For the first time the public will have access to the collection through about a hundred works divided into four themes, offering the most complete vision possible of a unique collection, devoted to experimental architecture (utopian, visionary, forward-looking) from the 1950s to the present day. A narrative dimension runs through the different sections, telling the story of alternative forms of architecture, oriented towards new ways of dwelling. Drawings and models will dialogue with filmed archives.

The permanent gallery’s themes:

Nomads

In the 1960s, as a reaction to postwar hyper-functionalism, architects in Europe developed mobile architecture projects rejecting any kind of inscription (inflatable architecture, light-weight architecture, etc.). Mythical projects by Archigram (Instant City; Living Pod) and Haus-Rucker-Co will be exhibited.

Authors:
Chanéac, Constant, Peter Cook, François Dallegret, Guy Debord, Yona Friedman, David Greene, Haus-Rucker-Co, Pascal Häusermann, Antti Lovag, Klaus Pinter, Arthur Quarmby, Ionel Schein, Charles Simonds

Blocs

In coming out against rationalism, André Bloc advocated bringing sculpture and architecture together. Organic architectural projects thus saw the light of day, including the FRAC Centre collection with its many historical examples. One section will be devoted to Principe/Principle-architecture (Claude Parent-Paul Virillo) which posits the oblique function as a “3rd urban order”.

Authors:
Architecture Principe, André Bloc, Günter Günschel, Vittorio Giorgini, Hans Hollein, Ugo La Pietra, Marino Di Teana, Claude Parent, Walter Pichler, Ricardo Porro, Pierre Székely

Grids

Through the grid motif it is possible to interpret the upheavals going on in the language of architecture from the 1960s to the present day. The rationalism of the modern grid was pushed to its limits in the radical architecture of the 1960s. The grid was literally deconstructed in the 1980s and 1990s, with “deconstruction”, represented in the FRAC Centre by various emblematic projects (Bernard Tschumi, Peter Eisenman, etc.).

Authors:
Archizoom Associati, Constant, Peter Eisenman, David Georges Emmerich, Hiromi Fujii, Günter Günschel, OMA, Claude Parent, Dominique Perrault, Gianni Pettena, Nicolas Schöffer, SITE, Superstudio, Bernard Tschumi, Madelon Vriesendorp

Home

For the architect, the home is the object of experimentation, if ever there was. Home projects illustrating the diversity of these experiments will be on view, including Japanese houses (Toyo Ito, Shigeru Ban, Kengo Kuma, etc.). Items of furniture are also objects of experimentation, as is illustrated by the works of the designer Ettore Sottsass Jr. One section will be devoted to different kinds of experimental chairs, from the simple objects of the 1970s to digital experiments.

Authors:
Raimund Abraham, Archizoom Associati, Shigeru Ban, BIOTHING, Coop Himmelb(l)au, Diller + Scofidio, DR_D, EZCT Architecture & Design Research, Sou Fujimoto Architects, Zaha Hadid, IaN+, Toyo Ito, Jones, Partners : Architecture, Axel Kilian, KOL/MAC, Kengo Kuma, Eric Owen Moss, Kazuyo Sejima, Ettore Sottsass Jr.

Experimental Architectures