Simple minimalist retreat and village house that has become an icon - The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement 1321
What and Why
Other than natural and cultural heritage, the UNESCO WHS also honours a number of artists, in particular architects, who has profound influence to human civilisation. As mentioned in the earlier blogs, this list includes Luigi Vanvitelli, Frank Lloyd Wright, Antoni Gaudí i Cornet, Victor Horta and Le Corbusier (né Charles Jeanneret). Amongst them, if you count the sheer number of sub-sites or the number of countries these works are involved, Le Corbusier is definitely the star and leader of them all, and in particular the Villa Savoye is an exemplary of all his works.
In 1920 CE, the young French architect Charles Jeanneret adopted Le Corbusier (an altered form of his grandfather's name, Lecorbésier) as a pseudonym in an architectural journal, reflecting his belief that anyone could reinvent themselves. Adopting a single name to identify oneself was in vogue by artists in many fields during that era, especially in Paris.
Early in his career, Le Corbusier developed a set of architectural principles that dictated his technique, which he called 'the Five Points of a New Architecture' (French: Cinq Points de l'Architecture Moderne). These five points are:
Pilotis – Replacement of supporting walls by a grid of reinforced concrete columns that bears the structural load is the basis of the new aesthetic.
Free designing of the ground plan in the absence of supporting walls , hence providing unrestrained use of the interior.
Free design of the façade, separating the exterior of the building from its structural function.
Horizontal window, which cuts the façade along its entire length, lights rooms equally.
Roof gardens on a flat roof can serve a domestic purpose while providing essential protection to the concrete roof.
These five points formed a manifesto for Le Corbusier and dictated the wave of architectures for the subsequent decades. They are written in his book Vers Une Architecture (Towards An Architecture). Villa Savoye is almost a signature illustration of these five points as they are clearly shown. This tiny villa has become an icon for Le Corbusier and has profound influence to future architecture and urban planning projects for the next half a century.
See
The villa is definitely the most famous of all Le Corbusier's works and is often used to illustrate his manifesto. Some essential features are the strong rectangular elements in the modernist-minimalist exterior. Nevertheless, it was the last time these five principles were expressed fully together, as well as being the last in a series of buildings dominated by the colour white.
The Savoye family approached Le Corbusier, who was already very famous, about building a country home in Poissy in 1928 CE. Other than an initial brief prepared for a summer house, space for cars, an extra bedroom and a gardener's lodge, Le Corbusier had literally a free canvas to execute his own architectural aesthetic ideologies. The whole project cost FRF 500,000 ₣ (former French franc), which was enormous at the time for a villa house.
From a modern point of view, this villa is not that interesting anymore and is kind of bland when this kind of building has been replicated all over the place. The value of this is more of its iconic heritage than real beauty and specialty.
Getting There and Around
Drive, Poissy has nothing else to see. Poissy used to be city of engine-manufacturing fame. The entrance fee into the villa is EUR €8.
UNESCO Inscription
Chosen from the work of Le Corbusier, the 17 sites comprising this transnational serial property are spread over seven countries and are a testimonial to the invention of a new architectural language that made a break with the past. They were built over a period of a half-century, in the course of what Le Corbusier described as “patient research”. The Complexe du Capitole in Chandigarh (India), the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo (Japan), the House of Dr Curutchet in La Plata (Argentina) and the Unité d’habitation in Marseille (France) reflect the solutions that the Modern Movement sought to apply during the 20th century to the challenges of inventing new architectural techniques to respond to the needs of society. These masterpieces of creative genius also attest to the internationalization of architectural practice across the planet.
References
Комментарии