Claude Parent: The Epistemological Shift from the Modernism to the Metabolism

Abstract

When the Cité de l'Architecture et Patrimoine in Paris organized the exhibition of Claude Parent's works (Parent in J Soc Archit Hist 70:106–1107, 2011), the change of phase in the modernism movement become very clear. In fact, the author’s experience in his academic and working career demonstrates the key passages from a mere rigorous execution of the rectangular and functionalist style which characterized the modernistic thought, to an architectural vision orientated to a dizzying and unconventional matrix, preferring the sinuous momentum of elements in space to the right angles. In some ways, the C. Parent’s idea of architecture are a tangible example of a successful interpretation of the modernism’s methodologic procedures in an organic and changeable way, setting the stage for transforming the principles of the machine age into those of the age of life. The purpose of this paper is to deal with this shifting point of the modernist school in architecture, starting from the theory and practice of Claude Parent. Firstly, through an in-depth investigation and comparison of Claude Parent’s drawings and design projects it is indeed possible to understand the original aspects of modern movement and, in particular, what were the limitations that characterized it, eventually leading to the overcoming of the movement itself. Secondly, the same author’s works will be used to understand how his thought can also be interpreted as a point of contact between the modernist movement and the metabolic movement which was established in Japan in the 1960s.