Until March 2nd, the famous villa designed by Le Corbusier is hosting nearly twenty works by leading names in French and international design, ranging from François Azambourg to the Bouroullec brothers, and including Mathieu Lehanneur and Patricia Urquiola. Their common thread? They all evoke nature, so dear to this architect who shaped 20th-century modernity. This exhibition is the result 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 the inside, it integrates with it. "This is how Le Corbusier described the links between his creations and their environment. And with good reason: the Swiss-born French architect, the originator of the five points of modern architecture (pilotis, open plan, free façade, and above all, ribbon windows and roof terraces), had theorized a dwelling clearly oriented towards the outside. At the Villa Savoye, the outside, or rather nature, seems to permeate every square meter."

It was therefore quite natural that the CMN, in collaboration with the CNAP, chose to highlight this link between nature and architecture through design, within the walls of this 20th-century icon. The exhibition takes the form of a true "artistic promenade," echoing the expression used by the architect of the Cité Radieuse in Marseille, "architectural promenade," meaning a stroll through the building where perspectives intertwine. All the design pieces presented are inspired by the mineral, plant, or animal worlds.

The first piece that greets 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 perched on aluminum tubes, the seat features delicate red flowers that appear to be in motion. Nearby, the Galet light fixture, entirely transparent, catches the eye, a creation by the Ymer & Malta studio in collaboration with Sylvain Rieu-Piquet, as a tribute to the designer Isamu Noguchi.

In the living room on the first floor, we are introduced to the materials. Starting with the viscose raffia used by the Campana brothers for Cabana, an intriguing, shaggy cabin that conceals a storage unit. Next comes Andrea Branzi's tableware, where birch wood meets sterling silver. This interplay between metal and wood is echoed in Olivier Gagnère's sublime bench made of engraved aluminum and lemonwood trunk.

The most unusual pieces are undoubtedly those displayed in the bathroom. Placed on the bathtub, Morning Mist, by Ymer & Malta with Benjamin Graindorge, evokes morning mists, here materialized by glass beads dressed in a gradient of blue. A few steps away from a seat by Pierre Paulin, Dos à dos (1968), we discover, amused, a vase made using 3D printing from particles produced by a human sneeze… a delightful oddity by Marcel Wanders. This union of technology and nature is also embodied in Domestic Forest, a bench by Mathieu Lehanneur that leaves us pondering. Is it a natural tree trunk or a seat born from a machine? Made of 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