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Auguste Perret

Auguste Perret was born in 1874 in the home of a wealthy contractor in Ixelles, Belgium. He entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris and won as many as seven awards, but dropped out. In 1890, while still in school, he worked on the first architectural design. He inherited his father's construction company with his brothers and architects Gustave and Claude. Focusing on reinforced concrete, which was still a new building material at that time, in 1903, along with Gustave, he succeeded in realizing the " Apartment in Franklin Street " in the 16th arrondissement of Paris , which is a building with multiple floors from the first plan. The two immediately put up a sign specializing in reinforced concrete design. Has the nickname "Father of Concrete". Pele achieved the fusion of classical symmetry and order with reinforced concrete construction. One of his masterpieces, Notre Dame du Lancy (Lancy's Church) , combines Gothic space with modern rationalist straight lines. Pele saw cheap, well-formed concrete as a better material than stone, but it is said that his focus was mainly on detail and texture . His works and finishing the concrete bare of state " Uchihanashi " is often used, also there are a lot of experimental work in precast concrete, its influence is immeasurable. In particular, it had a great influence on architects such as Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. Young Le Corbusier and Bedřich Feuerstein were enrolled in Pele's office.

Pele also focused on the relationship and fusion of reinforced concrete structures with frame structures influenced by Greek and Japanese architecture , and is said to have been enthusiastic about classical yet modern and national modeling.

It played a central role in the reconstruction of Le Havre , a city in northwestern France that was destroyed in the Normandy landing operation of World War II and lost 80,000 citizens. Currently, Le Havre city prefabrication effective use of (prefabricated), module functional use of the (size standard), evaluated the innovative use of concrete structure, World Heritage Site has been registered, the building It is highly evaluated not only in a single unit but also in city planning.

In 1954, he died in the 16th arrondissement of Paris where he lived. The building is used by the secretariat of the International Union of Architects.

[City Le Havre after World War II ]

Ministry of Urban Reconstruction in the spring of 1945  Entrusted the reconstruction of central Le Havre to Auguste Perret 's workshop. Pele wanted to create a clean state with no old buildings and apply the classicist theories for building a new city to it. The material considered for this reconstruction was concrete .

The reconstruction from 1945 to 1964 embodies the unique history of the reconstructed city due to its wide range of reconstruction, the theoretical unity of the Pele workshop, a series of city plans, and the application of prefabricated construction methods. Met. At the same time, it is the most prominent illustration of the 20th century in architectural and urban history.

The city center plan is based on orthogonality. The streets running side by side are arranged geometrically, and the city is in a grid pattern. Such regularity, ancient Egypt of Alexandria and Pompeii , Jobosei such as a city, is that seen in many of the ancient city. It can be found in cities in Hokkaido and North America in Japan, as well as in the central business districts of Manhattan and San Francisco.

However, the grid-shaped topographic maps were not strictly applied to the city blocks for several reasons. With these exceptions, from a city planning perspective, Le Havre's grid-like plan allowed the urban space to be rigorously organized and the façade of the house to be neatly arranged in a straight, airy street. .. The horizontal length of the grid is an integral multiple of 6.24 m, which is intended to be the optimum range for the length of concrete beams at that time. The realization of such a drastic city plan was made possible by the fact that many of the central cities were vacant due to repeated bombing. The former appearance of the city center has no shadow today. Currently, there are three main highways.

Auguste Perret also designed a homogenized dwelling.

  • Each floor in classical style

    • The second floor, which is a boutique or a residence as a base

    • Above that is a balcony and a second-floor house

    • The top floor at the top

    • Flat roof

  • Interior

    • Cylinder

    • Bas-relief (especially found on Foch Street)

    • Egyptian stigma

    • Entablature

    • Cornice (eave bellows)

    • Large windows that deliver light to each room such as a salon or kitchen

  • Most of the reconstructed properties in the city center, whether public or concurrent, were created with an innovative concept at the time.

  • The interior space is very bright and features central heating , inset cupboards, dust chutes, garages and elevators. In addition, consideration is given to heat insulation and soundproofing.

  • On the roof, there were no restrictions on the use of the terrace.

[Apartment on Franklin Street 1830]

The earliest modernist architecture with Art Nouveau reinforced concrete construction . The world's first RC apartment building that remains in a corner of the city of Paris.
The Pele brothers (August, Gustave, Claude), who inherited their father's construction company and just started the Pele brothers, built their own land. Ennubik was in charge of the structure, and Vigo was in charge of the exterior ceramic tiles. The top floor was Pele's own residence, the middle floor was a rental apartment, and the first floor was Pele's office. Young Le Corbusier also worked here. When I went to the site, I felt the intention to maximize the appeal of RC construction, which was a new technology at that time. Above all, the windows are clearly larger than the surrounding masonry buildings . The walls are made of glass blocks and have a botanical decoration ( an impression between Art Nouveau and Art Deco ), while the parts that seem to be structural materials are undecorated, making a clear difference. It is attached. I was also surprised to find a roof garden. I haven't put it inside, but what's going on? It's in such a good condition that it's hard to believe it was over 100 years ago, so it's a good idea to stop by when exploring Paris.

[Garage in Pontu Street 1906]

The "Garage in Pontu Street" is made of reinforced concrete and is the first building he tried to expose concrete, but it does not exist. In 1908, Le Corbusier, one of the three great masters of the later architectural world, was enrolled in his office. Under his influence, "Le Corbusier" later adopted exposed concrete and a roof garden in his work.

[Champs Elysees Theater 1913]

The "Champs Elysees Theater" was completed by taking over the plan of "Vin de Velde", so the relief of the decoration that does not seem to be his work, the golden windows, the polished marble finish, etc. The appearance seems to be the rest of the design. According to one theory, it is said that they co-produced or forcibly made it their own work.

[Le Raincy's Notre Dame Church 1923]

The world's first reinforced concrete church in Le Raincy on the outskirts of Paris. Built in 1923, it is considered a monumental building that marks the beginning of modernist architecture with reinforced concrete. The church achieved the fusion of classic symmetry and order with reinforced concrete construction. Le Raincy's church was able to be realized with a low budget of 1/6 of the usual church construction cost because of its simple structure and the adoption of unfinished concrete, which was epoch-making at that time.

The interior is 26 meters wide and 56 meters deep. The Gothic church's pillar-like column is 43 cm in diameter and 11 meters high. It is a very thin pillar to support this magnificent architecture, and it has the effect of making the space look wider. The geometric pattern of this stained glass has a concrete grid on top of the stained glass to support the stained glass on one side. The light spilling from the lattice draws a beautiful pattern of light on the floor and pillars, enveloping the church with a majestic and noble beauty. In a bright space where colorful lights flutter, the concrete ceiling, which tends to look heavy, appears to float lightly. On the left and right sides, five continuous wall surfaces are connected, and each one has a cross with a different color, giving the impression that it is surrounded by a "light" cross. The colors of the left and right walls change slightly toward the blue light wall of the front inner camp, showing a rich expression of light.

The geometrically patterned stained glass plays a rhythmic and detailed harmony of light, giving the hall a majestic yet modern impression. This wonderful church, which makes you feel the divineness of a medieval chapel, is also called "Reinforced Concrete Sainte-Chapelle". It can be said that it is a beautiful church of light full of light realized by concrete construction.

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