Architect:
Le Corbusier (1887-1965) - Parijs.
In 1958 the Philips Company was represented at the World Exhibition in Brussels with its own pavilion. The idea originated with Louis Kalff, an engineer who at the time was Philips' director of arts. Under the umbrella of Le Corbusier's concept for Poème électronique, a Gesamtkunstwerk was created, uniting the architecture by Iannis Xenakis and music by Edgard Varèse to Le Corbusier's colours and images. The floor plan of the pavilion resembled the shape of a stomach, with a surface of 1,000 m2 (40 x 25m), and a height of 22 meters. The interior was empty and dark. To facilitate performance all technological features were concealed. At each showing the pavilion could hold approximately 500 standing visitors, who experienced a shocking multi-media performance lasting 480 seconds. At the time this project cost the Philips Company approximately three million Euros. After the World Exhibition the pavilion was destroyed.
Alice Foundation has initiated the reconstruction of the Philips pavilion in Eindhoven, creating a figurehead for both contemporary research and education in the field of images and sound. This not in the last place because the Philips pavilion connects ambitions of Brainport Eindhoven to the research climate at the former NatLab in Strijp S. First of all intensive research on several aspects has been done regarding the possibilities for reconstruction and the investment and operation costs. The results of this research were presented during a symposium.
[zie ook de eigen
website van de Alice Foundation en bekijk/beluister de
gestreamde videoversie van de oorspronkelijke film.]
