Modernism meets industry at Friche de l’Escalette, a French art dealer’s sculpture park
Images of the Southern French countryside conjure up images of green, rolling hills and picturesque little villages, bathed in the Mediterranean light; and sure enough, the landscape around Marseille fits the bill. Yet, hidden amongst the leafy nature, are the industrial remnants of an abandoned lead mine, its old stone columns and arches peeking through the trees. This site, known as the Friche de l’Escalette, was bought by art collector and dealer Éric Touchaleaume, who transformed it into a sculpture park in 2016 to display his collection and temporary shows.
Touchaleaume cleverly uses the site’s dramatic existing historical architecture to juxtapose, through carefully curated shows, old and new – combining his passion for modern and contemporary art and modernist architecture, and the soft nature of the land; which provided the perfect architectural setting for our ‘Cast away’ fashion story that appears in Wallpaper’s December 2018 (W* 237) issue.
Temporary shows appear every summer and this past one included the resurrection of two rare Jean Prouvé cabins. One was the Pavillion de Lorraine 6x9, which was a ‘model home commissioned just after the Liberation of France by Raoul Dautry, minister for reconstruction, to house families in the Lorraine region whose dwellings had been destroyed by bombing’.
The other was the, perhaps, more well known Cameroun Bungalow, which Prouvé conceived as a ‘tropical habitat for a wet zone’, in metal frame and aluminium facades. The structures will remain on site until summer 2019. Along with the architecture, the park showcases a range of modern art, including pieces by Gerard Lardeur, Parvine Curie and Shamai Haber.
The site has slowly become a staple in the architecture aficionado’s frequent pilgrimages to South France, for its rare combination of the natural and the industrial, the modern and historical. And there will be plenty more to see soon at this cultural venue.
Alongside ongoing works for the preservation of the local architecture and flora, the owners are already working on a new exhibition, slated to debut in the summer, featuring more work by Prouvé, as well as a highly anticipated competition on the theme of the cabanon (the local fishermen's cabins), aiming to celebrate and protect this particular regional typology.
INFORMATION
For more information visit the Friche de l’Escalette website
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture Editor at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018) and Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020).
-
Paris Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2024: Louis Vuitton to Wales Bonner
The Wallpaper* highlights from Paris Fashion Week Men’s S/S 2024, from Pharrell Williams’ blockbuster debut at Louis Vuitton to a Wales Bonner collection inspired by marathon runners
By Jack Moss • Published
-
‘The North American Pavilion’ explores the modern American identity
‘The North American Pavilion’ is a three-day exhibition at London’s Frieze Gallery (22 – 24 June 2023), featuring eight galleries from Canada, Mexico and the USA
By Rosa Bertoli • Published
-
Artists unite for LGBTQIA+ homeless youth in auction marking Pride Month
Proceeds from Artsy’s Artists for Pride Impact Auction will go to New York’s Ali Forney Center (AFC)
By Hannah Silver • Published
-
CABN’s Canadian prefab offers a flexible path to low-cost, low-energy living
This simple wooden cabin by CABN is designed to be the bedrock of future net-zero communities
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
The finest brutalist architecture in London and beyond
For some of the world's finest brutalist architecture in London and beyond, scroll below. Can’t get enough of brutalism? Neither can we.
By Jonathan Bell • Published
-
Sotheby's to buy the Breuer Building in New York
The Breuer Building in New York is to be acquired by famed auction house Sotheby's, it's been announced
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
A Trellick tower apartment’s contemporary makeover
A Trellick tower apartment gets a contemporary makeover by architecture studio Buchholzberlin and interior designer Peter Heimer
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Stream Building offers urban vision for Paris and beyond
Stream Building by PCA-Stream exemplifies its creator's vision for the future of cities – in Paris, and beyond
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
Magasin Électrique opens in Arles as the home of material pioneer Atelier Luma
The Magasin Électrique at Luma Arles has been expertly redesigned as the home for Atelier Luma, a pioneering material and design laboratory
By Malaika Byng • Published
-
‘Sun Breakers’ book sees Jürgen Beck’s photography celebrate Eileen Gray’s E-1027 house
‘Sun Breakers’, a new book celebrating the work of Eileen Gray, looks at the architect’s E-1027 house through the captivating, intimate photography of Jürgen Beck
By Ellie Stathaki • Published
-
V&A's Tropical Modernism: a vivid look at architecture culture in newly independent Ghana
Subtitled ‘Architecture and Power in West Africa’, V&A's 'Tropical Modernism' is a richly historical show at the 2023 Venice Biennale, perfectly aligned with the overarching theme of inclusion and exploration of modernism’s overlooked cultural impact
By Jonathan Bell • Published