University of Business and Technology in Kosovo UBT Knowledge Center Theses and Dissertations Student Work Winter 2-2014 ARCHITECTURE ANALYSES OF LE CORBUSIER’S VILLA SAVOYE Labinot Mehmeti Follow this and additional works at: https://knowledgecenter.ubt-uni.net/etd Part of the Architecture Commons Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning ARCHITECTURE ANALYSES OF LE CORBUSIER’S VILLA SAVOYE Bachelor Degree Labinot MEHMETI February/2014 Prishtine - 1 - Faculty of Architecture and Spatial Planning Bachelor Thesis Academic Year 2007– 2008 Student: Labinot MEHMETI ARCHITECTURE ANALYSES OF LE CORBUSIER’S VILLA SAVOYE Supervisor: Dr.Sc.Binak BEQAJ February/2014 This thesis is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Bachelor Degree - 2 - ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My sincerest and deepest thanks are extended to many people who were instrumental in my study. First to Dr.Sc Binak Beqaj, I probably never would have decided to do a thesis had it not been for the research class and for the invaluable advice and support and also I will not forget all international professors for their advice. Finally, my words of gratitude just don’t seem like enough for all of the love and support from my family who gave very many selfless hours of their lives in helping me through the process. I certainly could not have done it without them. - 3 - TABLE OF CONTENTS. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT……….……………………………………………………………………….3 CONTENTS………………………………………………………………………………………....................4 ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................................................5 INTRODUCTION….…………………………………………………………………………………...…..6 1. BIOGRAPHY OF LE CORBUSIER…………………………………………………………………...7 1.1 Life…...……………………………..……………………………………………………………………….7 1.2 Contexts of architecture developments during 1920-1930….………………………..…...9 1.3 Projects and work of Le Corbusier………….......……………….………………………………….10 2. ANALYSES OF LE CORBUSIER’S ARCHITECTURE CONCEPTS……………………..11 2.1 Purist period and the concept of truth in architecture………………………………………......11 2.2 Five points of architecture…………………………………………………………………………….11 2.3 The Modulor……………………………………………………………………………………………..14 2.4 Standardization…....…………………………………………………………………………………….15 3. CASE STUDY………………………………………………………………………………………………..16 3.1 Villa Savoye…………………………………………………………………………………………......16 3.1.1 Project description............................................................................................................................16 3.1.2 Location….…………………………………………………………………………………………..17 3.1.3 Technical description….…………………………………………………………………………..20 3.1.3.1 Geometry and Proportions……………………………………………………………………….23 3.1.3.2 Ramp and Staircase.…………………………………………………………………………..….27 3.1.4 Drawings….….…..……………………………………………………………………………….….29 4. CONCUSION……………………………………….…….……………………………………………….…32 5. BIBLIOGRAPHY..........................................................................................................................................33 - 4 - Abstract Le Corbusier remains a very challenging and elusive subject in architectural scholarship today due to the complexity and depth of his work. Critical analyses on his work generally stress one particular design theme or interpretive concept, such as the classical tradition, universalization, machine aesthetics, synthesis of the arts, or mysticism and ambiguity; they never fully explain the depth of his art. He is one of the most significant contributions to modern architecture in the 20th century, Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier. Completed in 1929, Villa Savoye is a modern take on a French country house that celebrates and reacts to the new machine age. The house single handedly transformed Le Corbusier’s career as well as the principles of the International Style; becoming one of the most important architectural precedents in the history. Villa Savoye’s detachment from its physical context lends its design to be contextually integrated into the mechanistic/industrial context of the early 20th century, conceptually defining the house as a mechanized entity. Le Corbusier is famous for stating, “The house is a machine for living.” This statement is not simply translated into the design of a human scaled assembly line; rather the design begins to take on innovative qualities and advances found in other fields of industry, in the name of efficiency. - 5 - INTRODUCTION I would like to present architecture’s true image. It is determined by spiritual values derived from a particular state of consciousness, and by technical factors that assure the practical strength of an idea.1 It is further determined by the strength of the work, its effectiveness and permanence. Consciousness equals life-purpose equals’ man.1 Le Corbusier was both an interesting and important character in the context of European and philosophical history. While many of his colleagues were trying their hand at other ventures, Le Corbusier set out to help the people around him. The interesting thing about the work of Le Corbusier is that he was never really satisfied with small accomplishments. Many of the thinkers during that time would have been completely content with helping out a few people. He, on the other hand, knew that in order to truly cement his legacy and make a change, entire cities had to be created. His works was purely modern, as well. He was one of the first thinkers to understand that cities needed to be built upward instead of outward. His design for new cities included lots of steel, lots of modern architecture, and lots of height. Everything was designed to run towards the sky. An interesting thing to consider about the thinking of Le Corbusier was that he would also consider things that other architects failed to consider during that time. He not only wanted to build cities, but he wanted to build the most efficient cities that one could possibly put together. In the works of Le Corbusier, the elements of what is known as the International style in architecture are clearly visible. Le Corbusier's work often demonstrates enormous scale, rely on significant use of preformed concrete, and exhibit a purity that are all elements of the International style. 1 My life is more or less exactly that of a Trappist or any other kind of monk of your choosing (except for the vow of chastity).’ Letter Le Corbusier to Sigismond Marcel, 28 January 1925, Le Corbusier Architect of the Century p. 243. - 6 - 1. BIOGRAPHY OF LE CORBUSIER 1.1 Life He was born as Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris in La Chaux-de-Fonds, a small city in Neuchâtel canton in north-western Switzerland, in the Jura mountains, just 5 kilometres across the border from France. He attended a kindergarten that used Fröbelian2 methods. In his early years he would frequently escape the somewhat provincial atmosphere of his hometown by traveling around Europe. About 1907, he traveled to Paris, where he found work in the office of Auguste Perret, the French pioneer of reinforced concrete. In 1908, He studied architecture in Vienna with Josef Hoffmann. Between October 1910 and March 1911, he worked near Berlin for the renowned architect Peter Behrens, where he might have met Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius. He became fluent in German. Both of these experiences proved Influential in his later career. In the first issue of the journal, in 1920, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret adopted Le Corbusier, an altered form of his maternal grandfather's name, "Lecorbésier", as a pseudonym, reflecting his belief that anyone could reinvent themselves. Some architectural historians claim that this pseudonym translates as "the raven-like one."3 While returning in 1929 from South America to Europe, Le Corbusier met entertainer and actress Josephine Baker on board the ocean liner Lutétia. Le Corbusier made several nude sketches of Baker. Soon after his return to France, Le Corbusier married Yvonne Gallis, a dressmaker and fashion model. She died in 1957. Le Corbusier also had a long extramarital affair with Swedish- American heiress Marguerite Tjader Harris. Le Corbusier took French citizenship in 1930.4 Against his doctor's orders, on August 27, 1965, Le Corbusier went for a swim in the Mediterranean Sea at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France. His body was found by bathers and he was pronounced dead at 11 a.m. It was assumed that he may have suffered a heart attack. His death rites took place at the courtyard of the Louvre Palace on September 1, 1965, under the direction of writer and thinker André Malraux, who was at the time France's Minister of Culture. He was buried alongside his wife in the grave he had designated at Roquebrune. 2 Concept of KinderGarden ,Friedrich Frobel 3 Gans, Deborah, The Le Corbusier Guide (2006) 4 Choay, Françoise, le corbusier (1960), pp. 10-11 - 7 - Le Corbusier's death had a strong impact on the cultural and political world. Homages were paid worldwide, and even some of Le Corbusier's worst artistic enemies, such as the painter Salvador Dalí, recognised his importance (Dalí sent a floral tribute). The President of the United States Lyndon B. Johnson said, "His influence was universal and his works are invested with a permanent quality possessed by those of very few artists in our history". The Soviet Union added, "Modern architecture has lost its greatest master". Simultaneously to the ceremony, Japanese TV channels decided to broadcast his Museum in Tokyo in what was at the time unique media homage.His grave site is located in the cemetery above Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, between