Description
A total artwork at the gates of Lyon
Built in 1981 by Lyon-based artist-architect Georges Adilon, this family home is part of the history of French architecture-sculpture, blending organic spatial design with graphic forms.
On a landscaped plot of 1,505 m² with no overlooking neighbors, the house offers a living area of 140 m² across two levels.
On the ground floor, there is an entrance that leads on one side to a living space with a fireplace and a separate kitchen, and on the other side to a hallway with access to two bedrooms opening onto the garden, a shower room, and a toilet. A few steps down, the living room opens generously onto the garden through large glass doors framing the greenery, and enjoys a semi-covered terrace.
A curved concrete staircase leads to the upper floor, which includes two bedrooms with access to the rooftop terrace and a bathroom with an integrated bathtub.
Numerous storage spaces and a 17 m² cellar with laundry facilities complete the property.
The property also includes a carport for two cars, as well as several outdoor parking spaces.
The minimalist decor is dominated by white walls, contrasting with the raw concrete ceiling and warm terracotta flooring. The open spaces are organically defined by level differences and enlivened by alcoves, nooks, and storage spaces sculpted directly into the concrete.
The home enjoys a quiet, residential environment in Ecully, a town known for its village-like charm and the quality of its natural heritage. Located west of Lyon in the first ring of suburbs, it benefits from all nearby amenities.
© Blaise Adilon
Spatial expression
The design of Maison T was developed through a series of meetings with its commissioners. It takes the form of an accumulation of cells that rise vertically, creating undulating facades that play with light and shadow.
The house’s volumes are expressed through curved walls and numerous nooks and crannies that invite diverse uses and personal appropriation. Natural light plays on the orientation, size, and shape of the openings—oculi, portholes, or gaps—that animate the various rooms. Each opening is framed as a painting, focusing on nature. The architect designed many interior fittings directly integrated into the architecture, down to pebble-shaped door handles.
© Blaise Adilon
A plastic architecture
The layout and exterior silhouette of Georges Adilon’s houses result entirely from their interior design. The architect approached the project’s constraints, the commissioners’ wishes, their lifestyle, the nature and orientation of the plot, and the choice of materials as pieces of a human-sized puzzle assembled bit by bit.
His architectural approach stemmed from his artistic practice and served as a space for plastic expression, on par with painting or engraving. His architectural work reflects the ovoid forms seen in his graphic art. He creates a reactive architecture that interacts with light, like a painting whose volumes cast shifting shadows throughout the day.
© Blaise Adilon
Georges Adilon, sculptor of light
« We completely forget that architecture is an art and that its function is to create beauty. »
Georges Adilon
French painter and visual artist Georges Adilon (1928-2009) produced a prolific and multifaceted body of work, marked by a highly distinctive architectural practice within the French cultural landscape. Inspired and guided by art, it consistently respects the variety of uses it enables and the environment it inhabits.
In 1964, Adilon met Father Perrot, who commissioned him to create the Sainte-Marie Lyon school on the Fourvière hill, near old Lyon and in La Verpillière. Each building was conceived as a living body, endowed with specific movements and characteristics. These three sites are also defined by a deep respect for existing structures.
Between 1965 and 1990, the architect created around thirty individual homes in the Lyon region. The principle of Georges Adilon’s architecture is to build functional homes where space responds to the different uses experienced over the course of a day or across the seasons. Light and circulation are paramount. As a result, his designs include openings, slits in walls, alcoves, and varied levels, creating a winding journey through the space.
