Pierre Paulin’s Château La Coste
The floor to ceiling glass walls of the galelry of Oscar Niemeyer’s Auditorium was the architects final project designed in 2010. Courtesy Paulin, Paulin, Paulin and Château La Coste
French designer Pierre Paulin is famous for his organic modern furniture designs that look like they could’ve been designed within the past 5 years, not in the sixties and seventies. It was towards the end of his life, in 2008 when Paulin was interviewed by art curator Hans Ulrich Obrist and architect Rem Koolhaas about his greatest regret. He expressed that it was the fact that he was never able to commercialize the Pierre Paulin Program, an arrangement of modular systems of furniture elements that allowed the user to customize, combine and create their own domestic interiors.
Paulin’s monumental ‘Dune’ sofa at an exhibition at Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi’s House at Yukigaya in Tokyo. Photo by Satoshi Nagare, courtesy of Paulin, Paulin, Paulin and Château La Coste
Herman Miller, an esteemed American furniture company that worked closely with Charles and Ray Eames expressed interest in working with Paulin to manufacture various components for the program, but eventually the plan was abandoned due to financial restrictions during the first oil crisis in the early 1970s.
Planning for the program, Paulin began creating miniature models to physically evoke what he was envisioning in his mind. Each of the six models are now a part of the collection at the Pompidou Center and Louis Vuitton in Paris.
Basking in the sunlight, Pierre Paulin’s ‘Déclive’ n°3 chaise longue rests beside the La Vague partition and a Module U shelving unit in Oscar Niemeyer’s Auditorium at the Château La Coste. Photo by Stephane Aboudaram
Focusing on Model #5, is centered around the serpentine like modular shelves which act as room dividers. The idea is to use them to circumvent the various zones which all have their each function. You can view the full-size version of model 5 that is now on public view at the Château La Coste near the Aix-en-Provence in the south of France.
The stunning 500 acre estate was purchased by Irish entrepreneur, Patrick “Paddy” McKilled in 2004 and has since been transformed into a prestigious center for art and architecture. Buildings on the property were commissioned by architect Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers and Tadao Ando. The Château La Coste exhibition lies within the Oscar Niemeyer Auditorium, the final project before his death in 2012 (constructed posthumously). Paulin’s designs and Niemeyer’s vision create an otherworldly experience with the buildings curvaceous forms complementing Paulin’s serpentine-like storage units and organic biomorphic sofas.
Photo via @paulinpaulinpaulin on Instagram.
“The setting is “like something out of a dream,” says Benjamin Paulin, son of Pierre Paulin. “I immediately fell in love with the building for its organic architecture and sense of serenity.”
Benjamin recounts his fathers trip to Brazilia, a project of Niemeyers. Pierre deeply admired Niemeyer’s architecture but the two never met. “They could easily have done so, because at one point, they were both developing furniture designs with the same French company, Mobilier International,” he says.
Photo via @paulinpaulinpaulin on Instagram.
The Château La Coste is the third exhibition the firm has oragnized. The first being the Villa Lemoine, designed by architect Rem Koolhaas near the Bordeaux in 2019 and the second at Japanese architect Yoshio Taniguchi’s House in Yukigaya in 2022.
Another famous decoration by Paulin was the Élysée Palace in the 1970s. The interior project focused around four rooms in the official residence of the French President, Georges Pompidou. Like his models for the Pierre Paulin Program, he began envisioning spaces within spaces. The project has become one of the high points of his career and to this day is still admired for its futuristic feel in such a lavish environment.
The ‘Origami’ or Tapis-Siège model designed in 1968 by Paulin, takes inspiration from Paulin’s travels to Japan. Photo by Stephane Aboudaram
Photo via @paulinpaulinpaulin on Instagram.
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