Last night, we found ourselves sitting in early 20th century French architect and designer Pierre Chareau’s garden in Paris, looking at a leafy wall, and at the lovely pattern of flag stones. We’d just spent time looking around his library, to marvel at the astonishing steel structures that are its shelves, and the wall of glass filtering light, which is why his most famous creation called The Glass House.

click to enlarge

We didn’t go to Paris but to the Jewish Museum’s webpage, happily still left from its extraordinary exhibition, Pierre Chareau Modern Architecture and Design which ended a couple of weeks ago. It was a tour de force, using virtual reality to let museum goers “explore” Chareau’s extraordinary spaces.

Scroll down to Interactive Features on the website and your can see 360′ renderings,  of the Grand Salon of the Maison de Verre, the garden, and other rooms, zooming in to look closely at details, and out to get more of the feeling of the space.

Or look AROUND Chareau’s study with its fantastic steel desk, and unique structures that hold panels of sheer fabric and artworks…

click to enlarge

We visited the Farhi Apartment he designed so we could figure out the steel track on which wooden screens roll to divide the room…

click to enlarge

…We found that by moving the controls up or down, zooming in or out at whatever speed we liked,  we got a strangely intimate feeling of being THERE, as though we were sitting lazily on a garden chair…

click to enlarge

 

 

If you’ve found illumination, joy, or inspiration in this post, please consider supporting Improvised Life. It only takes a minute to make a secure donation that helps pay our many costs. A little goes a long way towards helping Improvised Life continue to live ad-free in the world.

Support Improvised Life ♥

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *