Guy Lagneau
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Guy Lagneau | |
|---|---|
 Auguste Perret surrounded by architects Pierre-Edouard Lambert, Guy Lagneau and Alexandre Persitz in Le Havre on 27 September 1947 | |
| Born | 1915 |
| Died | 16 December 1996 (aged 80–81) |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | Musée d'art moderne André-Malraux Quatre Temps shopping centre |
Guy Lagneau (1915 – 16 December 1996) was a French architect, one of the founders of Atelier LWD, who was involved in many major projects in France and Africa.
Guy Lagneau was born in 1915.[1] He was a pupil and admirer of the architect Auguste Perret, whose later reconstruction of Le Havre (which was devastated during World War II) was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.[2] He participated in setting up the Pavillon of Modern Times for the International Exposition of 1937.[3] As a student at the École des Beaux-Arts, in the Perret-Courtois studio, he designed a hotel at the edge of a lake, with a symmetrical but rhythmic structure of exposed reinforced concrete. This design was published in 1942 in a polemic article written by Michel Roux-Spitz, an opponent of traditionalist architecture.[1] Lagneau played a very active role in the 3rd Perret studio in the 1942–1954 period, following the advice of Le Corbusier.[4][3]
Lagneau was among the architects who collaborated with Perret on the project to rebuild Le Havre, involved in the northern section. During the summer of 1945, he worked with André Le Donné, André Hermant and José Imbert to prepare the first draft of the new city plan, synthesizing the work of other architects, from which Perret developed the final plan submitted on 26 September 1945.[2]
1950s
Lagneau broke with the architectural principles of his master, Perret. He believed in light architecture, more like that of Le Corbusier. Through his work in Africa, he became deeply interested in the relationship between architecture and climate.[5] In 1952 he founded the Atelier LWD, with Michel Weill and Jean Dimitrijevic, a partnership that was active from 1952 to 1987.[3] Their first major project was the Hotel de France in Conakry, Guinea, designed in 1953 and completed in 1954.[6] This was a long, seven-storied building, supported by pillars, with a restaurant located in a circular pavilion.[7] The interior and furniture were designed by Charlotte Perriand and Jean Prouvé in 1953.[8]
In March 1958, Lagneau unveiled the House of the Sahara, a home-made prototype made in collaboration with Weill, Dimitrijevic, Prouvé and Perriand. In this work, they proposed a modern answer to the question of housing under extreme climatic conditions by applying the principle of separation. The house consisted of cabins cooled by air-conditioning in the day, but open at night onto the desert, all housed in a large tent that creates the central living space. This project was followed in 1958 by studies of tropical habitat in Guinea, resulting in a report which proposed concrete solutions for living in the humid tropics.[3]
