Villa Savoye Méridienne: a Long Reclining Chair Or Sofa
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
History Visit Le Corbusier Information History Visit The five points Information History Visit Le Corbusier Information History Visiter Le Corbusier Informations ▲ ▲ ▲ ▲ English Glossaire The five points of a new architecture Le Corbusier in short Villa Savoye Méridienne: A long reclining chair or sofa. Le Corbusier et Pierre Jeanneret put forward five Le Corbusier was an architect, urban planner, painter, Minimum one-family house: A model designed by points of a new architecture in 1927. These five points writer, theorist and leading figure in the Modern A manifesto for modernity Le Corbusier intended for a three-person family. The summarised their architectural explorations and helped Movement*. He is considered one of the most th space inside it is optimised by integrated furniture 2021. Imprimé en France, Traducteo. form a theory of the basic principles underpinning groundbreaking architects of the 20 century. His The peak of purist houses and modern comforts (running water, electricity). the Modern Movement*. varied work attests to fruitful creativity, whether for Modern Movement: An architectural trend at the traduction The stilts are reinforced-concrete posts holding up freestanding houses, standardised multi-unit housing, The villa is the work of Le Corbusier and start of the 20th century that advocated sleek lines, the structure, which frees up the ground floor. Here urban planning or institutional, sporting or cultural Pierre Jeanneret. It was built between 1929 and 1931 functionalism and use of industrial materials (glass, they are used to create space for cars to drive beneath sites. at the request of Eugénie steel and reinforced concrete). the building. 1887: Charles-Édouard Jeanneret was born in and Pierre Savoye, who ran Ocean liner style: This style was an art deco offshoot Marie-Hélène Forestier. The freestanding facade is a wall that no longer played La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland). an insurance brokerage firm. that incorporated features from the seafaring world a load-bearing role. It forms an outer layer independent 1907-1911: He travelled to Italy, Germany and This avant-garde holiday (portholes, ship railing, etc). of the framework of reinforced-concrete beams and the East. home was a true manifesto Skylight: A window in a roof, also called a light well. posts. Freed in this way, it became an insulating wall, 1917: He settled in Paris. for modernity. It is one of Top-to-bottom staircase: A staircase linking all the réalisation graphique punctuated with large windows flooding the villa 1920-1925: He cofounded the periodical L’Esprit twelve so-called purist villas (including Villa La Roche) floors of a building. with light. nouveau and wrote seminal works like Vers une that Le Corbusier designed The strip windows form horizontal panes: uninterrupted architecture (Towards a New Architecture). He between 1922 and 1931. Villa Savoye was the last in Practical information glazing running across the facades in bands. They give adopted the pseudonym Le Corbusier. this series and embodies the essence of Le Corbusier’s the first floor a panoramic view over the countryside 1922-1931: He built ‘purist’ villas, including Villa thinking regarding modern architecture: geometric Villa Savoye is presented without any furniture and a feeling of both the inside and outside. La Roche (1925), today’s head office of the Fondation shapes, glass, reinforced concrete and an absence added, appearing in the same way as it did when The open plan was made possible through a load- Le Corbusier in Paris, and Villa Savoye (1931). of ornamentation. This ‘box in the air’, as he called it, Le Corbusier handed it over in 1931. bearing structure of slab posts from the Dom-Ino 1928: He helped create the International Congresses was the outcome of architectural explorations and Length of the visit: 1 hour House invented by Le Corbusier in 1914. This of Modern Architecture (CIAM). the encapsulation of five points of a new architecture: Guided tours. Audioguides can be used for a hire system got rid of load-bearing walls and made use of 1930-1939: He travelled to Latin America, the Soviet stilts, a freestanding facade, strip windows, an open plan and a roof patio. charge. They are available in French, English, Spanish, lightweight partitions instead. In this way, the spaces Union, the United States and North Africa, and Russian and Japanese. can be adapted and they can free up large rooms like designed several projects there. Safeguarding the villa the villa’s lounge, which covers more than 80m2. 1951-1962: In India, he built the Sanskar Kendra Gift and book shop The roof patio did not win the Savoye family over at museum in Ahmedabad and designed the Chandigarh The guide for this monument can be found in the Itinéraires collection The villa was occupied during the second world first, but Le Corbusier managed to convince them. The city plan. and is available in 3 languages in the gift and book shop. war (1939–1945) but then neglected, falling into a flat roof helped reduce costs, was easy to maintain 1952-1960: He built five housing blocks, including the Centre des monuments nationaux state of great disrepair. In 1958, Poissy town council and provided both a garden and a solarium, a fully Cité radieuse in Marseille, the Notre-Dame du Haut Villa Savoye bought the property to build a secondary school 82 rue de Villiers fledged open-air room. chapel in Ronchamp (1955) and the Sainte-Marie there. But recognition of its architectural value 78300 Poissy de La Tourette priory. tél. 01 39 65 01 06 prompted the town council to sell it to the French [email protected] 1965: He died in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin (Alpes- œuvre de Le Corbusier © Fondation Le Corbusier/ADAGP. photo © Jean-Christophe Ballot / Centre des monuments nationaux. nationaux. des monuments Ballot / Centre photo © Jean-Christophe Le Corbusier/ADAGP. de Le Corbusier © Fondation œuvre state, who restored it from 1963 to 1997. In 1965, Maritimes department of France). www.villa-savoye.fr it became a listed building, and since 2016 it has been Crédits www.monuments-nationaux.fr listed as a UNESCO world heritage site alongside 16 other works by Le Corbusier. *Explanations overleaf. *Explanations overleaf. History Visit Le Corbusier Information ▲ 2 ground floor first floor second floor Audioguide 7 8 15 13 16 18 101 The ‘architectural promenade’ 14 6 4 Regarding the villa, Le Corbusier wrote: ‘It is a true 9 12 4 4 architectural promenade.’ When you enter it: ‘The 17 17 architectural show begins immediately; you follow 5 5 5 a route and perspectives develop with great variety; 3 you play with the rush of light brightening up the 11 1 walls or casting shadows.’ The ramp is the most N N 10 N 18 representative aspect of this pathway in the villa. As a sloping floor without steps, it prompts a free gaze through which visitors can appreciate the house’s 4 The ramp, reserved for masters of the house and 11 The kitchen would be reached via the pantry with windows that protect against wind and rain, 107 shapes and colours while strolling along. their guests, is an essential part of Le Corbusier’s featuring cupboards and a serving hatch. The storage and an open-air garden, featuring an integrated architecture. It is conducive to gentle walking, frees areas and tiled surfaces made it a functional, hygienic table. The strips of openings frame the view of the The facades up one’s gaze and provides good views of the house’s ‘laboratory’, with spaces specially made for household countryside, extending the picture windows that run shapes and play of light, as well as the natural setting. appliances. all the way around the edge. 1 The north-west facade is the main entrance at 5 The spiral staircase is a top-to-bottom* structure 12 The guest room features an integrated wardrobe Two concrete planters conceal the garage skylights* 102 the opposite side to the road. A glazed partition intended for servants. This is usually hidden, but that separates the parquet-floor bedroom from and the turfed joins between the slabs would bring brings light into the ground-floor hall. Stilts hold Le Corbusier here highlights it. He called it a ‘sculpture the tiled toilet brightened up by a zenithal window. a touch of greenery. up the first floor, which is virtually floating, its in reinforced concrete’. 13 The son’s bedroom includes a night space and The roof garden stands at the heart of the villa, 108 horizontality emphasised by the strip windows. The 6 The two servant bedrooms were each equipped a desk corner made up of a concrete shelf. forming a huge natural skylight* for almost all walls of the top floor are hemispherical. By alternating with a washbasin and a radiator. 14 The bathroom was accessible to friends and the rooms. shapes, Le Corbusier breathed life into his facade, 7 The laundry and linen room is made with two the son via its two doors. 18 The solarium on the second floor can be reached giving it a unique character. rough concrete receptacles. Its positioning and 15 The master bedroom covering 60 m2 includes via the ramp or staircase. Its architecture recalls the 109 2 The south-east facade facing the entrance to brightness also make it a winter garden. a hallway, an Eastern-influenced bathroom and ‘ocean liner style’*: the hemispherical windbreak- 103 the grounds fits into a garden plot designed by 8 The chauffeur’s studio apartment included a bedroom. The bed’s position is suggested through walls evoke the funnels of transatlantic steamships Le Corbusier. The two gravelled paths lined with a bathroom, a lounge and a bedroom. the alcove formed by two posts.