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Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier

Written by Andrew Kroll

Architects: Le Corbusier
Year Completion year of this architecture project Year: 1929
Photographs Photographs: Flickr User: End User

Text description provided by the architects. Situated in Poissy , a small commune outside of Paris, Villa Savoye is one of the most significant contributions to modern architecture in the 20th century. Completed in 1929, Le Corbusier's masterpiece 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 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.

In response to his aspirations and admiration of mechanized design, Le Corbusier established “The Five Points Of Architecture" , which is simply a list of prescribed elements to be incorporated in the design. The Five Points of architecture can be thought of as Le Corbusier’s modern interpretation of Vitruvius’ Ten Books on Architecture, not literally in the sense of an instructional manual for architects, but rather a checklist of necessary components of design.

In fact, Villa Savoye is thoroughly tailored to Corbusier’s Five Points:

Flat Roof Terrace
Ribbon Windows
Free Façade

Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier - Windows

At this point in Le Corbusier’s career, he became intrigued by the technology and design of steamships. The simplistic, streamlined result born out of innovative engineering techniques and modular design had influenced Corbusier’s spatial planning and minimalistic aesthetic.

The pilotis that support the decks, the ribbon windows that run alongside the hull, the ramps providing a moment of egress from deck to deck; all of these aspects served as the foundation of the Five Points of Architecture and are found in the overall composition of Villa Savoye.

Upon entering the site, the house appears to be floating above the forested picturesque background supported by slender pilotis that seem to dissolve among the tree line, as the lower level is also painted green to allude to the perception of a floating volume.

The lower level serves as the maintenance and service programs of the house. One of the most interesting aspects of the house is the curved glass façade on the lower level that is formed to match the turning radius of automobiles of 1929 so that when the owner drives underneath the larger volume they can pull into the garage with ease of a slight turn.

Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier - Facade, Handrail

The living quarters, or the upper volume, are fitted with ribbon windows that blend seamlessly into the stark, white façade, which void the façade(s) of any hierarchy. The ribbon windows begin to play with the perception of interior and exterior, which does not fully become expressed until once inside.

However once inside, there becomes a clear understanding of the spatial interplay between public and private spaces. Typically, the living spaces of a house are relatively private, closed off, and rather secluded. Yet, Le Corbusier situates the living spaces around a communal, outdoor terraced that is separated from the living area by a sliding glass wall.

This notion of privatized areas within a larger communal setting is a common thread later on in Le Corbusier’s housing projects.

Both the lower level and the upper living quarters are based on an open plan idea that provokes the inhabitant to continuously meander between spaces. As an architectural tour de force, Le Corbusier incorporates a series of ramps moving from the lower level all the way to the rooftop garden, which requires the inhabitant to slow down and experience the movement between spaces.

Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier - Sink

Villa Savoye is a house designed based on an architectural promenade. Its experience is in the movement through the spaces. It is not until one becomes familiar with the subtle peculiarities that the movement and proportionality of the spaces evokes a sense of monumentality within the Parisian suburb.

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Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye

“The house is a box in the air,…” Le Corbusier, Précisions (1929)

Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, 1929, Poissy, France (photo: Renato Saboya , CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The Villa Savoye at Poissy, designed by Le Corbusier in 1929, represents the culmination of a decade during which the architect worked to articulate what he considered the essence of modern architecture. Throughout the 1920s, via his writings and designs, Le Corbusier (formerly Charles-Edouard Jeanneret) considered the nature of modern life and architecture’s role in the new machine age. His famous dictum, that “The house is a machine for living in,” is perfectly realized within the forms, layout, materials, and siting of the Villa Savoye. [1]

Located just outside Paris, the Villa Savoye offered an escape from the crowded city for its wealthy patrons. Its location on a large unrestricted site allowed Le Corbusier total creative freedom. The delicate floating box that he designed is both functional house and modernist sculpture, elegantly melding form and function.

Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture (Towards a New Architecture) (New York: Dover Publications, 1923), pp. 134–35

Le Corbusier had been developing his theories on modern architecture throughout the previous decade. In 1920, he founded the journal L’Esprit Nouveau ( The New Spirit) , and many of the essays he published there would eventually be incorporated into his landmark collection of essays, Vers une architecture (Toward an Architecture) in 1923. This book celebrated science, technology, and reason, arguing that modern machines could create highly precise objects not unlike the ideal platonic forms valued by the ancient Greeks. Le Corbusier lavished praise on the icons of modernity—race cars, airplanes, and factories—marveling at the beauty of their efficiency. However, he also argued that beauty lay not only in the newest technology but in ancient works such as the Parthenon , whose refined forms represented, in his view, the perfection of earlier Archaic systems. Le Corbusier sought to isolate what he called “type forms,” which he referred to as universal elements of design that can work together in a system. He found these across time and across the globe, in the fields of architecture and engineering. The many images embedded throughout the text drew striking visual parallels and eloquently expressed his search for modern perfection through universal forms.

Le Corbusier House, Weissenhofsiedlung, 1927, Stuttgart, Germany (photo: Andreas Praefcke , CC BY 3.0)

During the 1920s, Le Corbusier designed a series of houses which allowed him to develop his ideas further. By 1926, he had devised his Five Points of Architecture, which he viewed as a universal system that could be applied to any architectural site. The system demanded pilotis to raise the building off the ground and allow air to circulate beneath; roof terraces, to bring nature into an urban setting; a free plan that allowed interior space to be distributed at will; a free façade whose smooth plane could be used for formal experimentation; and ribbon windows , which let in light but also reinforced the planarity of the wall.

Ground plan (left), first story (center), atrium and roof garden (right), Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, 1929, Poissy, France

The Villa Savoye incorporated these principles, and also realized many of the concepts expressed in Vers une Architecture . Made of reinforced concrete, the ground floor walls are recessed and painted green so that the house looks like a box floating on delicate pilotis. Visitors arrive by car, in true machine-age fashion. The stark white exterior wall, with its strips of ribbon windows, has a remarkably smooth, planar quality. This stands in contrast to the fluidity of the interior, which is organized by a multistory ramp that leads the viewer on a gently curving path through a building that is nearly square. The contrast between the sharp angles of the plan and the dynamism of the spaces inside charge the house with a subtle energy.

Ramp and spiral staircase, Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, 1929, Poissy, France (photo: Scarletgreen , CC BY 2.0)

The ramp winds from the entrance up to the salon, a formal interior space that flows seamlessly into the roof terrace outside. Corbu, as he is also known, treated the terrace as a room without walls, reflecting his desire to fully integrate landscape and architecture. The ramp finally culminates in the curved solarium crowning the house, whose rounded enclosure appears to be an abstract sculpture when viewed from below. Seen from the roof terrace, the ramp and cylinder of the solarium echo the forms of the ocean liners lauded in Vers une Architecture . Le Corbusier and Madame Savoye believed in the health benefits of fresh air and sunshine, and considered leisure time spent outdoors one mark of a modern lifestyle. The Villa Savoye’s integration of indoor and outdoor spaces allowed the family to spend time outdoors in the most efficient way possible—the house was, in a sense, a machine designed to maximize leisure in the machine age.

Solarium viewed from the roof terrace, Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, 1929, Poissy, France (photo: a-m-a-n-d-a , CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The Villa Savoye can be understood as Le Corbusier’s refinement of his architectural system, his own personal Parthenon. Its essential geometric volumes embody his concept of the type form, and its careful consideration of procession and proportion connect the building to Classical ideals. At the same time, its clean simplicity and its use of concrete evoke the precisely-calibrated works of engineering so admired by the architect. The Villa Savoye represents Le Corbusier’s re-conception of the very nature of architecture, his attempt to express a timeless classicism through the language of architectural modernism.

[1] Le Corbusier, Toward an Architecture (Vers une architecture) , translated by John Goodman (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2007), p. 87.

Bibliography

Centre des monuments nationaux

Model at The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Fondation Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture (Toward a New Architecture) (New York: Dover Publications, 1923).

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History of the villa Savoye

Explore the history of a 1930s vacation home just a few minutes from Paris. Commissioned by Pierre and Eugénie Savoye from avant-garde architect Le Corbusier, the Villa Savoye remains an icon of the Modern Movement, and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2016.

A modern cottage

The "house order".

In the late summer of 1928, Pierre and Eugénie Savoye decided to build a cottage on their land in Poissy to spend week-ends with their son and to entertain their friends. They chose an avant-garde architect of some renown, whose work they had discovered with the Villa Church in Ville-d'Avray : Charles-Edouard Jeanneret known as Le Corbusier .

The house was commissioned in a letter signed by Eugénie Savoye. It sets out a number of technical requirements:

electricity,
central heating,
details of room layout,
lighting ambiances,
floor coverings!

And Le Corbusier's family works together! He was assisted in this task by his cousin Pierre Jeanneret.

From plans to delivery

Poissy in 1928, it's the countryside ! The Savoye's land, a grassland surrounded by trees with a view overlooking the Seine, is 7 hectares in size. Le Corbusier decided to touch the environment as little as possible with a house above the meadow : " The house will rest on the grass like an object without disturbing anything ". This idea appealed to the Savoyes, but the initial estimate was too high. Le Corbusier came up with a number of variants, culminating in a fifth and final project that was quite close to the first version.

Imagine, construction began before the final plan was approved ! Fortunately, Le Corbusier was very active on site, helping to bring the project to life.

New materials, especially concrete, and new construction techniques are being tried out. These designs are difficult to grasp for companies still attached to traditional masonry, especially as the ambition to use factory-precast materials is ultimately impossible. Everything was poured or manufactured on site, even the hollow cement bricks that fill the walls!

Le Corbusier didn't just build a house, he created a true " architectural promenade" .

A modern Icon

Le Corbusier's villa Savoye is not just another house, it's THE house. It is the culmination of ten years of research and experimentation. It embodies all 5 points of a new architecture : stilts, free facade, band window, open-plan and roof terrace.

The stilts detach the house from the ground, eliminating the need for load-bearing walls: the upper floor, supported by "pilotis", appears to be "a box in the air". This principle is also known as Dom-Ino .
A long band-window to open onto the panorama: the landscape becomes a veritable painting.
A flat roof to increase living space and install a solarium - a highly innovative feature in 1931 !
A open-plan layout for unrestricted use of interior space, as in the living room with the monumental sliding glass window that replaces the wall facing the interior garden.
Free facades to vary the shape effects: a curved wall protects the solarium from the prevailing winds, while a rectangular opening frames the surrounding greenery.

©notoryou.com

As the world evolves, so does the habitat

All this was made possible by the evolution of materials, such as concrete, which Le Corbusier had been studying since the beginning of his career.

But the villa Savoye is also about integrating the car as a fully-fledged element of the home. Did you know that it was the Savoye's car that determined the shape of the entrance hall and the dimensions of the peristyle !

A prototype without follow-up !

The gardener's lodge at the entrance of the garden of the villa Savoye is also the only example built of the "minimal housing project" designed by Le Corbusier at the very end of the 1920s. A 45 m 2 "mini-villa" for a family of 3, with a sliding partition closing the kitchen in night-mode, or closing the bedroom in day-mode, and built-in storage units under the windows, avoiding wasted space.

So, are you convinced by this Modern Icon?

« The sunny Hours »

Nicknamed "Les Heures claires" ("The sunny Hours") by the Savoyes, the villa Savoye is bathed in sunlight from one corner to the other, captured on all 4 sides by the long bay window that runs the length of the first floor. Rooflights , in the flat roofs create light shafts right into the garage - not exactly idyllic!

Shortly after moving in, the Savoye family noticed that water was leaking into the rooms through the skylights and along the ramp, and that the villa was difficult to keep warm. As time went by, the couple discovered a number of defects, which they complained about in letters to Le Corbusier. These inconveniences forced the Savoyes to visit only on sunny days, as they did in the spring of 1939 for the engagement of their son Roger.

A forgotten house

Oblivion and threats.

After the outbreak of the Second World War, the Savoye couple took refuge for a time in Poissy, before returning to the provinces in May 1940. The villa was requisitioned by the Germans, who used it as a strategic observation point over the Seine valley and the Ford factories during the occupation.

After the Liberation, the American army moved in. At the end of the war, the house was severely damaged, with broken windows, frozen radiators and damaged flooring. When the Savoyes returned to their home in 1945, everything had to be redone! Two years later, they decided to turn the property into a farm, using the house as a storage area. Eugénie Savoye regularly came to collect fruits and vegetables. In the 1950s, the town of Poissy was growing rapidly and needed to create new housing. The agricultural land was the ideal location, and in 1958, the town of Poissy bought the Savoye property with the intention of building a high school on it. While waiting for the project to materialize, the villa was transformed into a cultural space for young people.

A classified house

Concerned by the town of Poissy's plan to demolish the villa, architects mobilized and formed a committee to save it. In 1959, the Minister of Culture, André Malraux, took steps to preserve the villa, which the town sold to the State along with a 1-hectare parcel of land. Restoration work began in 1963, and in 1965 the villa was listed as a Historical Monument. Since then, there have been two further restoration programs and research studies on the polychromy of the walls.

In 2016, 17 sites designed by Le Corbusier, spread over 7 countries and 3 continents, were inscribed by UNESCO on the World Heritage List, including the villa Savoye !

Opening the doors to visitors

In order to improve the conservation and presentation of the Villa Savoye's interiors, a restoration campaign was carried out in autumn 2022. With the same objective in mind, the gardener's lodge is the subject of a new study campaign to define intervention protocols in order to program restoration work.

The villa is open to visitors all year round, with exhibitions and tours for all ages!

Discover the program in our calendar .

INSPIRATION

Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier: A Masterpiece of Modern Architecture

The Villa Savoye , completed in 1931 by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret in Poissy, France, is a landmark in modern architecture and a defining example of the International Style . It is considered one of the 20 th century’s most important contributions to the field and a pioneering embodiment of Le Corbusier’s “five points” of architectural design. The innovative building features a striking blend of functionality, expressionism, and cutting-edge technology, making it a timeless testament to the power of architecture to shape the future.

Villa Savoye Technical Information

Architects: Le Corbusier , Pierre Jeanneret | Biography & Bibliography
Location: 82 Rue de Villiers, 78300 Poissy, France
Client: Pierre and Eugénie Savoye
Topics: Villa , Unesco Heritage , Concrete
Style: Modernism , International Style
Area: 480 square meters / 5,100 square feet
Project Year: 1928-1931
Photographs: © Foundation Le Corbusier, Flickr Users: © Fernando Leiva, © proxectodhabitat, © End-User

A ramp provides gradual ascent from the pilotis, creating totally different sensations than those felt when climbing stairs. A staircase seperates one floor from another: a ramp links them together. – Le Corbusier 1

Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye Photographs

Villa Savoye: The History of an Iconic House

The Villa Savoye was built as a country retreat for the wealthy French insurer Pierre Savoye and his wife, Eugénie. In the spring of 1928, they commissioned the design to the renowned architect Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret.

By the late 1920s, Le Corbusier was a well-established and renowned international architect. His architecture book “ Vers Une Architecture ” gained recognition, and he was a member of the Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM). He was known as a modern architecture champion and was involved with the Russian avant-garde through his work with the Centrosoyuz in Moscow.

In the early 1920s, Le Corbusier emphasized the “precision” of architecture, where every aspect of a building’s design had a specific purpose and fit within the urban context. However, as the decade progressed, Le Corbusier’s approach became more experimental, as evidenced by his urban plans for Algiers and other projects.

The house is a box in the air. – Le Corbusier 2

The Concept Behind Villa Savoye

The Villa Savoye, designed by Le Corbusier, was intended to embody the concept of a “machine as a home,” where the daily functions within it play a crucial role in its design. The driving force behind the design was the movement of cars, which was a passion for Le Corbusier for many years.

The concept also views housing as a standalone object that can be placed anywhere in the world and reflects the influence of transportation design, such as airplanes, cars, and ships, to mass-produce housing.

The supporting pillars on the ground floor further reinforce this idea, and the independence of the Villa from its ground is considered a vital aspect of the first generation of International Architecture.

The Making of Villa Savoye: A Look at its Construction Process

Construction - Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier used reinforced concrete and plastered masonry to build the Villa Savoye. The use of reinforced concrete was a very modern construction method in the 1920s and 30s. Villa Savoye was the vision of Corbusier’s 5 points to a new architecture, including his idea and concept of open plan and free space. This meant that Corbusier needed to use materials with structural integrity.

A French industrialist, Francois Coignet, was the first to use reinforced concrete in construction. He used iron-reinforced concrete to create a four-story house in Paris. However, his intentions in using concrete weren’t to add strength to the building but to prevent the wide, elongated walls from collapsing and falling over. For Corbusier, this allowed him to create a long, horizontal wall that encases the wide windows, giving great structural support. It also gave enormous strength and stability by using reinforced concrete pilotis.

The materials utilized in the Villa Savoye were conventional and commonly used in the construction of houses for lower-class Parisians during that time. Despite the house being designed for the wealthy, simple materials like plaster walls and iron handrails were employed.

The Influence of Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye

Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye (1929–1931) most succinctly summarized his five points of architecture, which he had elucidated in the journal L’Esprit Nouveau and his book Vers une Architecture and had been developing throughout the 1920s.

Pilotis Le Corbusier lifted the bulk of the structure off the ground, supporting it by pilotis – reinforced concrete stilts. These pilotis provided the house’s structural support and allowed him to elucidate his following two points.
Free Facade Non-supporting walls that could be designed as the architect wished.
Open Floor Plan The floor space was free to configure into rooms without concern for supporting walls.
Horizontal Windows The second floor of the Villa Savoye includes long strips of ribbon windows that allow unencumbered views of the large surrounding yard and constitute the fourth point of his system. This is a strength in enjoying panoramic scenery while complementing Western Europe’s climatic weakness, which lacks sunshine.
Roof Garden A functional roof serves as a garden and terrace, reclaiming the land occupied by the building for nature. A ramp rising from ground level to the third-floor roof terrace allows for a promenade architecturale through the structure. Inside, incorporating stylish kitchen floor tiles adds an element of sophistication and practicality to the design, complementing the building’s harmonious blend of functionality and aesthetics.

Progress brings liberation. Reinforced concrete provides a revolution in the history of the window. Windows can run from one end of the facade to the other. – Le Corbusier

The Automobile as a Design Influence

One of the most innovative aspects of Villa Savoye is its incorporation of the automobile into its design, reflecting the significance of car culture in the early 20 th century. Le Corbusier envisioned the villa as a machine for living in, with the car playing a crucial role in this vision. The ground floor of Villa Savoye was designed as a carport, allowing for the seamless integration of the vehicle into the daily lives of its inhabitants. This area was specifically designed to accommodate the turning radius of a 1927 Citroën, showcasing Le Corbusier’s attention to detail and the importance of the car in his architectural planning.

The driveway and carport are integral to the overall experience of the villa, guiding visitors on a journey from the outside world into the heart of the project. The car’s pathway through the building is akin to a ceremonial route, leading directly to the main living areas via a ramp — a feature that highlights the significance of the automobile in connecting the different aspects of modern life. For architects and designers today, Villa Savoye’s treatment of the car and parking areas serves as a powerful source of inspiration, particularly in the design of custom garage door design inspiration that blends functionality with architectural integrity.

The Enduring Impact of Villa Savoye on Modern Architecture

The building featured in two hugely influential books of the time: Hitchcock and Johnson’s The International Style , published in 1932, and F. R. S. Yorke’s The Modern House , published in 1934, and the second volume of Le Corbusier’s series The Complete Works . In his 1947 essay, The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa , Colin Rowe compared the Villa Savoye to Palladio’s Villa Rotonda .

The freedom given to Le Corbusier by the Savoyes resulted in a house that was governed more by his five principles than by any requirements of the occupants. Nevertheless, it was the last time these five principles were expressed so thoroughly, and the house marked the end of one phase of his design approach and the latest in a series of buildings dominated by the color white.

Years later, it was purchased by the neighboring school, and it became the property of the French state in 1958. There were several proposals to demolish the house at that time. However, it was designated an official French historical monument in 1965 (a rare event, as Le Corbusier was still living). It was thoroughly renovated between 1985 and 1997, and the refurbished house is now open to visitors year-round under the care of the “Centre des Monuments Nationaux.”

In July 2016, Le Corbusier’s house and several other works were registered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Villa Savoye Floor Plans and Sketches

Villa Savoye Image Gallery

About Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier, born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (1887-1965), was a groundbreaking Swiss architect and city planner who merged functionalism and sculptural expressionism in his designs. He was a pioneer of the International School of Architecture and used rough-cast concrete for its aesthetic and sculptural qualities.

In 2016, 17 of his architectural works were named World Heritage sites by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), including the Ronchamp Chapel (France), the National Museum of Western Art , Tokyo (Japan), the House of Dr. Curutchet in La Plata (Argentina), La Tourette in Eveux (France) and the Unite d’habitation in Marseille (France).

Full Bio of Le Corbusier | Other works from Le Corbusier

Source: Le Corbusier: The Villa Savoye by Jacques Sbriglio
Source: Precisions: On the Present State of Architecture and City Planning by Le Corbusier, 1930.

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Villa Savoye, one of the most important house designs of the 20th century was designed by two Swiss architects Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret which was completed in 1929 and has paved the way to an effective contribution to modern architecture. The country house is now open to the public showcasing Corbusier’s initial design venture as well as one of the most influential buildings to the modern era.

Sanctuary for Modern Architecture - Villa Savoye, France

Design of Villa Savoye

This villa has shown Corbusier’s precision in architecture as well as the design evolved around the 5 principles established by him:

Pilotis: Le Corbusier lifted the bulk of the structure off the ground, supporting it by pilotis – reinforced concrete stilts. These pilotis provided the structural support of the house and allowed him to elucidate his next two points.
Free Facade: The non-supporting walls, designed as the architect wished.
Open Floor Plan: The floor space was free to configure into rooms without concern for supporting walls.
Horizontal Windows: The second floor of the Villa Savoye includes long strips of ribbon windows that allow unencumbered views of the large surrounding yard and constitute the fourth point of his system. This is a strength to enjoy panoramic scenery while complementing Western Europe’s climatic weakness, which lacked sunshine.
Roof Garden: A functional roof serving as a garden and terrace, reclaiming for Nature the land occupied by the building. A ramp rising from ground level to the third-floor roof terrace allows for a promenade architecture through the structure.

Floor Plans

Corbusier planned the ground floor according to the ratios of the golden section. The plan has set out using the principal ratios of the Golden section: in this case, a square divided into sixteen equal parts, extended on two sides to incorporate the projecting façades and then further divided so as to fix the position of the ramp and the entrance.

The ground floor consists of the main entrance hall, ramp, stairs, garage, chauffeur, and maid’s room. The first floor consists of the master bedroom, the son’s bedroom, guest bedroom, kitchen, salon, and terraces. Also at the second floor has a series of sculpted spaces that form a solarium. This private country residence settles in a sloping meadow surrounded by forest with a magnificent view by the riverside. The house occupies the center of the site also is the fact its leveled upon four pillars where every side and elevation of the house is designed and treated according to the sun’s orientation.

Circulation

Corbusier introduced also circular and elliptical arcs, such as in the staircase and the solarium. The spiral staircase of the villa paves the way to the winds straight up giving access to two cellars. The front of the house bears the front door leading to the main door throwing light on one of the most important elements of the house beside the stairs and that is the ramp. The ramp runs from the bottom of the house throughout the building acting as the spine of the house prolonging this movement from outside inward, and a spiral staircase. The garage which can accommodate up to 3 cars is laid out at a 45-degree angle matching the turning circle of the car. Also, from the solarium, the user can descend the spiral staircase which leads down to the entrance hall.

Spatial Treatment at Villa Savoye

The kitchen is not the sanctuary of the house but is precisely the important space with the living room where it is used the most. The living room is perceived as a closed space that acts as the main room of the house and has huge glass panels which open out to the terrace garden.

The bathroom of the master bedroom shows the villas most exquisite features where it has a rectangular bath clad in 5cm x 5cm turquoise blue ceramic tiles and a concrete reclining chase – long at the edge of the bath which is completely based on the earlier designs that the architect has worked on.

The garden is not placed on the ground but is lifted 3.5m above. Thus it acts as a hanging garden and also paves the way to the landscape of the site. Moreover, the solarium that sited at the top of the house is placed where the ramp ends. It acts as an anchor to the house between the exterior view and the given landscape.

Although Villa Savoye, perceived as a simple design but has a very complex construction perspective. While Le Corbusier was experimenting with new concepts both on a functional and formal level. Those contracted to build the house were still involved in traditional skills and techniques.

Windows of Villa Savoye

The windows that Corbusier has used here are slightly different from the other contemporary design of his where here he highlights horizontal ribbon windows and he often chose timber rather than metal ones. It has been suggested that this is because he was interested in glass for its planar properties and that the set-back position of the glass in the timber frame allowed the façade to be seen as a series of parallel planes.

Colour Palette

The color was nevertheless a strong display of polychromy (the art of combining colors) where Corbusier also states that “a man needs color”. Colour is the immediate, spontaneous expression of life. The Villa Savoye is predominantly white but the two side walls of the garage of the servant quarters. Also, painted dark green to create empathy with the surrounding lawn. A row of slender reinforced concrete columns supports the upper level, which painted white. The lower level is the setback and painted green like the surrounding forest. This is to create the perception of a floating volume above.

Materials of Villa Savoye

The materials used in the Villa Savoye are prosaic materials; such materials were using during this time in building houses for lower-class Parisians. Although the house is designed for the affluent, plaster walls and iron handrails were used. The most frequently used materials plaster walls, green painted plaster walls, and glass.

Recognition

The house was included in the seminal 1932 book The International Style: Architecture Since 1922. This was done by American historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock and architect Philip Johnson. It also coincides with their Modern Architecture: International Exhibition at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

Also Read: Tokyo Garden and House by Ryue Nishizawa

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Villa Savoye et loge du jardinier, 1928

The villa savoye is the absolute icon of the modern movement, immediately recognized as such..

Built on a large plot of unfarmed land (over 17 acres), free of all constraints, the Villa Savoye is in the form of a simple parallelepiped with four equivalent sides, placed on pilotis and covered by a roof terrace on which the more flowing forms of a solarium stand out . The forms are pure, immaculate, universal. The decision to open up an entire bay of pilotis and set back the ground floor, painted in dark green with its mass lost in shadow, accentuates the impression of elevation. The curve of the ground floor is based on the minimum turning radius of a motor car. Motor vehicle traffic becomes an integral part of architectural composition. Inside, distribution and spatial design are defined according to the movements of users along the ramp, giving access to the entire villa from the ground floor to the solarium.

The lightweight effect comes from the purity and perfection of the ideal shape of the prism as represented by the facades, from the absence of a ground floor and the elevation on stilts, as well as the importance given to the glass surfaces. The architecture is further dematerialized by the use of purist polychromy, erasing the texture of the materials and transforming the walls and partitions into sheer coloured surfaces, as in an abstract composition.

The Gardener's Lodge

This is the archetype of minimum housing as presented by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret at the second CIAM congress in Frankfurt in 1929. It displays the same formal principles as the master villa, illustrating the quest for an architecture that is at once universal and without social differentiation. The compact plan, designed for 3 to 4 people, offers only 30 m 2 of living space together with 9.5 m 2 for the boiler room and storage room. Four small rooms accessible through sliding doors are placed on either side of a shared room of 12.7 m 2 . Nothing to compare with the neighbouring mansion’s 400 m 2 on the ground, yet the two realisations have in common their unity of architectural thought.

Roof plan with interior layout, captions and ratings Plan FLC 19414

Conférences de Le Corbusier, 1929 Sketches of Villa Savoye, implantation, perspective, plans, section with mentions Plan FLC 33491

Conférences de Le Corbusier, 1929 Sketches of 4 kinds of house : Auteuil, Garches, Tunis, Poissy Plan FLC 33492

Conférences Le Corbusier, 1929 3 sketches about lighting : Pan de verre, Mosquée verte de la brousse, Villa Savoye Plan FLC 33493

Perspective of terrace with silhouette Plan FLC 19425

Facade study drawing. Elevation view Plan FLC 19653

Perspective view of the villa with surrounding vegetation Plan FLC 31522

Ph. Marius Gravot FLC L2(17)8

Ph. Marius Gravot FLC L2(17)35

The entrance of the villa Ph. Marius Gravot FLC L2(17)61

The living room Ph. Marius Gravot FLC L2(17)98

The kitchen Ph. Marius Gravot FLC L2(17)176

Facade Ph. Cemal Emden

Exterior view Ph. Cemal Emden

Walk under pilotis

The roof garden Ph. Cemal Emden

Ramp, outer side Ph. Cemal Emden

Interior view, ramp and staircase Ph. Cemal Emden

The bathroom Ph. Cemal Emden

The gardener’s house Ph. Bénédicte Gandini

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Villa savoye (1929) Analysis

Architectural Analysis of Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier

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Architect’s Inspiration: The Villa Savoye

The Villa Savoye, by the Swiss-French architect known as Le Corbusier, is one of a trio of modern Europe houses from the early 20th century that have shaped my design sensibility. Along with the Rietveld-Schroder House in The Netherlands, and the Maison de Verre in Paris, The Villa Savoye just outside of Paris, is one of the iconic houses of the Modern Movement.

Designed as a weekend retreat for a wealthy Parisian, the house celebrates the procession of the owners, from Paris, to the property, and up to the house in a motor car. Once inside, the procession continues up the ramp from the entry into the grand living and dining room. The procession can continue on the ramp, which continues outside in a protected terrace, up to the roof terrace, where the owners can view Paris, where they came from, from a protected bench at the top of the house.

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article about open plan design techniques you can learn form the Villa Savoye. What is missing from the descriptions and photographs in the article, and in general, is how effortless the house seems and how nicely, though not extravagantly, it is detailed.

The way that movement is choreographed in this house, part of which I described above, is masterful. Also masterful is the way fairly modest sized rooms (modest considering the wealth of the client) are made to feel so expansive, almost unlimited. Yet at the same time one is never overwhelmed. The scale is very human.

We see sliding glass doors and walls of glass all the time now. But when this house was built, those things basically didn’t exist. Corbusier’s early villas were truly revolutionary. If you think about how dark and constrained the Victorian and Edwardian era houses were, and then look at this light filled house with windows that accentuate the horizontal and the horizon beyond, this house was so very different. It still feels modern and revolutionary. Yet it is also very livable, showing how good design can make even the radical comfortable.

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Le Corbusier – Villa Savoye | part 1, history

By RICCARDO BIANCHINI - 2016-08-05

Villa-Savoye-Le-Corbusier-facade-Inexhibit-02

Villa Savoye, southwest facade, Photo Inexhibit

LE CORBUSIER – VILLA SAVOYE | PART 1, HISTORY

For an architect, visiting Villa Savoye it’s a bit like for a cinema enthusiast to go to Manhattan for the first time and discovering with surprise that it actually exists. Indeed, you have read about it, seen it in photographs, and drawn it, maybe even written on it, hundreds of times, and now you are watching the real thing.

Villa Savoye is widely considered one of the greatest masterpieces of Le Corbusier, perhaps his greatest one. Even if I have personally found the experience of visiting Notre Dame du Haut or the tiny cabanon in Cap Martin possibly more empathic, I must agree that the Villa is still utterly fascinating. Thus, I am pleased to present you with this piece, which is both a short historical essay and an account of a visit.

The commission Le Corbusier (1) and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret were contacted in the spring of 1928 by Pierre Sayoye , a wealthy French insurer (2), and his wife Eugénie who wanted to commission them the design of a country house near Poissy, a small town on Paris’ outskirts.

Pierre Savoye, portrait courtesy of Gras-Savoye

Although the Swiss architect was 41 years old and famous as a theorist and for his speculative projects, he hadn’t built much until then. Therefore, the commission was a unique occasion for him to demonstrate, with a real building and without great economical constraints, the principles he had expressed in his seminal essay Toward an Architecture .

Clients like the Savoyes are probably what every architect dreamed of; they left Le Corbusier largely free to design the house he wanted, only requiring a precise program of spaces and, later on, some changes to reduce costs. The plot of land chosen for the house was a beautiful wooded site about 30 kilometers / 18 miles northwest of central Paris.

It is still not clear if the Savoyes, who had a home in Rue de Courcelles in Paris, simply wanted a country house or were planning to relocate to the new villa permanently. Le Corbusier once wrote that “they wanted to live in the countryside; linked to Paris through 30 kilometers by car” ; other documents, especially letters from Eugénie Savoye to the architect, suggest that the building was possibly intended as a rural retreat rather than a permanent abode.

The Savoye family was from Lille, in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region, and it had no strong sentimental bonds with the French capital, it is then possible that, given the short distance between Poissy and Paris, where Pierre was working, they actually wanted to live in the new house full time or at least to do that when retired.

For sure, in a 1928 letter to Le Corbusier, Eugénie required the house to be easily expandable (I would like that the house could be expanded within some years, without that such expansion would damage it) , thus somehow suggesting that it would become their main residence, sooner or later.

The architectural concept Villa Savoye is broadly considered the best embodiment of Le Corbusier’s Five Points of a New Architecture ( Les cinq points d’une nouvelle architecture ), namely:

– the use of thin columns (called pilotis ) to elevate the building from the ground and create a continuity of landscape at the ground level – the free internal layout ( Plan libre ) that a column-based structure could provide if compared to load-bearing continuous walls made in masonry – the beam-column structure made the facades non-structural , leaving the architect free to design them as pure functional/ aesthetical elements ( Façade libre ) – the inclusion of a habitable flat roof ( Toit terrasse ) to be used as a garden, a solarium, and an “outdoor living room” in the Summer – the adoption of horizontal ribbon windows ( Fenêtre en longueur ) to provide plenty of natural light in the rooms.

Villa Savoye Le Corbusier terrace Inexhibit

The terrace today, Photo Inexhibit

Nevertheless, limiting the innovations made with the Villa to only those elements is somehow reductive. First of all, all five points rely, in one way or another, on the use of reinforced concrete as the preferred construction material, which may seem not that original today but it was so in the 1920s. In the early 20th century, reinforced concrete was still considered more an engineering material than an architectural one; it was mainly adopted in infrastructures, industrial buildings, defensive constructions, and casemates during WW I, and used for civil buildings only by a few architects, including Auguste Perret, Le Corbusier’s mentor.

Yet, to achieve the functional flexibility, Le Corbusier needed for his new architecture, a framed system was necessary; the Swiss architects chose reinforced concrete as the elective material for it, while others, such as Mies Van Der Rohe, preferred steel. Strangely, almost none among the masters of the International Style considered timber as an alternative.

Another important point was the role of the automobile. Motorcar played a major part in influencing the functional layout of the building; a large part of the ground floor was indeed reserved for a garage for three cars and the house included a small apartment for the chauffeur. Le Corbusier himself wrote to Madame Savoye that “it’s the minimum turning radius of a car which defines the dimensions of the house” .

Villa Savoye Le Corbusier from south Inexhibit

View from south, photo Inexhibit

More generally speaking, mechanics and technology were perceived as something extremely positive at the time, something capable to transform a dwelling into a machine-à-habiter (Vers une architecture, 1923), which also explains the attention reserved by both the client and the architect for technical systems, which included state-of-the-art heating, water supply, and artificial lighting. “ Here is the detailed list of the main elements I would like to be included in the country house. I want cold and hot water, gas, electricity (lighting and force), and central heating” (3) ; the “force” was intended to be used for an electric washing machine.

Villa-Savoye-Le-Corbusier-interior-01-Inexhibit

Villa Savoye, the kitchen with original equipment and furniture, photo Inexhibit

Another innovation is the strict relationship between architecture and landscape ; something that doesn’t emerge much in the usual photos of the building but becomes evident when you visit it. I will cover this point later.

PART 2 – THE ARCHITECTURE OF VILLA SAVOYE

1) Le Corbusier’s real name was Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris (b. 1887, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland); he adopted the nickname in the early ’20s as a nom de plume for his writings in the magazine L’Esprit Nouveau and maintained it also as an architect; his paintings were initially signed Jeanneret , thereafter Le Corbusier , or L-C . The nickname and its shortened version Corbu originate from the French word corbeau (raven) as an allusion to the physical aspect of their owner

2) In 1907, Pierre Savoye founded, together with Gustave Gras, the insurance company Gras Savoye . The company still exists and is one of the largest insurance brokers in France, albeit no longer owned by the Savoye family

3) From a letter by Eugénie Savoye to Le Corbusier, June 8, 1928

More about Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier

10 Things you did not know about Villa Savoye

Villa Savoye is located in Poissy, on the outskirts of Paris, France . Designed by Le Corbusier in 1929, it had later become the milestone of modern architecture . The Villa is renowned for its “five points of architecture” – pilotis, flat roof terrace, open plan, ribbon windows, and free facades.

Besides these features, here are a few interesting facts about the house that you should know!

1. Villa Sovoye was almost destroyed in the 60s

Villa Savoye was abandoned during the black years of World War II . Later in the 60s, the community of Poissy suggested building a school at the site of the villa. The construction of the school threatened Villa Sovoye as the community called for the demolition of the house and therefore, fired negotiations between Le Corbusier, the state, and the commune of Poissy. Luckily, the voices of scholars around the globe twisted the fate of the villa. Now, it had become Poissy’s state property and had registered as one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

2. The orientation of Villa Savoye

To prevent direct sunlight streaming inside Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier worked on the orientation of the house. In his design, the 4 facades of the house are facing north-east, south-east , south-west, and north-west respectively. Neither side is facing the east and the west, where the sun rises and sets.

3. The Pilotis appeared in Le Corbusier’s Previous Design

Villa Savoye was renowned to be one of the best examples featuring the ‘five points of architecture’, however, the pilotis, one of the features, was not the first time to appear in Le Corbusier’s design. In 1922, he first presented the concept of pilotis in his second prototype of the Citronhan House exhibited at the Salon d’Automne. One year later, Le Corbusier applied it for the first time into his building named the La Roche House, and soon, Villa Savoye.

4. Multi-functions of the Pilotis

While some see the pilotis as ordinary weight-bearing pillars, Le Corbusier used them in a better way. Applying the pilotis, Le Corbusier defined 3 porticos at the lower level of the house and creating a shaded area. In fact, not only are the pilotis used to play with light and shadow, but they are also made to create an illusion – a floating box! Since the porticos are darker in colour, the white mass above becomes sharper in contrast. Therefore, the house looks like a huge mass that can defy gravity.

10 Things you did not know about Villa Savoye - Sheet1

5. A Dialogue between Classic and Modern Architecture | Villa Savoye

Although Le Corbusier intended to build a modern house, he took the reference to elements of the classical buildings. The pilotis of Villa Savoye are termed “pentastylepilotis”, it means a total of 5 pilotis per façade . Looking at these pilotis, do they remind you of edifices of the baroque period?

10 Things you did not know about Villa Savoye - Sheet2

6. Contrasting design between the interior and exterior

At first glance, Villa Savoye is just a white symmetrical mass standing on a grass field, articulated with strips of ribbon windows, everything looks repetitive and ordered. However, when we entered the house, a different visual experience was presented. Walking through the main entrance, we will see a curved glass wall on either side of the door. And behind the door is a space where Le Corbusier termed it “the vestibule”. It is a space where an elegant spiral staircase can be seen. All these curves introduced fluidity to the interior which contrasts with the exterior squared mass.

7. Facts about the Spiral Staircase

The spiral stairwell in the vestibule reminiscent of the exterior staircase of the studio-house was designed in 1922 for the painter Ozenfant. Moreover, in Le Corbusier’s first proposal, the staircase was not intended to be built in a curved shape. In fact, the original design was a staircase parallel with the ramp of the house’s axis. As the staircase ascends in one direction in a similar fashion to the ramp, the visual variety was not as high as the latter design.

8. Breaking the Tradition Spatial Arrangement of a House

“ Architectural buildings should not all be placed upon axes, for this would be like so many people talking at once.” Instead of linking the different spaces with an axis, Le Corbusier designed rooms with different sizes and shapes that articulate with each other. Besides, Le Corbusier applied a free plan in Villa Savoye, where less weight-bearing walls but columns were used instead. As a result, visitors can walk around the building more freely.

<i> </i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Architetturaxtutti</span></i>

9. Using Sunlight to Define Spaces

The second floor of Villa Savoye is being divided into a public zone and a private zone. The public zone is made for social interaction, including a living room , kitchen, and pantry. When people arrived on the second floor, they will first land on a lobby that is bathed in sunlight. The bright and warm sunshine penetrates through the ribbon windows and windows facing the garden-terrace, creating a welcoming atmosphere for visitors. The light then continues to flow and reaches the living room, kitchen , and pantry. These areas are located in the north-west façade of the house, and therefore, are filled up with natural lighting. Moving across the living room, we arrived at the private zone – bedrooms. Located along the north-east and south-east sides, these bedrooms are relatively darker than the public zone during the daytime.

10. Application of Ramps inside a House | Villa Savoye

“A ramp provides gradual ascent from the pilotis, creating different sensations than those felt when climbing stairs. A staircase separates one floor from another: a ramp links them together.” A ramp allows us to ascend smoothly and gradually to the upper level, like a fish swimming in the water, experiencing every bit of space.

<i> </i><i><span style="font-weight: 400;">Pinterest</span></i>

Reference book: Sbriglio, J. (2008). Le Corbusier. The Villa Savoye . Berlin, München, Boston: DE GRUYTER.

Josephine Pun is a student who is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Architectural Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Being a storyteller, journal and photography are channels that she uses to express her unique perception of architecture. Read her articles and experience architecture without leaving your couch!

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Class of 2017

Daup architecture studios i & ii, villa savoye.

Villa Savoye

Student: Amal Hourani

– Architect: Le Corbusier

– Client : Savoye Family

– Location : Poissy, France

– Context: Rural or Suburban Villa

– Architectural Style: Modernist

– Climate: Temperate

The Villa is designed by Le Corbusier, and it is considered one of his best known buildings.

Construction Time: 1928 – 1929

Unlike the confined urban locations of most of Le Corbusier’s earlier houses, the openness of the Poissy site permitted a freestanding building and the full realization of his five-point program.

Villa’s facade faces the north west direction

It was designed addressing Corbusier’s emblematic “Five Points”, (the tenets in his new architectural aesthetic):

The Five Points of Architecture:

-Pillars [slender columns] -Flat Roof Terrace -Open Plan -Ribbon Windows -Free Façade [free of structural members]

pure color, surface painted white, to indicate purity, newness and health.

The concept is to have the building landed on a landscape and to be totally autonomous, it can be placed anywhere in the world. The concrete pillars supported his concept, elevating the building from the earth offering independence from the garden and allowed an extended continuity of the garden beneath.

An early and classic example of the modern style”, which hovers above a grass plane on thin concrete pillars, with strip windows, and a flat roof with a deck area, ramp and spiral stairs for transition between floors, and a few contained touches of curvaceous walls with a very open interior plan.

The four columns in the entrance hall seemingly direct the visitor up the ramp. This ramp, that can be seen from almost everywhere in the house continues up to the first floor living area and salon before continuing externally from the first floor roof terrace up to the second floor solarium

ramp leading to the roof

Strip windows provide nice view of landscape

: Materials

.Reinforced concrete, plaster walls and iron handrails are used

.Unlike his contemporaries, Corbusier chose to use timber windows rather than metal ones

.The materials used, concrete and plaster provided smooth surfaces and texture

Plans, Elevations, Sections

The plan was set out using the principal ratios of the Golden Section: in this case a square divided into sixteen equal parts, extended on two sides to incorporate the projecting facades and then further divided to give the position of the ramp and the entrance.

Golden Section Ratio

Ground floor performing as service floor, having garage with capacity for three cars on the right of the plan,and spiral stair case that leads to the first floor

East Section

West Section

http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Villa_Savoye.html

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/Corbu.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Savoye

http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/Villa_Savoye

http://www.archdaily.com/84524/ad-classics-villa-savoye-le-corbusier/

http://www.archiplanet.org/wiki/Villa_Savoye

case study final vila savoye le corbusier

Case Study Final vila savoye le corbusier

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Page 1: Case Study Final vila savoye le corbusier

Villa Savoye 1929-31Le Corbusier 1887-1965Case Study - Daniel Morrissey

Page 2: Case Study Final vila savoye le corbusier

One of the last of Le Corbusier’s purist villas, and the last of his four compositions, the Villa Savoye (named “Les Heures Claires” by Le Corbusier)1 is recognized as the most faithful to his five points of architecture: “the columns [pilotis], the roof garden, the free plan, the long window, the free façade.2”

Designed and constructed between 1929 and 1931 the Villa Savoye (the Villa) has become an icon of Le Corbusier’s ideals and methodology. This unique building is focused on Le Corbusier’s ideas of how space should be arranged and experienced.

As the last purist villa, the Villa is Le Corbusier’s attempt to reconciliation between the Platonic attributes of nature and man.3 He deliberately raises the first floor off of the ground so that it (as Le Corbusier put it) will be out of the wetness and damp of the earth, raising its gardens as well to provide healthy and dry garden space.4 While Le Corbusier seeks to separate nature from his machine for living, in a way liberating the Villa from its environment, he does design the villa to be about the view from the inside to the outside, primarily via the use of the long horizontal windows to re-embrace the nature that is removed from the Villa by the spatial level changes. His planned hanging gardens also demonstrate the need to control how nature interacted within and with the structure. This ordered scripting and selective disconnect from nature ties into the concepts discussed by David Orr is his article Ecological Design and Human Ecology. Rather than separate man from nature via technology, Orr proposes that nature and technology can co-exist and we must try to get a deeper connection to nature. Orr further proposes that design that does not integrate nature will ultimately fail.5 Does Le Corbusier fail in these respects? Le Corbusier is careful to tie the building to the landscape, the horizontal windows emphasis the ground plane, while the rooftop gardens do bring in nature. Perhaps they are scripted, but Le Corbusier

Page 3: Case Study Final vila savoye le corbusier

emphasized minimal impact to the site in his design in an effort to preserve the beauty he saw in the nature located on site. The building space is also not completely devoid of its relationship to nature and ecology.

The exterior of the lower level is roughly equal in proportions on all sides, de-emphasizing the front and rear. The building is approached on an old roadway that comes at the villa from the side, hiding the full view until one is upon it. The drive wraps around the lower level through the pilotis, creating a scripted entry path that leads to the entry and Le Corbusier’s architectural promenade that runs through the building interior.

This architectural promenade is in the ramp that extends between the floors from the lower level to the rooftop solarium and also mimicked in he spiral staircase that complements the ramp. This promenade creates a unique series of viewing moments as one rises through the structure. This prescribed routing allows those experiencing the space to experience it in a “series of partitions of infinite space.”6 The infinite space that one is seeing is bounded and defined by the structure and geometry of the building. Le Corbusier allows glimpses outward that allow the interior to flow out toward this infinite space.

Le Corbusier incorporated the ramp because “…one rises imperceptibly by means of a ramp, which is a completely different sensation from going up a flight of stairs. A staircase separates one floor form another; a ramp connects.”7 This ramp is an important element as it is dynamic

Previous Page: Le Corbusier Sketch of Four Compositions, diagram of overlapping spacesTop: Circulation Diagrams of Villa SavoyeRight: Perspective Floor Plans, Lower Main and Roof Levels

Page 4: Case Study Final vila savoye le corbusier

and serves as an important contrast to the house’s inherent horizontality. The ramp also allows a sense of moment through the structure; this is an important relationship to the observer that has become vital to modern architecture.8

While the pilotis are present, they do not dominate the interior and instead offer a method of adding interest in the building by “bursting into view, in the form of columns rising awkwardly in the middle of the room, or just clear of the wall.”9 Le Corbusier has found a way to relegate this structure to being seen but not being intrusive to the spaces of the interior, utilizing it to add walls where he wants according to his dictates.

Le Corbusier pays particular attention to the inside and outside space. He carefully incorporates the terrace and solarium into the structure so that they flow into the inside space and vice versa. The spatial flow of the building, being organized around the ever-climbing promenade orients and directs through the space. These elements, along with Le Corbusier’s balance of dynamic and rectilinear elements brings a character to the building

Below: Main Entry looking from Ramp, Layer efeect of rampsRight: Terrace looking out from Living Room, Terrace looking into Living Room, Solarium

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that sets it apart from any other. This character helps to establish it as a place. As Norberg-Schulz points out in his Phenomenon of Place, character and space come together to create a spirit of place.10 The character or atmosphere created by Le Corbusier creates an environment that continually surprises and draws one in. With such strong character and clever employment of boundaries.

The Villa Savoye is truly a space for generating sensory experiences. The textures, materials, colours and methods of emphasis of the horizontality, such as the built in ledges, juxtaposed with the upward climb of the ramp and staircase combine to create an atmosphere that draws the visitor through the space. This sequencing is not unlike that being examined by the Bauhaus during the same time period. The Bauhaus was examining the global space of architecture.11 They focused on moving around the object in space and tying this to a temporal sequencing to allow for a new consideration and consciousness of space. Now doubt Le Corbusier influenced or was influenced by or simply knew of the research that the Bauhaus was working on and incorporated some of their ideas into the Villa Savoye. Comparisons with Mies van der Rohe’s work of the time can be drawn. Le Corbusier was using the structure to allow for the façade to be reduced and relegated to a screening function, lending to a feeling of the structure being lighter or weightless, a principle heavily looked at by the Bauhaus.12

The space created by Le Corbusier in the Villa Savoye is indicative of the feeling that modern architecture strived to accomplish. A space that was global, yet connected on some plane with nature and the site. The approaches taken were fresh and unique and were a culmination of Le Corbusier’s work in this style.

Right: Interior Ramp looking from lower floor, Ramp up to solarium

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Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye is an exploration in the use of primary form. It has been described by William Curtis as an industrial extension of Laugier’s first typology,13 the form of the primitive hut (as discussed by Vidler, this typology is concerned with the rationalization of nature). Myself, I feel that the Villa Savoye tends to fall into the second typology that is concerned with production techniques.14 I say this because Le Corbusier was concerned with manipulating the pure geometric form and utilizing new mass production techniques to make a final form. While it is true that some of the forms Le Corbusier used required shaping by hand, overall his work, and the Villa Savoye is included in this, falls into the second typology.

Le Corbusier incorporated the structural ideals from the Maison Domino, called the Domino Structure it is characterized by planar slabs connected by a dogleg staircase. In the Villa Savoye, a ramp was added to the mix, allowing for a form with a dual role of being meant to be viewed while simultaneously allowing for viewing Le Corbusier’s architectural promenade as it flows upward travelling inside and outside from the ground floor to the solarium. Colin Rowe saw these structural details of the Villa Savoye and Maison Domino as modern symbols of emancipation carrying

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implications of social liberty.15

Le Corbusier started with a cubic volume and eroded elements to create the final form. The Villa Savoye uses rectangles, cylinders, and cubes to fill in the voids created by his erosion of the overall cubic volume (which is actually stretched along one axis making it a rectangular volume). By carving out the volume Le Corbusier creates a form that appears to float above the horizontal plane, one that draws a person into the building. This exterior form accommodates the preferred and intended method of travel into the building, the automobile, by carving out the lower level sides to form a driveway that is contained under the upper level and informs the lower level exterior wall as it wraps around in a semi-circular pattern that is based on the turning radius of the car as it follows its predetermined path from the drive, around the entry and to the garage.

Intentionally leaving voids within the wall spaces and roof meant that he could open the structure up to frame the surrounding environment. The top of the ramp to the roof garden illustrated this point quite well. As one looks up the ramp, they are presented with a void in the wall. This void was intended as a window for Le Corbusier’s original idea to locate the master bedroom on the topmost level, but by leaving it in Le Corbusier uses this void to frame the top of his architectural promenade and allow it to extend outward

Right: Section Progression Through Villa Savoye, emphasizing the formBottom: View through solarium window at top of ramp, framing view to outside

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from the physical form into the environment. Rooftop windows form voids in the ceiling that are employed to bring light into the structure in calculated spots to create specific pools of light, such as in the master bath.

Le Corbusier’s treatment of windows on the exterior belays his attention to the detail and treatment of the overall form. While most of his contemporaries were using steel framed windows he chose to instead use wood framed windows to allow for the glass to be pushed nearer the edges and to allow the wall to be seen as a series of parallel planes.16 As Le Corbusier himself said: “To evoke attention, to occupy space powerfully, a surface of perfect form was necessary first, followed by the exaltation of the flatness of that surface by the addition of a few projections or holes creating a back and forth movement. Then by the opening of windows (the holes made by windows are one of the essential elements of the reading of an architectural work), by the opening of windows an important play of secondary surfaces is begun, releasing rhythms, dimensions, tempos of architecture inside the house and outside.”17

Le Corbusier would often create interplays of light and shadow. He uses light and shadow to bring the forms he uses to life. As in painting, dark lines can be used to frame or outline elemental forms, Le Corbusier also inverted this relationship, using light instead of dark to bring emphasis to the form. Using gaps around the form he refutes the structural characteristics and load bearing capabilities18 making the presence of the primary form both more intense and more on a human scale.

Top Left: Villa Savoye South ElevationTop Right: Light from rooftop skylight reinforcing form in bath-room

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The Villa Savoye was the culmination of Le Corbusier’s experiments in his five points utilizing pure geometric forms. He was a master at blending these forms together to create a unique spatial experience through his use of form. He emphasized these forms with combinations of parallel planes, light, shadow and void. His work typifies the modern ideals of the pure geometry, and the machine for living, (aside from his nod to the Doric order with his columns, and some other minor details) but is it truly successful? Experientially I believe it is, as it is a very livable layout that exemplifies the use of primary form while being aesthetically pleasing, however, there were problems that arouse from designing with the purity of modern geometry and using mass-production techniques.

The primary forms of the Villa Savoye combine to create a unique sensual form that provides a truly unique experience as one travels through it. These forms work together in the harmony of the massing, light and shadow he creates by eroding and combining the forms. While it is a prime example of the purist approach of modernism (though not so much as his later work, or that of Mies Van Der Rohe), it also shows us that modernism has its faults and drawbacks and was not the end state that it was desired to be. Architectural form is constantly evolving and dynamic and cannot be constrained to one simple style.

Left: Form Analysis of forms formed by floor plan layout

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The body is our entry into a space. It allows us to project ourselves into that space, gain sensory input from the space and the process the feedback we get from that space into an experience. The way space is designed affects us as human beings. Le Corbusier’s approach to engage the body is by stimulation of the senses. He wrote that it was “possible to ‘hear the visual proportion’ of a building, ‘taste’ a column with his ‘eyes’, and so on. His eyes awaken sensations in his mouth. His hands awaken his eyes.”19 While the Villa Savoye may not go as far in some of these sensual experiences as some of his later work, there are nonetheless attempts to engage the body within the Villa Savoye. To engage and draw in the body in the Villa Savoye Le Corbusier uses five main approaches: visual, tactile, auditory, rituals and furniture.

Corbusier frequently uses framing as a way to project the body into the space and also out from the building into the site. He frames openings and passages so that space is projected outward from the individual. This allows the body to feel the multiplicities of the spaces as a whole unified space. The architectural promenade that is made up by the ramp in the Villa Savoye takes this framing to a different

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level. It creates visual moments where multiple levels are experienced simultaneously. These junctions of levels create a visual layering of the levels, allowing one to be in multiple planes, while remaining human scaled due to the ramp. Colour is another of Corbusier’s preferred methods of visual interaction. Corbusier uses bright colours to draw the eye’s gaze into the depths of a room. Combined with lighting (natural and reflected), the colours create a richness that is enticing and pleasing to the eye.

Corbusier uses surface materials and their texture to create tactile feedback for the user. Using a combination of rough and smooth surfaces, the building comes alive. This

Left Clockwise: Framed levels and door scales viewed from ramp, hallway showing how view extends through space, formed seating in bathroom, framed view of sky from rampway on rooftop level, space extending through dorways across structure, opening door to find expansion of space to nature outside.

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treatment of texture is akin to giving the building a skin, leading to a psychological response that allows the building to “dramatize… the visitor’s relationship to and participation in the architectural space by the creation of a sympathetic bond between visitor and sculpture.”20

Corbusier’s use of different materials allowed him to make auditory differences between spaces. This allows for one to not just visually experience the volume of a room but hear the volume as well. The way echoes reverberate off glass or other materials lends a feeling of enclosure or release, leading to a very sensual and personal experience with the building.

To further tie the body into the space, Corbusier incorporated ritual. The sink in the entry level is symbolic

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of this; it implies the ritual of washing when entering the space, belaying a sacredness of the space that requires one to cleanse themselves before entering. Rituals ties to our habits and customs, they are deeply personal and this incorporation of ritualistic spaces places the body emotively into the space as well as physically.

Corbusier’s primary means of engaging the body was through his furniture design. He designed the furniture to accept the body and place it into a state of rest and relaxation. His original furnishings were designed to complement the building and enhance the integration of the visitor and the building. One built in element of this is also to be found in the master bath. Here Corbusier created a place for the body to relax after bathing, the shape conforming to the body and holding it, allowing maximum engagement and experience.

These five areas, while not exhaustive, demonstrate that Le Corbusier incorporated somatic details that would envelope and draw in the body. While he continued to perfect his techniques later on, the Villa Savoye does show the signs that even in his villas he was concerned with how the body would interact with the building in a meaningful way.

Opposite Top: Diagram of body/built in integrationOpposite Bottom Left: Entry Sink, place of ritual cleansingOpposite Bottom Right: Furniture in-situ, also bold colour of wall used to ground roomBottom: diagram of key view lines through window/door/corridor

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Early Sketch by Le Corbusier, showing completeness of concept for Villa Savoye from the beginning, indicative of his method of conceiv-ing the building as a whole

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The Villa Savoye was the culmination of ten years of Le Corbusier’s research into the “reconciliation between the Platonic absolutes, nature and man.”21 It was the last of his villas to follow his purist ideals. His paradigm revolved around the ability to justify every element as if they were part of a single solution. He felt every element had to be justified in terms of urban and individual terms, they all had to fit and have purpose. His use of the standardized unit, the domino, and pure geometric forms, underpinned his villa designs. After the Villa Savoye, he started to experiment with more freeform design, indicating a shift in his methodology and approach to architecture. This means that the Villa Savoye can indeed be seen as the culmination of his work in the 1920’s toward standardization and the definition of the “certainties of machine age architecture.”22 As Le Corbusier himself said: “The architectural idea is a peremptorily individual phenomenon, inalienable. It is good to push an idea to a state of purity.”23

Corbusier had been developing his methodology that was used in the Villa Savoye during the previous ten years, it can be seen to incorporate his tenements for purist architecture, the pilotis, the long horizontal windows, the roof garden and the clean pure free façade and the architectural promenade. Unlike his previous villas, there were no constraints to his exploration at the site in Poissy, as it was an idyllic setting, this allowed Corbusier to put the fullness of his methodology into action, resulting in the Villa Savoye and hence, why it is also the culmination of his purist inquiries.

Le Corbusier was interested in the incorporation of the automobile into the pedestrian circulation of the building, as such he explored how to incorporate this idea into the Villa Savoye and was quite successful, designing the lower level to accommodate the automobile and deposit the pedestrian into the structure. He also ensured that the main habitation was off of this ground level entry, demonstrating his ideal of the habitation occurring above the ground leaving opportunity to contemplate nature as you look down into it. Therefore, his approach of raising the ground level allowed him to further push by moving the automobile around the structure, whilst being covered by the structure, allowing the automobile to become an important part of the building experience, a novel idea at the time. Moving to the roof level, the garden serves as a viewing platform, linked between urban man and nature at his feet by the ramp24 (which also plays on the movement of the automobile). Le Corbusier envisioned all these elements coming together to form one cohesive whole.

Le Corbusier meant for his architecture to be experienced on foot, hence why he utilized the ramp, as it allows for a developing articulation of architecture. This viewpoint is central to another of his methodologies at play in the Villa Savoye, the architectural promenade. The promenade flows through all the levels of the building, winding inside and outside beginning with the drive and ending at the rooftop garden (although there is a framed view at the top of the ramp that allows the body to be projected back into the nature of the site, far beyond the building itself).

Corbusier combined these elements of his research as described to create a building that is greater than the sum of its parts. He carefully considered the building as a whole and made sure that it was justifiable and clear in intent (more or less). Setting out to create a unified whole that would capture the imagination and facilitate the body living in the modern world, Corbusier pushed his purist ideas to their fulfillment (or at least as far as he saw necessary to produce the full intent of his methods) and created what still today is seen as one of his best masterpieces – The Villa Savoye.

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1 Benton,Tim. The Villas of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret 1920-1930. Basel; Boston: Birkhäuser, 2007. pp. 183

2 Meier,Richard. Villa Savoye, Poissy, France, 1929-31. Global Architect. 13, Yukio Futagawa. Tokyo: A.D.A. EDITA, 1972. pp. 2

3 Benton,Tim. The Villas of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret 1920-1930. Basel; Boston: Birkhäuser, 2007. pp. 183

4 Baltanás,José. Walking through Le Corbusier : A Tour of His Masterworks. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005. pp. 56

5 Orr,David. Architecture, Ecological Design and Human Ecology. In: The Green Braid: Towards an Architecture of Ecology, Economy and Equality. K. Tanzer and R. Longorio. Routledge, 2007.

6 BanHam, Reyner. Space and Power. In: Age of the Masters. Architectural Press, 1975. pp. 51

7 Baltanás,José. Walking through Le Corbusier: A Tour of His Masterworks. London: Thames & Hudson, 2005. pp. 63

8 BanHam, Reyner. Space and Power. In: Age of the Masters. Architectural Press, 1975. pp. 51

10 Norberg Schulz,Christian. The Phenomenon of Place. In: Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965 - 1995. Kate Nesbitt. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996.

11 Lefebvre, Hernri. The Production of Space. In: Architecture Theory since 1968. K. Michael Hayes. MIT Press, 1998.

13 Curtis, Willaim. Le Corbusier: Ideas and Forms. London: Phaidon Press, 1999. pp. 43

14 Vidler, Anthony. The Third Typology. In: Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture. Kate Nesbitt. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996. pp. 261

15 Rowe, C. The Architecture of Good Intentions. London: Academy Editions, 1994. pp. 57

16 Ford, E.R. The Details of Modern Architecture. Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1990. pp. 241

17 Le Corbusier. Precisions on the Present State of Architecture and City Planning. Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1991. pp. 73

18 Samuel, Flora. Le Corbusier in Detail. Oxford: Architectural Press, 2007. pp. 107

19 ibid. pp. 44

20 ibid. pp. 42

21 Benton,Tim. The Villas of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret 1920-1930. Basel; Boston: Birkhäuser, 2007. pp. 183

22 ibid. pp. 184

23 Le Corbusier. Precisions on the Present State of Architecture and City Planning. Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 1991. pp. 134

24 Benton,Tim. The Villas of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret 1920-1930. Basel; Boston: Birkhäuser, 2007. pp. 187

Photos: from above texts, http://www.bluffton.edu/~sullivanm/france/poissy/savoye/corbuindex.html, http://www.flickr.com/photos/monceau/3758871108/, http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonykerr50/134284402/in/set-72057594115889236/

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Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier
Situated in Poissy, a small commune outside of Paris, Villa Savoye is one of the most significant contributions to modern architecture in the 20th century. Completed in 1929, Le Corbusier's ...
Smarthistory
Throughout the 1920s, via his writings and designs, Le Corbusier (formerly Charles-Edouard Jeanneret) considered the nature of modern life and architecture's role in the new machine age. His famous dictum, that "The house is a machine for living in," is perfectly realized within the forms, layout, materials, and siting of the Villa Savoye.
Villa Savoye, Paris: A Radiant Manifestation of Modernist Luminosity
Modernist Pinnacle by Le Corbusier Villa Savoye, designed by the visionary architect Le Corbusier, emerged during the 1920s and 1930s, a period marked by radical shifts in architectural philosophy. Completed in 1931, the villa became a manifestation of the "Five Points of Architecture" proposed by Le Corbusier, emphasizing principles that ...
History of the villa Savoye
The agricultural land was the ideal location, and in 1958, the town of Poissy bought the Savoye property with the intention of building a high school on it. While waiting for the project to materialize, the villa was transformed into a cultural space for young people. Villa Savoye, angle des façades sud-ouest et sud-est.
Villa Savoye and Maison A Bordeaux Case Study
In both cases, Villa Savoye and Maison A Bordeaux exhibit bold qualities of unconventional structural methods, functionality and spatial hierarchy. The following case studies highlight the ...
Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier: A Masterpiece of Modern ...
The Villa Savoye, completed in 1931 by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret in Poissy, France, is a landmark in modern architecture and a defining example of the International Style.It is considered one of the 20 th century's most important contributions to the field and a pioneering embodiment of Le Corbusier's "five points" of architectural design.
Sanctuary for Modern Architecture
1127. Villa Savoye, one of the most important house designs of the 20th century was designed by two Swiss architects Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret which was completed in 1929 and has paved the way to an effective contribution to modern architecture. The country house is now open to the public showcasing Corbusier's initial design venture ...
Villa Savoye et loge du jardinier
This is the archetype of minimum housing as presented by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret at the second CIAM congress in Frankfurt in 1929. It displays the same formal principles as the master villa, illustrating the quest for an architecture that is at once universal and without social differentiation. The compact plan, designed for 3 to 4 ...
Le Corbusier's Five Points of Architecture
The Villa Savoye is arguably Le Corbusier's most significant contribution to modernist architecture and epitomizes all principles of his Five Points of Modern Architecture. Situated in Poissy , it was constructed from 1928-1931 and commissioned by Pierre and Eugénie Savoye, who granted Le Corbusier and his collaborator, Pierre Jeanneret ...
Le Corbusier
The architecture of Villa Savoye In plan, the house is based on a precise square grid marked by 25 columns, while in elevation the grid becomes rectangular. In late 1928, the horizontal grid, and by consequence the whole building size, was scaled down from 5 to 4.75 meters on a request by the client worried (not without reasons) that the final ...
Architecture Analyses of Le Corbusierâ S Villa Savoye
One of the most famous houses of the modern movement in architecture, the Villa Savoye is a masterpiece of Le Corbusier's purist design. It is perhaps the best example of Le Corbusier's goal to create a house which would be a "machine a habiter," a machine for living (in). Located in a suburb near Paris in 1929, the house is as beautiful and ...
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A Look at Villa Savoye. Villa Savoye was one of the most famous structures designed by the noted Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier alongside his cousin Pierre Jeanneret (although it is the former who is better known as the architect of this and many other structures around the world). The structure is considered to be one of the foremost ...
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Villa Savoye's preservation lent validity to the government's nascent effort to protect early modernist buildings. The analysis of the process by which the Villa Savoye was established as a monument to early Modernism com-plements the recent historiographic reworking of the house. This scholarship has counteracted earlier studies that
(PDF) Villa savoye (1929) Analysis
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Le Corbusier
The company still exists and is one of the largest insurance brokers in France, albeit no longer owned by the Savoye family. 3) From a letter by Eugénie Savoye to Le Corbusier, June 8, 1928. History of Villa Savoy: client's commission to Le Corbusier, initial concept, the five points of new architecture, use of concrete and role of technology.
10 Things you did not know about Villa Savoye
1. Villa Sovoye was almost destroyed in the 60s. Villa Savoye was abandoned during the black years of World War II. Later in the 60s, the community of Poissy suggested building a school at the site of the villa. The construction of the school threatened Villa Sovoye as the community called for the demolition of the house and therefore, fired ...
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Case Study Final Vila Savoye Le Corbusier
Case Study Final vila savoye le corbusier - Free download as PDF File (.pdf), Text File (.txt) or view presentation slides online. vila savoye poissy le corbusier case study final architecture about this building five principes 1929 1931
Villa Savoye
The Villa is designed by Le Corbusier, and it is considered one of his best known buildings. Construction Time: 1928 - 1929. Site: Unlike the confined urban locations of most of Le Corbusier's earlier houses, the openness of the Poissy site permitted a freestanding building and the full realization of his five-point program.
Case study assignment villa savoye by Muhammed Bişken
villa savoye. le corbusier form body technique space evda 621: introduction to design theory leslie vikse. i nd ex. p . 1 -6. le corbusier. fo r m. Born in 1887 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland ...
Case Study Final vila savoye le corbusier
Villa Savoye 1929-31Le Corbusier 1887-1965Case Study - Daniel Morrissey. Space. One of the last of Le Corbusier's purist villas, and the last of his four compositions, the Villa Savoye (named "Les Heures Claires" by Le Corbusier)1 is recognized as the most faithful to his five points of architecture: "the columns [pilotis], the roof ...

Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier

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Villa savoye (1929) Analysis

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