THE 5 MOST INSPIRING ARTISTS IN ART-CHITECTURE
# 2 Jacques Couelle
ATHILIE in Nice Saturday November 28, 2020 ESTIMATED READING TIME: 6 MINUTES
We could have told you about the super-stars of contemporary architecture and their breathtaking works. At Athilie, we instead offer you 5 new portraits: artists, architects, designers, creators, inventors, free personalities with very personal universes through photos and videos, sometimes too little known to the general public.
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After the immense poetry of Christo and Jeanne-Claude's installations around the world. We continue this journey with Jacques Couëlle, self-taught and unclassifiable architect who has made nature his queen to design his sculpture houses.
Facing the Mediterranean, 45 minutes from Nice: Port-La-Galère, Théoule-sur-mer (06) - Jacques Couëlle
JACQUES COUËLLE: SCULPTURE ARCHITECTURE ON THE CÔTE D'AZUR
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Born in Marseille in 1902, Jacques Couëlle is a habitologist architect who has mainly built in the south of France. Located in the Alpes-Maritimes, its two masterpieces are undoubtedly the mythical troglodyte village of Castellarras in Mouans-Sartoux and the hidden paradise of Théoule-sur-mer: Port-La-Galère . If the Castellarras estate is private, it is possible to discover Port-la-Galère by going for a drink, dinner or spending a few days at the Hôtel club du port. All the common areas and some bedrooms have retained the authenticity and uniqueness of Couëlle's architecture.
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On June 17, 1964, there was talk of Jacques Couëlle on television.
30 km from Nice: Villa du domaine de Castellarras, Mouans-Sartoux (06) - Jacques Couëlle - @ christopheCoënon
“It is not enough to create volumes which, inside offer man a happy space, and which, outside, are beautiful: the volumes must be integrated into the environment. "
JACQUES COUËLLE
Swimming pool of one of the villas of the Castellarras estate, Mouans-Sartoux (06) - Jacques Couëlle - @ christopheCoënon
SCULPTURE ARCHITECTURE: AN HYMN TO NATURE
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The uniqueness of Couëlle's architecture lies in its relationship to nature. He creates a respectful habitat. Its houses fit perfectly into their natural environment, to the point of blending into it, made essentially of curves that envelop all the spaces.
Sensitive to light and views, it is the landscapes and the sun that will naturally guide the placement of the openings. Nature is sovereign in his work, he maintains a natural and omnipresent link between the interior and the exterior.
The architecture of Jacques Couëlle is in opposition to the modern movement of the time which advocates the right angle. These sculptural houses with organic shapes will inspire the famous bubble houses of Antti Lovag , a pupil of Jacques Couëlle. They will work together on the Port-La-Galère and Castellarras projects.
Villa of the domain of Castellarras, Mouans-Sartoux (06) - Jacques Couëlle - @ christopheCoënon
“The Maison-Paysage frees the space of everything that encumbers it; it can be carried out even in great density, without altering the nature which remains sovereign. The House-Landscape being partly covered and adorned with local vegetation, by mimicry, blends in with its environment. "
JACQUES COUËLLE
Exterior extension of the bedroom, villa in the Castellarras estate, Mouans-Sartoux (06) - Jacques Couëlle
HOUSES-SCULPTURES: FROM DESIGN TO LARGE-SCALE REALIZATION
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Each villa adapts and integrates with its external environment but also with its future occupants. For the creation of these unique houses, Jacques Couëlle sets up a unique design method: the Tristan test.
It is a question of covering with sand the land to be built and to trace the contours of the future house. Then he asks his clients to come and mimic their everyday actions in this shot. It is from the information collected during this exercise that Jacques Couëlle will be able to draw up the designs of the future house for his clients. Create and orient the volumes according to the light and exterior views. Distribute, articulate and link the different spaces of the house in relation to their functions. All without any right angles.
Jacques Couëlle, initially a jewelry designer, works on his models, whether they are rough or to scale, by sculpting steel wires covered with sprayed concrete.
Jacques Couëlle has collaborated with many craftsmen in the Alpes-Maritimes (06) and in particular with the sculptor François Thévenin, who took care of the gates, openings, ramps, entrance doors ... - @ christopheCoënon
“Jacques Couëlle's architecture is a celebration of the earth. In the evening, when the day gradually slips out of our eyes and escapes, the houses of Jacques Couëlle again enter the earth to merge with it. And each morning when the sky lights up, they seem to emerge from the ground and be reborn, like a daily earthly fertilization. "
ANDRÉ WOGENSCKY, disciple of Le Corbusier
The stained glass windows in the passages bring light and color, villa in the Castellarras estate, Mouans-Sartoux - Jacques Couëlle - @ christopheCoënon
Jacques Couëlle leaves us on February 14, 1996 and it is his son Savin Couëlle who will continue his father's work until June 2020 by building sculpture houses. If Jacques Couëlle was nicknamed the architect of billionaires, this unique architectural approach, unique like nature and every living being on this planet, leads us to reflect on our current, highly standardized lifestyles, based on the immediate. The poetic and committed architectural work of Jacques Couëlle is a hymn to life, nature and love.
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If you have been won over by this article and want to buy one of these architectural gems, it is possible! Here is this wonder in Corsica or this sublime villa in the Castellarras estate . All you have to do is choose!
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Thanks to Port-La-Galère and Savin Couëlle.
Craftsmen at work constructing a Couëlle villa in sprayed concrete on a metal frame.