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Chemetov, Paul
(b Paris, 6 Sept 1928). French architect, teacher and writer. He was the son of Alexandre Chemetov, a Russian émigré painter. He studied architecture at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Paris, where his teachers included André Lurçat. From 1961 to 1986 he was a member of the multi-disciplinary cooperative Atelier d’Urbanisme et d’Architecture (see AUA). Chemetov’s work can be divided into three periods. In the 1960s, working in association with Jean Deroche (b 1931) in AUA, his buildings included some low-rise housing (1962–5) at Vigneux, where he subsequently completed several other community projects: an open-air theatre (1964) in the cultural centre at Hammamet, Tunisia; a senior citizens’ centre (1964–6) at La Courneuve; the Sterckeman House (1964–72), Attiches; a block of flats (1965–7) in the 5e arrondissement of Paris; the Schalit House (1965–7), Clamart; swimming pools at Villejuif (1969) and Epinay (1972); and his own house (1968–80), La Beaume, Ardèche. The originality of his approach was already apparent in these modest works. Adopting a versatile Corbusian Brutalism, he countered the optimistic image of mechanical perfection with the contradictions of industrial production; similarly, he countered the concept of the architectural model, classical or modern, with that of the assemblage, which, like cinematographic montage, creates a finished work by bringing together heterogeneous objects produced by industry. The Sterckeman House, for example, was designed as a lightweight, industrialized steel box on pilotis, with verandahs suspended from the roof; his own house in Ardèche was a courtyard complex built of rough sculptural masonry and massive concrete.
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