Eileen Gray
Eileen GrayWhen one talks or thinks of architecture, or the architects, there is a great gender gap, and due to these gaps, some women do not acquire the acknowledgement that is rightfully theirs. As one of the finest architects, designers, and artist of the 20th century, Eileen Gray was and still has not been given any attention as a serious designer/architect, unlike her counter parts, Le Corbusier, De Stijl, Mies van der Rohe, or Frank Lloyd Wright.
Eileen Gray spent most of her designing life in France and was influenced greatly by a veriety of designers and architects. She found her self indulged in the art of Toulouse-Lautrec, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Gaughin, Seurat, and Bonnaard. Eileen Gray admired Le Corbusier�s Five Points of Architecture, and found it to be a stating point in her designing of buildings. It could be seen in her E-1207 house, Tempe A Pailla, and her Lou Perou house built near St. Tropez.
Eileen Grays� most significant piece of work is the E-1027 house built on the shores of Menton (1926-29). Eileen responds to each of Le Corbusiers� points at E.1027. The roof garden is transformed into an accessible roof terrace without plantings. Pilotis support portions of the volume of the house. The windows of the house open with a completely different system than the one Le Corbusier proposed. Some of E.1027\'s windows are vertical rather than horizontal bands, but still they are continuous and add flow to the interior rooms. The interior stairways are free, and there is storage places concealed in the walls of the stairs to add storage place. The façade of the house is free and white, while the plan of the house is open.
E-1027 at Menton (1926-29)
Further more, Eileen Gray proposed four problems that the great architects of the time, like Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Mies van der Rohe all thought about, but did not incorporate them into there work. Eileen proposed the problem of the windows. There were three types that the three had come up with, but all of them were similar, unlike hers. The problem of shutters, they never used any. The problem of independence and privacy. They all believed in free flowing open spaces, but Eileen incorporated room, that were private and independent, and gave the plan a free open space. The final problem that came into play was the idea of an open access kitchen, but with out the odour spreading into the house. All these problems were looked at closely when Eileen Gray built the E-1027...
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