Until March 2, the famous villa built by Le Corbusier is hosting some twenty works by the great names in French and international design, from François Azambourg to the Bouroullec brothers, Mathieu Lehanneur and Patricia Urquiola. What do they have in common? All are inspired by nature, so dear to the architect who designed 20th-century modernity. This exhibition is the fruit of a fruitful collaboration between the Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN) and the Centre national des arts plastiques (CNAP).

" From the outside, your architectural work will add to the site. But from within, it integrates it. " This is how Le Corbusier described the links between his creations and their environment. And with good reason: the Swiss architect, who became a naturalized French citizen, was the thinker behind the five points of modern architecture (the pilotis, the free plan, the free facade and, last but not least, the entablature window and the roof terrace), and theorized a habitat that was clearly oriented towards the outdoors. At Villa Savoye, the outdoors, or rather nature, seems to permeate every square meter.

So it's only natural that the CMN, with the complicity of the CNAP, should choose to honor this link between nature and architecture through design, within the walls of this 20th-century icon. The exhibition takes the form of a veritable "promenade artistique", echoing the expression used by the father of the Cité radieuse in Marseille, "promenade architecturale", i.e. a stroll through the building where points of view blend together. All the design pieces presented are inspired by the mineral, plant and animal worlds.

The first creation to greet us in the vestibule is none other than Miss Blanche by Shiro Kuramata, an armchair well known to fans of 1980s design. Made of acrylic resin and standing on aluminum tubes, the seat contains delicate red flowers that appear to be in motion. Nearby, the eye-catching Galet luminaire, created by the Ymer & Malta studio with Sylvain Rieu-Piquet, is a tribute to designer Isamu Noguchi.

In the living room on the second floor, we get to know the material. Starting with viscose raffia, used by the Campana brothers for Cabana, an intriguing shaggy hut concealing a storage unit. Then comes Andrea Branzi's service, where birch meets solid silver. The interplay of metal and wood is echoed in Olivier Gagnère's sublime bench in engraved aluminum and lemon trunk.

The most unusual pieces are undoubtedly those displayed in the bathroom. Placed on the bathtub, Morning Mist, by Ymer & Malta with Benjamin Graindorge, recalls the mists of morning, materialized here by glass beads dressed in a shade of blue. A stone's throw away from a seat by Pierre Paulin, Dos à dos (1968), we are amused to discover a vase created by 3D printing using the particles produced by a human sneeze... a delightful strangeness by Marcel Wanders. A union between technology and nature is also embodied in Domestic Forest, a bench by Mathieu Lehanneur that leaves us wondering. Is it a natural trunk or a machine-made seat? Made from glued-laminated oak, this piece was designed using digital modeling software, then machined. A little joke that challenges our perception of nature...

" INTERIOR NATURES" VILLA SAVOYE
82, RUE DE VILLIERS, POISSY
UNTIL MARCH 2, 2025
VILLA-SAVOYE.FR
MONUMENTS-NATIONAUX.FR