Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier AUK College of Art & Sciences/ID IND311 Interior Design History II Asst. Prof. Siniša Prvanov Spring 2019 Page 1 of 98 Contents: Introduction 1. Villa Savoye (1928–1931) 2. World War II and Reconstruction; Unité d'Habitation in Marseille (1939–1952) 3. Villa Shodhan (1951-1956) 4. Le Corbusier and an Analysis of Form 5. Furniture Design Page 2 of 98 INTRODUCTION Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (1887-1965), known as Le Corbusier, was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930. His career spanned five decades, and he designed buildings in Europe, Japan, India, and North and South America. Dedicated to providing better living conditions for the residents of crowded cities, Le Corbusier was influential in urban planning, and was a founding member of the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM). Le Corbusier prepared the master plan for the city of Chandigarh in India, and contributed specific designs for several buildings there. Like his contemporaries Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier did not have formal academic training as an architect. He was attracted to the visual arts and at the age of fifteen he entered the municipal art school in La-Chaux-de-Fonds which taught the applied arts connected with watchmaking. Three years later he attended the higher course of decoration, founded by the painter Charles L'Eplattenier, who had studied in Budapest and Paris. But in further years he moved into architecture very fast. Page 3 of 98 Seventeen projects by Le Corbusier in seven countries were inscribed in the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites as The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement. Page 4 of 98 Page 5 of 98 Page 6 of 98 Page 7 of 98 Page 8 of 98 Page 9 of 98 Page 10 of 98 Page 11 of 98 Page 12 of 98 Page 13 of 98 Page 14 of 98 Page 15 of 98 Page 16 of 98 Page 17 of 98 Page 18 of 98 Page 19 of 98 Page 20 of 98 Page 21 of 98 Page 22 of 98 1. Villa Savoye (1928–1931) Figure 14. Villa Savoye existing situation 1974. Page 23 of 98 Page 24 of 98 Page 25 of 98 Page 26 of 98 Page 27 of 98 Page 28 of 98 Page 29 of 98 Page 30 of 98 Page 31 of 98 Page 32 of 98 Page 33 of 98 Page 34 of 98 Page 35 of 98 Figure 18. Roof Plan. Page 36 of 98 Figure 19. Entrance view. Page 37 of 98 Figure 20. Interior view. Page 38 of 98 Figure 21. Roof garden view. Page 39 of 98 2. World War II and Reconstruction; Unité d'Habitation in Marseille (1939–1952) Figure 21. Unité d'Habitation Building 1952. Page 40 of 98 This was his first public commission, and was a major breakthrough for Le Corbusier in post World War II career. He gave the building the name of his pre-war theoretical project, the Cité Radieuse, and followed the principles that he had studied before the war, he proposed a giant reinforced concrete framework, into which modular apartments would be fit like bottles into a bottle rack. Figure 22. Exterior of the Unité d'Habitation Page 41 of 98 Like the Villa Savoye, the structure was poised on concrete pylons though, because of the shortage of steel to reinforce the concrete, the pylons were more massive than usual. The building contained 337 duplex apartment modules to house a total of 1,600 people. Each module was three stories high, and contained two apartments, combined so each had two levels (see diagram above). The modules ran from one side of the building to the other, and each apartment had a small terrace at each end. They were ingeniously fitted together like pieces of a Chinese puzzle, with a corridor slotted through the space between the two apartments in each module. Page 42 of 98 Residents had a choice of twenty-three different configurations for the units. Le Corbusier designed furniture, carpets and lamps to go with the building, all purely functional; the only decoration was a choice of interior colors that Le Corbusier gave to residents. The only mildly decorative features of the building were the ventilator shafts on the roof, which Le Corbusier made to look like the smokestacks of an ocean liner, a functional form that he admired. The building was designed not just to be a residence, but to offer all the services needed for living. Every third floor, between the modules, there was a wide corridor, like an interior street, which ran the length of the building from one end of the building to the other. This served as a sort of commercial street, with shops, eating places, a nursery school and recreational facilities. A running track and small stage for theater performances was located in the roof. The building itself was surrounded by trees and a small park. Figure 23. The modular design of the apartments inserted into the building. Page 43 of 98 Figure 24. Plans of a typical flat and cross-section drawing showing the double function of two flats. Page 44 of 98 Figure 25. Typical flat view. The apartments were equipped with built-in furniture, and specially designed storage walls with various cupboards with sliding doors, which were designed by Charlotte Perriand in collaboration with Atelier Le Corbusier. Additionally Perriand collaborated on the design of the apartment kitchens, 321 of the 337 units were equipped with the Cuisine Atelier Le Corbusier, type 1 kitchens, many of which are still in place due to their efficient use of space. The steel stairs and the aluminium kitchen counters were designed by Jean Prouvé. Unité d'habitation model apartments have been renovated in the individual historic Unité buildings as well as rebuilt in exhibitions around the world. Page 45 of 98 Figure 26. Salon and Terrace of an original unit of the Unité d'Habitation, now at the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine in Paris (1952) Page 46 of 98 Figure 27. Typical flat view. Page 47 of 98 Figure 28. Internal "street corridors" within the Unité d'Habitation building. Page 48 of 98 The flat roof is designed as a communal terrace with sculptural ventilation stacks, a running track, and a shallow paddling pool for children. There is also a children's art school in the atelier. The roof, where a number of theatrical performances have taken place. The roof has unobstructed views of the Mediterranean and Marseille. Figure 29. The south end of the roof with the solarium on the left and the structural framework of the cafeteria beyond. Below the vent is an open-air garden for children, surrounded by low walls and visible in the drawings. Page 49 of 98 3. Villa Shodhan (1951-1956) Figure 30. Villa Shodhan 1955. Page 50 of 98 Villa Shodhan (or Shodhan House) is a modernist villa located in Ahmedabad, India. Designed Le Corbusier, it was built between 1951 and 1956. Building on his previous projects whilst integrating the traditional features of Ahmedabad design, the villa symbolizes Le Corbusier's domestic architecture. The building is currently used as a private residence. Key aspects to be considered in designing Villa Shodhan included sun, wind, the view upon arrival and landscaping. They could be addressed above all by the positioning of the facades which, with a diagonal orientation, allowed the incoming visitor a view over three-quarters of the building. The landscaping sets off the building by contrasting the curved mounds of the site with the geometric, rectangular lines of the structure. The rectangles on the north-west and south-west façades are further emphasized through the installation of brise soleil for protection from glare. The design of the Villa Shodhan is structurally simplistic while still retaining plasticity in the treatment of the divided spaces. The overall frame of the building is in raw concrete, with clear markings of the wooden formwork. The frame is anchored to the ground, not elevated on stilts, a feature Le Corbusier used frequently in the 1920s. Standard sheet metal is added to the underside of the interior ceilings and a protective parasol is used as the roof. Page 51 of 98 Figure 31. Villa Shodhan concrete frame. The design of the interior concrete piers, running to the full height of the building’s elevation, is based around the architect's domino skeleton design established in 1915. A ramp provides access to the main and mezzanine levels, while the rooms are grouped around a triple-height terrace. The ramp also leads to accompanying stairs, providing access to the roof and terrace. The terrace plays an important role in the natural climate control process, cooling down the bedrooms in the middle of the day and providing an Page 52 of 98 alternate sleeping area during the summertime. Upon the parasol roof of Villa Shodhan, there is a garden abundant in thick grass and water troughs. The vision of dense greenery is also reinforced by overrun plants and trees, seeming to camouflage the building and its environment. The roof also features an oval aperture, which matches up with a hole in the lower slab roof, giving visitors a framed view of the sky. This is almost mimicked by the pool, situated at the base of the ramp, aiming to bring the outside in. Figure 32.

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