Édouard Albert. Habitat: the minimax concept
For the fifth time, the residence located at 48 avenue Eglé in Maisons-Laffitte opens its doors. This residence, composed of nearly sixty dwellings spread over eleven buildings, is the fruit of the inspiration of the architect Édouard Albert (1910-1968) and was born in the late 1950s, in the heart of the park of Maisons-Laffitte, just 25 kilometers from Paris. Designed according to the innovative architectural principles of Minimax, presented by Édouard Albert in 1954 at the Salon des Arts Ménagers, this collective residence is distinguished by its ability to preserve its original conceptual integrity. In September 2023, the Club du Parc subdivision received the Remarkable Contemporary Architecture (ACR) label. This distinction from the Ministry of Culture aims to enhance the most significant ensembles of architectural production of the 20th and 21st centuries. As described in the book by Sébastien Cherruet, "Édouard Albert - A modern in tune with the arts," published by Éditions du Patrimoine, "The Minimax house has two sloping sides for the roof, but, unlike the traditional layout, these asymmetrical sides meet in a central oak. The architect specifies that this cover is of the butterfly-roof type, well known to Anglo-Saxon customers, especially in Canada." Despite the constraints related to the structure of the buildings, the architect preferred a "flexible approach""interior fittings, thus allowing the interior configurations of the various dwellings to change according to the preferences and needs of the residents. Through several dwellings, it is possible to observe how the inhabitants interacted with the architecture over the decades: open and closed spaces towards the outside, a diversity of interior volumes, a link with the front and rear gardens thanks to a crossing architecture, as well as games of direct light or zenithal thanks to the facades and sheds. These days dedicated to architecture offer an exceptional opportunity to (re)discover a great architect of the twentieth century, mainly recognized for his emblematic works such as the Croulebarbe Tower, also known as "Skyscraper 1," erected in 1960 in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, the Air France building in Orly, built in 1961, or the Jussieu campus, on which he worked at the time of his untimely death in 1968.