lovely vistas along the way.

Relaxation complete, it was now time to start the second stage of the Fellowship.  The office of Pierre Antoine Gatier in Paris is close to St Germain des Pres and my morning commute includes a walk through the Tuilleries and across the Seine at the Pont des Arts.  A fine way to start any day!

The distribution of regions of responsibility for the architects en Chef does not necessarily correspond with where their offices and lives are located.  The second day with Pierre Antoine Gatier involved a TGV ride from Paris to the Rhone Alps region south of Lyon.  The projects of the visit were interesting in that their deterioration is so extensive and yet they still have viable hope for restoration.  One, pictured here, is a bridge which is important for the technology used to create the steel cables for suspension.  The steel is structurally suspect and the wood platform is practically non-existent.  However, the bridge is one of the sole links between two towns. The challenge: a structural innovation sensitive to the historic fabric, a re-creation in kind with today’s materials, or a totally new bridge.  

This office is also involved with several Le Corbusier projects, including the restoration of the Le Corbusier foundation.
 
 The site visit allowed some time to appreciate the rue Robert Mallet Stevens located in the same neighborhood.

The Paris Observatory in Menton is a restoration that is also taking advantage of the building technology.  It was originally a chateau, which was destroyed in a fire.  An early 19th century innovation converted the main parti or section into an observatory.  The copper roof requires replacement, but the steel structure and mechanisms still function.  For this reason, only half of the scaffolding is required to be constructed because the roof still turns, and at the completion of the first half, they will rotate the dome and start again.  Light pollution has made the observatory obsolete, but it will become a teaching center and museum. 

Next week’s excitement will include a visit to the Chateau Chantilly, a recent award to the firm - and perhaps plans to visit projects in Nice if everyone hasn’t started vacation yet.

Today I finished my first sketchbook of the trip - a moment of accomplishment, and hopeful progress.  A fitting subject is the Seine with Notre Dame - an iconic view of Paris.