Le centre de santé d’Arles (1971-1974), anachronisme d’une prospective architecturale ?

Abstract

The health centre at Arles was built from 1971 to 1974 to the designs of the architect Paul Nelson, in collaboration with André Remondet and Pierre Devinoy, at the initiative of the ministry of Health and the civil hospitals of Arles. It was Paul Nelson’s last realisation where hospital building was concerned, and was based on his thinking going back to the inter-war years and then developed throughout his long career. It is a manifesto-work as much as it is a-testament work, but does not always display the technical and architectural innovation it is generally credited with. It remains however as the last expression of the singular and ambitious conceptions of Paul Nelson and bears witness to the complexities of renewing hospital architecture during the twentieth century and, beyond that, poses the question of architectural prospectives.

Keywords

• Fernand Léger
• hospital
• Arles
• Paul Nelson
• André Remondet
• Pierre Devinoy