Kampen om E 1027

Abstract

On top o f a steep cliff, in a secluded spot some 90 ft above the Mediterranean, architect Eileen Gray designed and built a house for herself and Jean Badovici in the 1920's. She called it E 1027 - E for Eileen, 10 for ] which is the tenth letter of the alphabet, 2 for B and 7 for G. Some ten years låter, architect Le Corbusier lived in the house where he made eight mural paintings without asking permission by Gray who had then moved out. She was infuriated and saw the murals as vandalising graffiti. When l.e Corbusier published pictures of the murals in Oeuvre complete and L'Architecture cVaujtmrd'hui, he didn't even mention ber name. Låter on, the house and some of the furniture designed by Gray were said to be designed by him. l .e Corbusier has said that murals to him were weapons aimed at clestroying the architecture of a house, and he has described wall paintings as a hostile invasion of "the house of a stranger". I.ike all colonizers, however, he did not see the invasion as an act o f violence but rather as a present, a gift.