The exhibition “Claude Parent : the New Bloc House” at the Cité Radieuse !

This exhibition explores the Maison Bloc project, an iconic work designed by Claude Parent for André Bloc in 1959 in Antibes. Through archival photographs, books, and original drawings, the exhibition highlights the architect’s revolutionary vision, revisiting the project by imagining new possibilities for this villa, which has been listed in the supplementary inventory of Historic Monuments since 1990.

A few years after commissioning a caretaker’s house from Claude Parent in 1956, André Bloc asked him to design his holiday home as a “bird’s nest” on a steep site at Cap d’Antibes. Resting on three support points, the house emerges from the rock like a “volcanic outgrowth,” allowing the void to preserve the continuity of the terrain.

The villa adopts a simple construction principle based on a load-bearing framework combining reinforced concrete, metal, and glass. It consists of three levels, a studio, an intermediate space, and a living volume, connected by an overhanging staircase with sculptural swirls in white concrete.

Rooted in the tradition of holiday residences on the French Riviera, this project represents the most accomplished example of the “cells on pilotis” imagined by the architect. Through his drawings, the visionary architect Claude Parent proposes a reflection on the evolution of architecture, in keeping with contemporary issues.