Theme Music "Lindiggity" by DJ Come of Age http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/djcomeofage5 Built in 1926 by Eileen Gray, E1027 is a small white villa on top of a cliff in the French Riviera village of Cap Martin. This iconic home invokes a special allure for all lovers of modern design. Not because of its breathtaking Bay of Monaco views, and not because of the murals that architect and next-door neighbor Le Corbusier painted there (and was famously photographed while doing so), but because it is one of the earliest masterpieces of modernist domestic architecture. E1027 was built of reinforced concrete, composed of geometrical and asymmetrical distribution of volumes. Its form is characterized by lack of ornament, and an absence of both decorative embellishment and historical references. Its abstraction, the flat roof, and the play between geometrical elements comprise its definition as a modernist dwelling. It was Eileen Gray's experimental dream, where efficiency and light, machine aesthetics, and notions of space-saving and flexibility were woven together seamlessly. It was the first home built by this pioneer, who despite her fame, built only two houses in her entire career. Unlike many stars of the Modern Movement, Gray designed E1027 not as an architectural statement, but rather as a seaside love nest. A celebrity of 20th-century design, Gray was an unconventional player in a competitive field. She engaged only a few projects, and preferred to isolate herself for decades until she died in 1976 at the age of ninety-eight. E1027 was her most intriguing project. Gray was born in Victorian Ireland to a wealthy family. Her family's wealth, in fact, was what allowed her the freedom to pursue avant-garde design. At the age of twenty-two, she moved to Paris and immersed herself in the craft of Japanese lacquer, which would become her signature medium during this early phase of her career. The style she perfected is known today as French Art Deco. After great success, she abandoned lacquer and formulated machine-age aesthetics: steel and aluminum furniture of the type she designed for E1027. Gray designed E1027 as a retreat for herself and her lover, Romanian-born architecture writer Jean Badovici. Even its name suggests a creative abstraction typical of modernism: E stands for Eileen, 10 for Jean, 2 for Badovici and 7 for Gray. Some of the furniture pieces she designed for the villa have since become icons, such as the side table, which was used as a breakfast tray set by her bed. Unfortunately, Gray did not enjoy many years in her dream house. When her relationship with Badovici deteriorated a couple of years after its completion she moved out, leaving the villa to him. Today it stands as a testimony to a woman who prevailed in a profession dominated by men, and whose commitment to modernism was absolute.

Comments

1. D...Nice and the location doesn't hurt...keep them coming. No one does this like you do. Check your audio could be sharper. Ray