Perret was as single-minded and unique in his approach to the structure of his business as he was to the structure of his buildings. In 1905, he founded a novel business organisation with the assistance of his two brothers. This structure was comprised of an architectural agency (A.G. Perret) and a construction development firm (Perret Frères), and led to the creation of some of his most famous buildings. The Ponthieu garage (1907), the Théâtre des Champs Elysées (1913) and the Raincy Church (1923) mark only the beginning of an impressive career. The latter constructions reveal Perret's deep interest in the arts and artists, including writers such as Paul Valéry and André Gide, the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle and painters like Maurice Denis, Mela Muter and Henri Matisse. His love of poetry showed through in his thoughts and in his teaching. He created numerous aphorisms, with which he loved to impress his students and colleagues (Le Corbusier for a short time in around 1908, Ernö Goldfinger, Jacques Tournant, etc.). One of the best known was: "The architect is a poet who thinks and speaks through the art of constructing."
Position and light seem to have been the key words for the building on rue Raynouard and for the Perrets' apartment. 1930 Perret wrote: "Thanks to the favourable situation of the building (filled with sunlight from dawn to dusk) and to the heat-retaining precautionary plugs, a single source of energy is used: electricity, which runs the heaters (through storage), the kitchens, the hot water and the time." This list reveals the care taken to preserve comfort and the rhythm of life. The apartment has certain similarities to a lofty perch, from which, thanks to terraces and two external elevators, Perret was able to look down upon the city. The apartment could also be seen to represent the social ascent of the builder/architect. Before 1930, the Perrets lived at the same address, 51 rue Raynouard, in the 16th arrondissement. Following his public recognition, the architect wished to "move up" several floors, thus bringing together his home, his work and his reception area. Dominating rue Berton and situated one level below the rue Raynouard entrance is the agency and its elegant flight of stairs, which "le patron" walked down every morning to go to work. The main interest of the apartment block lies in the architecture and construction of its eight floors. In the description of the building, Perret highlighted the procedures used in its construction: "The building is constructed from reinforced concrete, the fillings of the facade are triple-partitioned: outside the concrete panels (linked with lime) are two plaster panes separated by 0.04 m. The floors are made of reinforced concrete beams and fillets; parquet floor. (..) the windows are made of red fir of 54 with two-sheeted glass separated by a space of 0.03 m. The windows are rendered waterproof through aluminium bronze strips." This long citation contains no less than twelve references to materials and textures, all of them evocative of different colours and smells. Nonetheless, according to Perret, "it is the reinforced concrete frame, designed in such a way as to remain noticeable from the interior and the exterior, which adorns the house". The subtlety of detail allowed him to temper the structural rigour of the frame, the vertical windows and the rough concrete columns. Four of these free columns frame the central circle of the living room, which is marked at the floor and the ceiling. This design reveals Perret's attempts to develop a modern architectural order derived from the architectural orders of Antiquity. His architecture is centred on mastery of proportion. Thanks to his detailed studies of interior circulation, Auguste Perret is able to offer different users complete access to this fluid space. The couple living in the apartment would be able to enjoy the sunrise in a number of different rooms (from the original octagonal bathroom to the living room). A guest, amazed by the elevator ascent with its view of the Eiffel Tower, would be able to discover another panoramic view (this time horizontal) through the numerous vertical bay windows of the large living room. The service staff had access to two large rooms overlooking the terrace and the street. In 1928-1929, Auguste Perret worked on two of his major projects (the Cortot room in the Conservatory of Music, and the shipbuilding Administration, both in Paris). In critical discourse, these large public commissions have somewhat overshadowed the importance of his constructions in the residential domain. The apartment block in rue Raynouard could be considered a mature work, and representative of what the historian Joseph Abram would call structural classicism. From the exterior, the building is perfectly integrated into the building line of rue Raynouard. From the interior, the building acts as a figurehead. Thus, one can see that Auguste Perret did not try to change the typology of the residential building (like Henri Sauvage with his hygienist convictions), nor did he wish to introduce the formal rupture pursued by modernists (like André Lurçat and Michel Roux-Spitz). However, the frankness of the constructive vocabulary and the refinement of the materials used make this building a landmark of modern French architecture. < BACK
Aymone Nicolas