The stories of women in architecture are often marginalized or left untold. When approached by the Art Institute of Chicago for a series of short films for the new permanent collection, Past Forward (2017), we could find so few resources to research Charlotte Perriand’s Les Arcs Resort that we felt a special dedication to this narrative.

Les Arcs is located in a remote area of France roughly equidistant from Lyon, Turin in Italy, and Geneva in Switzerland. It took a plane, train, and finally a funicular ride to arrive at our shoot. The location, a secluded complex of residential buildings, pristine slopes, and wooded hills that looked remarkably fresh more than 30 years after the completion of the project. We stayed in one of Perriand’s original apartments and experienced firsthand the spatial logic of these compact yet airy spaces, complete with a double-height living room, cozy mezzanine bedrooms with mountain views, and yes, a super shiny space-age prefab bathroom similar to the one exhibited.

We left assured that Charlotte Perriand is a hero of modern architecture. Read the full story of the acquisition and filming here: https://www.artic.edu/articles/639/finding-perriand.