Claude Parent, the "last Parisian Supermodernist", dies at 93

2016-02-29T14:18:00-05:00

Claude Parent, architect and theoretician of “oblique function”, passed away this past Saturday at the age of 93.

Trained at the Académie des Beaux-Arts, Parent studied under Le Corbusier and collaborated with the philosopher Paul Virilio to form the idea of “oblique function”. Jean Nouvel in Domus, on the occasion of the 2010 retrospective on Parent at the Cité de l’Architecture in Paris, describes the architect’s theoretical interests as preoccupied with “interior spaces in continuation, based on sequences of oblique and horizontal planes. The radicalism and expressiveness of these principles scramble all the conventions of orthogonal modernity.”

Parent’s built work is small in number but highly impactful. His Maison Drusch (Versailles, FR) and Church Sainte-Bernadette du Banlay (Nevers, FR) exemplify his “oblique” theories, constructing dramatic, sloped spaces to provoke inhabitants into being more self-aware. His “utopian” preoccupations and methodology has inspired many architect...

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Claude Parent, the "last Parisian Supermodernist", dies at 93