The Theatre des Champs-Elysees by Auguste Perret completed in 1913 in Paris, France. Advocating stark modernist structures and craftsmanship, Auguste Perret developed an architectural language based on the many uses of concrete, without neglecting aesthetics and refinement.
The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées was a project which he took over from the Art Nouveau architect Henry van de Velde. The facade was simple and decorated only with a sculptural bas-relief by Antoine Bourdelle. The corner of the building was smooth and rounded, anticipating the Streamline Moderne style three decades later. Thanks to the use of concrete pillars, the interior lobby and the theater itself was vast and open, unobstructed by columns.
A visible framework was also a notable characteristic of the interior, the large lobby was particularly remarkable for the way that the form followed the function; The concrete beams of the ceiling and the supporting columns were immediately visible. It was both perfectly classical and surprisingly modern.
The main principles of the style were functionality, classicism and architectural coherence. The curved lines and vegetal patterns of art nouveau gave way to the straight line, simple and precise, and rectangles within rectangles. The preferred building material was reinforced concrete.
The Champs-Elysees Theater was a breaking-point in the architecture of Paris. At that time, the ornamented Art Nouveau style still had some popularity. Perret's sober design broke with that style; this theater is often considered the first Art Deco building in Paris. The building features straight lines, a rigid modulation and simple decoration on the facades. The rounded corner breaks with the straight geometry to highlight that point. In the interior, the structure allowed for a large open space without massive walls.
It is also the first Parisian theatre to be entirely built of reinforced concrete. The building’s concrete construction was not merely a stylistic choice. Subsoil conditions and the site’s proximity to the river made concrete necessary.
Auguste Perret is one of the first architects to employ reinforced concrete in construction. “My concrete,’ he said, ‘is more beautiful than stone. I can work it, sculpt it… I can make it more beautiful than the most precious of materials.”
Auguste Perret was an important innovator as a contractor and inventor, refining construction methods, and defining a new architectural theory and vocabulary in the use of exposed architectural concrete and remained true to his belief in structural realism.
Structurally, he believed columns were the primary and most important architectural element needed to liberate design and would create new special qualities in buildings. The use of concrete columns and the structural beam frame replaced the traditional role of the load bearing wall, enabling lighter, thinner partitions to be located per functional needs as opposed to structural necessity. Slim, rhythmically placed columns in the interior would lead to new spatial potential of the open plan. Columns on the exterior would define an esthetic enabling more numerous and larger openings liberating the envelope from its structural role. Influential and forward-thinking, Perret’s functional integrity of materials would be the foundations for many latter architects to develop these concepts further.
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Theatre des Champs Elysees by Auguste Perret | Architecture Enthusiast |
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There Are Many Different Kinds of Love by Chris Zabriskie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license.
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