Maison de Verre: sections through an in-vitro conception

Abstract

This paper proposes a revised interpretation of the Maison de Verre suggested by the program for the building, which incorporates both a house and a gynaecological practice. The argument makes a gendered reading of the house, building an analogy between the body of the woman who seeks to be cured by the gynaecologist and the 'organism' of the city which requires 'purging' by the actions of the architect. In the role of scientist eradicating 19th century decay, dirt and congestion from the city, the architect replaces the 'contaminated' urban tissue with clean, white, bright space. The essay takes a new look at the meaning of technology in modern architecture. It also raises questions about our assumptions concerning the authorship of buildings and how they are produced. The conclusion is not unique to this house, but sheds light on the way in which the practices of the architect in the era of early modernism were regarded as redemptive.

La Maison de Verre: Negotiating a Modern Domesticity

“…In more recent literature, a number of authors have begun examining the Maison de Verre’s interiors in relation to evolving architectural concepts of domesticity and gender. Wigglesworth (1998, pp. 263–286) suggests an interpretation of the house emphasizing the fact that the interior program requires the inclusion of a gynecological office in an otherwise residential context.…”

“…As clients they represented both the conventional and the unconventional in their relationship and in their desires for a new home. “As a bourgeoise [ sic ] wife with leisure time and servants to relieve her of the domestic chores, Mme Dalsace played a conventional role as ‘home‐maker,’ negotiating with Chareau on the requirements of the house” (Wigglesworth, 1998, p. 265). Unconventionally, however, “she was among the first to be excited by modernism” (Vellay, 2007, p. 9).…”

“…By setting it down on paper, he “gives birth” to it and it emerges fully fledged from his own, individual creative genius. Rather than the work of a single male genius, the Maison de Verre is fundamentally the result of a collaboration that defies the early modern architect’s view that clients are “awkward impediments that handicap the clarity of the designer’s thinking and compromise the ‘purity’ of his conception” (Wigglesworth, 1998, p. 265).…”

“…Although view to and from the outside is implied by the use of clear glass, Chareau’s placement of these windows confounds this purpose. Unlike the location of the windows of the Villa Savoye, Chareau places these windows above the sight lines of seated patients and below the eye level of patients walking to the doctor’s consulting room, thus maintaining the anonymity of the patient (Wigglesworth, 1998, p. 272) (Figure 7).…”

“…At the beginning of his essay, Frampton acknowledges the difficulty in classifying the house conceptually, stylistically, and in terms of its genre, highlighting the problematic nature of this house when viewed within what he calls “accepted” norms. Frampton then sets out to claim the house for architecture by locating the house within “the genealogy of modern architecture” (Wigglesworth, 1998, p. 266). However, his opening question, “Are we to regard it as a building in the accepted sense or should we rather think of it as a grossly enlarged piece of furniture, interjected into an altogether larger realm?” (Frampton, p. 77) remains unanswered according to Chareau’s biographer Brian Brace Taylor (Taylor, 1992).…”