Michael Carapetian. The glass house.

Architecture photographs

Michael Carapetian

The Maison de Verre (1931) is a house in Paris built by Pierre Chareau. Its façade, a nontransparent wall of glass, transformed it into an icon of modern architecture. Michael Carapetian’s photographs from 1965, when he spent several days in the Maison, show a “canonical and mysterious house in images ranging from close-ups of the construction details to partial shots of the various rooms with their particular furnishings and the shape of the house as it transformed depending on the time of the day or night.” (Kenneth Frampton). To anyone interested in architecture photography, these photographs are precious documents because they show the outstanding features of Chareau’s technical and artistic achievements from an architectural-theoretical perspective. Some years ago, the house was sold and the furniture scattered to the winds. Michael Carapetian lives in Venice and London; apart from his work as architect and professor, he has also been active as an architecture photographer. Today he works with light design.