





“Hector Guimard’s Visions of Eternal Peace.” In 113th Annual Meeting Proceedings (Washington: Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, 2025), 274-82.
>>> Download PDF
French architect Hector Guimard is famous for being a pioneer of Art Nouveau. Few people know, however, that he played a key role during World War I promoting the concept of liberal internationalism. His prominent efforts in this arena helped to pave the way for the League of Nations, antecedent to the United Nations. This paper challenges the reigning assumption that Guimard’s political activism had no direct relevance to his subsequent design work. In actuality, his wartime lobbying for an international “Peace-State” explored ideas that also underpinned his designs for mass-produced housing a few years later.
