Tony Garnier (13 August 1869 – 19 January 1948) was a noted French

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

and

city planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, town ...

. He was most active in his home city of

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

, where he notably designed the

Halle Tony Garnier The Halle Tony Garnier is an arena and concert hall in Lyon, France. It was designed by Tony Garnier in 1905. Originally a slaughterhouse, the building was renovated in 1987 and opened as a concert hall in 1988. With a standing capacity of near ...

and

Stade de Gerland The Stade de Gerland (known for sponsorship reasons as Matmut Stadium de Gerland and otherwise known as Municipal de Gerland or Stade Gerland ) is a stadium in the city of Lyon, France, which serves as home to Top 14 rugby club Lyon OU. It has a ...

. Garnier is considered one of the forerunners of 20th-century French architects.

Biography

After learning painting and drafting at the École Technique de la Martinière in Lyon (1883-86), Garnier studied architecture at the

École nationale des beaux-arts de Lyon École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

(1886-89) and the

École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts The Beaux-Arts de Paris is a French ''grande école'' whose primary mission is to provide high-level arts education and training. This is classical and historical School of Fine Arts in France. The art school, which is part of the Paris Science ...

in Paris (1890-99). In 1899 he won the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

for a design of a national bank. The prize enabled him to reside at the

Villa Medici The Villa Medici () is a Mannerist villa and an architectural complex with a garden contiguous with the larger Borghese gardens, on the Pincian Hill next to Trinità dei Monti in Rome, Italy. The Villa Medici, founded by Ferdinando I de' Medici, ...

in Rome for four years, until 1904. During his stay in Rome he began working on the project of an industrial city that became his main contribution to town planning. In 1901, after extensive study of sociological and architectural problems, he began to formulate an elaborate solution to the perceived issues concerning urban design. His basic idea included the separation of spaces by function through

zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...

into several categories: industrial, civic, residential, health related, and entertainment. Garnier's drawings for an ideal industrial city called ''Une cité industrielle'' were initially exhibited in 1904, but only published later in 1918. ''Une Cité Industrielle'' was designed as an

utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia (book), Utopia'', describing a fictional ...

n form of living, for 35,000 inhabitants. It was located between a mountain and a river to facilitate access to hydroelectric power. This plan was highly influenced by the writings of

Émile Zola Émile Édouard Charles Antoine Zola (, also , ; 2 April 184029 September 1902) was a French novelist, journalist, playwright, the best-known practitioner of the literary school of naturalism, and an important contributor to the development of ...

, in particular his socialist utopian novel ''Travail'' (1901). The plan allowed schools and vocational-type schools to be near the industries they were related to, so that people could be more easily educated. There were no churches or law enforcement buildings, in hope that man could rule himself. The idea of functional separation was later taken up by the members of CIAM, and would ultimately influence the design of cities like Brasilia. In 1904 Garnier returned to Lyon, where he received a commission for a livestock market and slaughterhouse (1906-24), later named

. In 1910 he was commissioned for the design of the Édouard-Hérriot Hospital, completed in 1927. Further projects included several villas, the

(Gerland stadium) (1914-18) and the low-cost housing ''Quartier des Etats-Unis'' (1919-35) on United-States avenue in the

8th arrondissement of Lyon The 8th arrondissement of Lyon is one of the 9 arrondissements of Lyon. Geography Quarters * Le Bachut * Monplaisir Ville * Monplaisir La Plaine, usually known as La Plaine * Mermoz Nord * Mermoz Sud * Les États-Unis * Le Transvaal * Laënnec ...

. In the 1920s Garnier continued the work on several major projects started before the war. In 1939 he moved from Lyon to Roquefort-la-Bédoule, where he died in 1948. He is buried in the Croix-Rousse cemetery.

Selected projects

* ''Cité Industrielle'', project for an ideal city, 1904 * Rothschild Foundation Housing, Paris (competition entry), 1905 * Slaughterhouse and Stockyard, later named after him

, Lyon, 1905-1924 (now a music venue, where coincidentally another Tony Garnier performed in 2010 as part of Bob Dylan's band) * Grange-Blanche Hospital (now H. Edouard Herriot Hospital), Lyon, 1910-27 * Villa Tony Garnier, Saint-Rambert, Lyon, 1911 *

municipal stadium, Lyon, 1914-18 * ''Quartier des Etats-Unis'' housing, Lyon, 1919-35 * Villa Gros, Saint-Didier, 1921 * Sanatorium, Saint-Hilaire de Touvet, 1923 * Lyon and Saint-Etienne Pavilions,

International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts (french: Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes) was a World's fair held in Paris, France, from April to October 1925. It was designed by the Fren ...

, Paris, 1925 * ''Hotel de Ville'' town hall, Boulogne-Brillancourt (with

Jacques Debat-Ponsan Jacques Harold Edouard Debat-Ponsan (Copenhagen, 21 August 1882 - Paris, 1942) was a French architect. Life Debat-Ponsan studied in the ''atelier'' of Victor Laloux at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He took the Prix d ...

), 1934

Publications

*1918 ''Une Cité Industrielle: Etude pour la construction des villes'' *1920 ''Les grands travaux de la ville de Lyon''

References

External links

Website for the Tony Garnier museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garnier, Tony 1869 births 1948 deaths 20th-century French architects French urban planners Architects from Lyon Prix de Rome for architecture École des Beaux-Arts alumni