Maison personnelle de Georges Adilon

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Ministère de la Culture, in French. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Ministère de la Culture; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

History

Adilon was first a painter, graduate of the École des Beaux-Arts in Lyon in 1949. In 1958, he settled in the housing units of Bron-Parilly built by René Gagès, Franck Grimal and Pierre Bourdeix, whose architecture he appreciated. In 1960, the Adilon couple decided to settle in a house in Brindas. The project was initially entrusted to Jean Prouvé: his prefabricated houses and their modular character particularly interested Georges Adilon. Finally the steps undertaken failed and the building subsidy hoped for by the couple was not obtained. He chose self-construction with the help of mason friends in an approach not unrelated to his artistic activities. A first house was erected between 1960 and 1962 on sloping land bordering the Yzeron. Having become too small, it was enlarged between 1968 and 1970.

Description

This house materializes some of the themes dear to the artist and opens the way to new aesthetic and architectural solutions: the use of ovoid form, the recurring dialogue between rounded lines and straight lines (in the design of openings, plan or furniture), attention paid to the orientation of rooms according to natural light, time of day and landscape, as well as the use of integrated decoration. The edifice enjoyed great success with friends and neighbours of the family to the point that Georges Adilon subsequently realized more than a dozen other houses. A first volume was constructed between 1960 and 1962 in the Yzeron valley. It consists of a ground floor and a basement storey visible only from the north. The building dialogues with nature, and testifies to careful work on the presence of light in accordance with the site. Between 1968 and 1970, a second volume was constructed to the west. Light wells were created to bring lighting to the lower level. The house accommodated the family, the office where Adilon received his clients, his workshop and that of his wife who created textile works. The entrance to the office was greatly inspired by Japanese architecture. Lemon trees welcome the client in a vestibule. Ovoid forms, which become a characteristic feature of his work, are present. This first house was published in specialized journals. Knowledge of Adilon's work in the field of architecture spread in a circle of connoisseurs and became a full-time activity, leading to the construction of twenty-two houses until the end of the eighties. With the mayor of Brindas being favourable, the commune facilitated the issuing of permits and Brindas welcomed eight houses by Adilon. The artist worked essentially in the Rhône but also in the Loire, the Drôme and the Isère. Each time, in dialogue with his clients, Adilon conceived the house as closely as possible to the expectations and needs of future inhabitants, his self-construction system allowing him to modulate spaces and dimension rooms according to the number of occupants, in a type of organic architecture and with integration into the landscape and topography of the land. He was also architect to the Marists, on the sites of Fourvière and La Verpillière in the Isère. He built from nothing part of the buildings or integrated them with older constructions, creating a confrontation between ordered elevations and the volumes he conceived.