Modernism meets industry at Friche de l’Escalette, a French art dealer’s sculpture park

Images of the Southern French countryside conjure up images of green, rolling hills and picturesque little villages, bathed in the Mediterranean light; and sure enough, the landscape around Marseille fits the bill. Yet, hidden amongst the leafy nature, are the industrial remnants of an abandoned lead mine, its old stone columns and arches peeking through the trees. This site, known as the Friche de l’Escalette, was bought by art collector and dealer Éric Touchaleaume, who transformed it into a sculpture park in 2016 to display his collection and temporary shows.
Touchaleaume cleverly uses the site’s dramatic existing historical architecture to juxtapose, through carefully curated shows, old and new – combining his passion for modern and contemporary art and modernist architecture, and the soft nature of the land; which provided the perfect architectural setting for our ‘Cast away’ fashion story that appears in Wallpaper’s December 2018 (W* 237) issue.
Touchaleaume likes to juxtapose modern art with nature and the site's historical architecture at the Friche. Archives Galerie 54, Paris
Temporary shows appear every summer and this past one included the resurrection of two rare Jean Prouvé cabins. One was the Pavillion de Lorraine 6x9, which was a ‘model home commissioned just after the Liberation of France by Raoul Dautry, minister for reconstruction, to house families in the Lorraine region whose dwellings had been destroyed by bombing’.
The other was the, perhaps, more well known Cameroun Bungalow, which Prouvé conceived as a ‘tropical habitat for a wet zone’, in metal frame and aluminium facades. The structures will remain on site until summer 2019. Along with the architecture, the park showcases a range of modern art, including pieces by Gerard Lardeur, Parvine Curie and Shamai Haber.
On shoot at Friche de l’Escalette for Wallpaper* December 2018 issue (W* 237). Dress, price on request, by Dušan. Tropical bungalow, 1958-64, by Jean Prouvé & Atelier LWD. Fashion: Isabelle Kountoure
The site has slowly become a staple in the architecture aficionado’s frequent pilgrimages to South France, for its rare combination of the natural and the industrial, the modern and historical. And there will be plenty more to see soon at this cultural venue.
Alongside ongoing works for the preservation of the local architecture and flora, the owners are already working on a new exhibition, slated to debut in the summer, featuring more work by Prouvé, as well as a highly anticipated competition on the theme of the cabanon (the local fishermen's cabins), aiming to celebrate and protect this particular regional typology.
Old meets new in a large scale, outdoors exhibition area.
Touchaleaume likes to juxtapose modern art with nature and the site's historical architecture at the Friche.
One of the latest shows at the Friche de l'Escalette was the summer display of two Jean Prouve cabins; the location where we shot our main December 2018 issue fashion story
INFORMATION
For more information visit the Friche de l’Escalette website
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture Editor at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018) and Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020).
-
Vincent Van Duysen’s furniture for Giustini Stagetti is inspired by sculpture and Rationalism
‘I.R.O. – Italian Rational Objects’, an exhibition and furniture collection, is the first collaboration between Vincent Van Duysen and Rome design gallery Giustini Stagetti
By Rosa Bertoli Published
-
Aymer Maria jewellery gives historical references a modern spin
Ruth Aymer, founder of Aymer Maria, takes us behind her architecturally inspired jewellery designs
By Mazzi Odu Published
-
Lawrence Lek’s depressed AI cars in Berlin invite compassion for the abandoned machine
Lawrence Lek’s installation ‘NOX’, created with LAS Art Foundation, broaches an AI future, in Berlin’s abandoned Kranzler Eck shopping centre
By Emily Steer Published
-
Discover Dyde House, a lesser known Arthur Erickson gem
Dyde House by modernist architect Arthur Erickson is celebrated in a new film, premiered in Canada
By Hadani Ditmars Published
-
A fire station cuts a bold figure in the city of Rennes
This fire station by LAN becomes a new landmark for Rennes, France
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
A refreshed Musée National de la Marine shows off its expanded exhibition spaces in France
Musée National de la Marine in France has been brought to the 21st century by a team comprising h2o Architectes, Snøhetta and exhibition designers Casson Mann
By Clare Dowdy Published
-
Studio Mumbai exhibition at Fondation Cartier explores craft, architecture and ‘making space’
A Studio Mumbai exhibition at Paris’ Fondation Cartier explores the trailblazing Indian practice’s inspired, hands-on approach
By Amy Serafin Published
-
Georgie Wolton’s No. 34 Belsize Lane in Camden gets Grade II listing
No. 34 Belsize Lane in Camden, London, by Georgie Wolton, is recognised as a modernist gem
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
AT Architectes has built a striking house in the heart of a French pine forest
Maison Au Tholonet by AT Architectes is a crisp concrete house set on a wooded site in the South of France, carefully built on the foundations of a ruin
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Richard Rogers exhibition delves into the architect’s ideas at Chateau La Coste
A new Richard Rogers exhibition created by Ab Rogers opens at the late architect’s final design, the Drawing Gallery at Chateau La Coste in France
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
The finest brutalist architecture in London and beyond
For some of the world's finest brutalist architecture in London and beyond, scroll below. Can’t get enough of brutalism? Neither can we.
By Jonathan Bell Published