André Wogenscky and Marta Pan's House Workshop
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DOCUMENTATION ISSUES André Wogenscky wooden cubes for chairs — replicas of Le Corbusier's (Figure 04). The furniture has and Marta Pan's House Workshop: since been changed and replaced with Arne Jacobsen chairs. Thoughts on Conservation and Museography Kitchen, living room and workshop: the space flows all the way to the garden outside. The house does not consist of distinct rooms, BY AUDREY AULUS but rather of a large interior volume that opens to the south. Empty spaces on the upper floor create two high-ceilinged areas (4.80 m), one The aim of the Fondation Marta Pan — André Wogenscky is to promote the work of the architect in the living room and the other in the workshop, and the work of the sculptor. Nowadays there are a lot of issues that arise regarding the accessibili- while private spaces (workshops, dining room, ty and the museography of the house/workshop in Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse. This house/workshop bedrooms) have low ceilings (2.26 m). The deserves a wider recognition and in that sense, before making any changes, the intervention has layout comprises spaces with their own living to be considered in the interest of the work's integrity. The house is a complex heritage object due functions and equipment, yet these are intercon- to its conception made by an architect and an artist at the same time, evolving according to their nected so the gaze goes from one to the next in needs and aspirations. an endless series of architectural perspectives.5 (Figure 05). Large wooden windows invite the surround- The concept of synthesis of the arts was a tect. The house was made of raw concrete ing landscape to come inside, further accen- leading principle of modern architecture, (a revolutionary 20th century material) and tuating the interior volumes. The sensation which aimed to transcend disciplinary divi- was partially covered with stone panels. Its is highlighted with a “conversation pit” (a 54 – 2016/1 sions to ultimately create “the new building façades, interspersed with red and black flat couch embedded in a recess in the floor) and of the future that will unite every discipline”1. tints, were mainly painted white. Situated the later addition of a water feature along the This artistic, quasi-ideological quest underly- halfway up the hill on a 2,000m2 plot in the southern façade (Figure 06). The water flows ing the Bauhaus movement would gradually rural region of Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, the from the inside to the outside and its constant docomomo develop into a fruitful social utopia, although house sat at the top of a driveway (Figure 01, murmur brings nature and water to life inside research remained individual for fear of loss 02). “The layout enables visitors to discover the house itself — two key elements of Marta of autonomy. Communion of minds eventu- the house step by step, like a sculpture, all the Pan's work. The light is controlled with a ally materialized in the 20th century, when way to the parking area in the north, from concrete frame in the southern façade, which artists and architects came to work together where they can view the building's exact acts as a brise-soleil and regulates the light to promote a holistic approach. These in- proportions”2. From that vantage point, the in the summer without eliminating it in the cluded French creators André Wogenscky view opens all the way to the garden, visible winter. While Marta Pan enjoys the view of and Marta Pan, whose collaboration inspired beyond the house. In the park, Marta Pan's the many birds that “come to nest, feed and two bodies of work characterized by the sculptures appear as tension points that regu- bathe” outside her workshop, André Wogen- Documentation Issues same demanding quest for modernity. late the landscape and tie it in with the ar- scky's workshop on the first floor only has a When they first met, André Wogenscky chitecture. At the entrance to the house, “the thin horizontal window, based on the prin- was a young architect and branch manager visitor's gaze focuses directly on two elements ciple that nature disrupts intellectual con- for Le Corbusier, while 23–year old Hungar- arranged at right angles”3: the boiler situated centration. The tranquil office nevertheless ian sculptor Marta Pan had just arrived in in the hallway — transformed into an artistic opens onto the living room and Marta Pan's France. Both had several creations to their installation with its colorful pipes — and workshop. Defying the day/night separation names, but they already shared the same Marta Pan's door handle, sculpted onto the rule, the first floor also houses the landing, convictions. However, their personal and simple plate-glass entrance4 (Figure 03). two bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms and professional relationship never altered the The 150m2 house is an 11.5 metres sided a linen cupboard. A key element of modern sovereignty of their own work. They inspired square. The architecture follows a layout architecture, the jointly designed rooftop ter- each other and created rich and comprehen- that spirals from the kitchen and develops race completes the ensemble. Grassy at first sive works, the most representative embodi- with well-balanced proportions from the and later layered with pebbles, it shares the ment of which is their beautiful house/work- ground floor to the first floor, all the way to same principle as the solarium in Villa Savoye shop in Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse. More than the roof (Figure 09). The kitchen, a 2.26 (1928–1931). Placed in the center, it includes a mere work of art, this first collaborative metre sided square, is the heart of the house, a white curved wall that also acts as a wind- effort became their home for their entire its cornerstone. Based on the same principle break (Figure 07, 09). The rooftop terrace is lives and evolved according to their aesthetic as the Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, it is encircled by parapets, the height of which needs and aspirations. designed for its inhabitants, i.e. it follows serves a twofold purpose: to lean on your Built between 1950 and 1952, the the Modulor theory that André Wogenscky elbows when standing and to contemplate house was designed to serve a threefold developed with le Corbusier. The func- the distant valley when lying down. As Marta purpose: aside from the living areas, the tional kitchen, with its predominantly white Pan once said, the couple spent “wonderful house included a workshop for Marta Pan lacquer, extends into a dining area, originally holidays” there, living on the edge of the as well as a drawing studio for the archi- with a sturdy six-seater wooden table with heavens as often as they could6. 82 01 André Wogenscky and Marta Pan, House/Workshop, Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, 02 André Wogenscky and Marta Pan, House/Workshop, Saint-Rémy-lès-Chevreuse, France, 1950–1952. The house in the 1950s. © Archives WSR, Fondation Marta France, 1950–1952. The house and the garden nowadays. © Audrey Aulus, Pan-André Wogenscky. 2015. Household needs determined the spatial or- would become his signature for a long time. ness; but it is Marta Pan who injects the final ganization, which was nevertheless “pushed “Spots of color, like this red-orange (…), mark touch of energy. The architect thus leaves to the point of aesthetic organization”7. This out the space in the change of levels with the spaces (niches for sculptures) that integrate study of proportions gave rise to different driveway, on shelves and in corners — the her ideas (the colored piping of the boiler 54 – 2016/1 configurations and dimensions, thereby kitchen especially — like landmarks, or like for example) and takes her activities into turning architecture into something akin to a rhythm”10. André Wogenscky added that account, with a large bay that connects the music8. From the outside, the façades create color was a material above all else11, and there workshop and the garden (useful to bring an abstract geometry, like a tableau resulting is plenty of it in the house. In the high open in and take out large sculptures). The spaces docomomo from specific internal functions (Figure 01, spaces, the two big bare concrete walls12 dedicated to various activities are intercon- 02, 07, 09). The openings in the couple's catch the light and bring colors to life. The nected in one big space and create verti- bedroom illustrate this perfectly: one corre- wooden cladding that served as formwork cal and horizontal visual perspectives. No sponds to the field of vision of a person stand- draws lines on the surface. Whether mat partitions, no doors and no frontal obstacles: ing, another is elongated and corresponds to or shiny, the ruggedness counterbalances only changing spatial perceptions. Based on the field of vision from the bed (using only the kitchen's lacquered surfaces and the the same principle as for Villa Savoye, the natural light), and a third is simply aesthetic. ground floor's smooth marble, and contrasts furniture serves to define the spaces, like the Just for the record, André Wogenscky was with the small round and shiny tiles that built-in cupboards in the bedrooms, which amused when he realized that the latter cor- decorate the bathrooms and the entrance to create a partition between the doorway and Documentation Issues responded to the viewing height of his dog! the office. The wooden windows, the warm the bathroom. Continuity and indepen- Convinced that the environment af- wood of the wardrobes, the rugs that cover dence express the close-knit life of the two fects people9, André Wogenscky designed the floors and the wallpapered ceilings in artists, who respected each other's work.