1.0 Introduction

1.1 Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier, also known as Charles-Édouard

Jeanneret-Gris, was a Swiss-French

architect, designer, painter, urban

planner, writer, and one of the pioneers

of what is now called modern

architecture. Le Corb’ basically design

his building based on his 5 points of

architecture, which is piloti, a free

facade, an open floor plan, ribbon windows, roof garden.

Le Corbusier built 75 edifices in 12 countries and took

on 42 major city-planning projects. He left behind 8000

drawings, more than 400 paintings and pictures, 44 sculptures

and 27 tapestry cartoons. He also wrote 34 books, totalling

some 7000 pages and hundreds of articles. He gave lectures

and has left behind some 6500 private letters, in addition to

his voluminous business correspondence.

Curutchet House, 1949-1953, Maison Jaoul, 1951, Villa

Savoye, 1928, Villa Stein de Monzie, 1926-1928 are some of

his works which with Villa Savoye showing the most of his five

points of architecture.

Le Corbusier once said “Architecture is the masterly,

correct and magnificent play of volumes brought together in

light”.

1.2 Villa Stein de Monzie

Villa Stein de Monzie was built between 1927 – 1928 at

Garches, France. This villa consists of four floors. With

1150m2 in area and 4230 m3 in volume. This luxurious space

was designed for Michael Stein, his wife, Sarah and Gabrielle

de Monzie. It is the first full exemplification of Le Corbusier’s 5

principles which he had introduced. This villa is surrounded by

gardens. (Le Corbusier, by Jean-Louis Cohen, publisher:

Taschen)

1.3 Tadao Ando

Tadao Ando is an architect

which learns and shaped the form

of his building by learning from

others by himself. He had various

careers, including professional

boxer, before he became a self-

taught architect and opened his

own practice in Osaka in 1969.

In the 1970s and ’80s, he executed a series of mostly small-

scale, often residential buildings in Japan such as the Azuma

House in Osaka and the Koshino House in Ashiya.

Tadao Ando first became interested in architecture when he

had accidentally read and got inspired by Le Corbusier’s book.

1.4 Koshino House

The building is build between the year 1980-1984 laying in

Ashiya, Kobe, Japan. It is built in a residential area, suburban, in

the hills of the city. It has an area 242 m2. The house is organized

into two parallel bodies, joined by an underground passage.

"The house, by Tadao Ando for the designer Koshin, is a

veritable maze of lights and shadows. Like Barragan, the architect

seeks to reconcile the tenets of international modernism with

tradition and landscape, in this case, Japanese. So , The House

Koshin is an example of contemporary architecture built in two

parallel wings that barely interrupt the landscape. "

.

2.0 MASSING AND FORM

Loh Khai Jhung

0318908

2.0 Massing and Form

2.1 Introduction

Villa Stein was one of Le Corbusier earlier works. Le

Corbusier used piloti which is one of his 5 points of architecture into

this building to allow the free façade to be possible. As for design

concept, he started off with an ordinary shape, a cube, and then

slowly transforms the solid feeling of the cube into a more pleasant

and more persuasive form. Holding strongly to his concept, order,

he uses an ordinary form for the architecture. By adding in order-

representing elements like proportions, repetition and rhythm, it

created a disciplined feeling on the façade of this building.

The form of one building can be divided into many

categories such as shape, size, colour, texture, position, orientation

and visual inertia. (Ching, F., 1979)

For shapes, this villa consists mainly of square and

rectangle. The usage of these shape instil a turgid and strong

feeling to the viewers from the exterior. (Ching, F., 1979)

For sizes, this villa consists of 4 floors with each functional

space with the similar function have similar volume of space.

(Ching, F., 1979)

For colours, Le Corbusier uses only white on the exterior

walls with black metal bars. This is to suppress the over usage of

colours which will steal the identity of the strong villa. (Ching, F.,

1979)

For texture, Le Corbusier introduced white plaster on the

exterior to show the unity of the façade as to signify purity,

innocence and light. (Ching, F., 1979)

For position, this villa is located between faunas and above

a green empty grass land. It’s not only fulfil the clients’ request to be

more intimidate with the environment but also created a strong and

turgid structure in the middle of mother nature which blended

completely well with the surrounding yet bring a strong aesthetic

feeling to the viewers. (Ching, F., 1979)

For orientation, The 2 corner of the villa is facing directly to

the East and West. Combining with the shapes and from of the

structure, it provided maximum natural lighting from the sun. (Ching,

F., 1979)

For visual inertia, this villa’s fixed and ordinary form created

a strong and stubborn characteristic which it holds hits ground

strongly on that specific location. (Ching, F., 1979)

Figure 2.1 Villa Stein de Monzie

Shapes and forms like circle, oval, cubical were inserted

into this villa which can be seen from plans and elevations.

From front elevation, an ordinary rectangle is obtained along

with the repetition of the windows, the symmetry view and the a: b:

a: b: a proportions of the placement those utilities

From back elevation, the shape of the building is the same

with the front but there is an extended staircase from the 1st floor

into the garden on the ground floor breaking the symmetry and

covering up the proportions of the villa.

From ground floor plan, a piano-like shape was found being

the surface of the walls, there’s also a spiral staircase which breaks

the turgidity feeling of the rectangle shape of the plans.

From 1st floor plan, a piano-like shape void is introduced to

connect the space between 1st and the ground floor. A bow-shape

wall was also used to separate the dining and the living area.

From 2nd floor plan, a narrow corridor with both sides of the

walls bended slightly outward the corridor to expand the feeling that

the narrow pathway produce, balancing the odds.

From 3rd floor plan, a nearly-perfect-oval was used as the

solarium area on the terrace to break the fix from of 90 degrees

shapes, providing a more unique characteristic to this villa.

Figure 2.2 Floor plans of Villa Stein

In the following analysis, the characteristic of Villa Stein de

Monzie is compared with Tadao Ando’s Koshino house. The work

established the aesthetic Ando would continue throughout his

career as an essentially Modernist, coming out of the tradition of Le

Corbusier’s experiments. (Zukowsky, J., 2014)

Tadao Ando is an architect which learns and shaped the

form of his building by learning from others by himself. He had

various careers, including professional boxer, before he became a

self-taught architect and opened his own practice in Osaka in 1969.

In the 1970s and ’80s, he executed a series of mostly small-scale,

often residential buildings in Japan such as the Azuma House in

Osaka and the Koshino House in Ashiya. In these early

commissions, he used beautifully detailed reinforced concrete walls,

a form that gave his buildings a massive, minimalist appearance

and simple, contemplative interior spaces. Similar with Le

Corbusier’s experiments with concrete, his work is also rooted in

the spirituality of Japanese architectural space. Ando’s structures

were often in harmony with their natural environments, taking

advantage of natural light in a dramatically expressive way.

(Zukowsky, J., 2014)

Due to the similarities these two master architects hold and

the fact that Tadao Ando really learn and extract a lot of ideas from

Le Corbusier’s work, it is reasonable why by comparing these two

architecture together can further emphasis each of their

characteristics and advantages. Before going into the comparison,

brief knowledge of Koshino house within the field of massing and

form is needed.

For shapes, this house consists of 2 rectangles and semi-

sphere-like structure. The usage of these shape instil a turgid and

strong through the large span on the site. (Ching, F., 1979)

For sizes, this house consists of 3 bodies and has altogether

2 floors. The structure is not large itself but the placement on the

site used quite a large area. (Ching, F., 1979)

For colours, the Koshino house was left with the natural

colour of the cured concrete. The dullness and plainness of the

concrete enhance the aesthetic feeling of the strong characteristic

of concrete. (Ching, F., 1979)

For texture, the house was left with the natural texture of

concrete. This is to maintain the hardness of the concrete in the

structure. (Ching, F., 1979)

For position, The buildings are always situated in respect

with the existing nature and composed around the natural elements

in order to disturb the natural elements as little as possible. That’s

why the Koshino house was built into the slope. (Ching, F., 1979)

For orientation, it is north south orientated. By opening up to

the south. The north side is more important than the south side,

emphasising the importance of the studio in Koshino house. This is

a typical Japanese concept. (Ching, F., 1979)

For visual inertia, the house minimal ornamentation and

plainness of the exterior created a strong and stubborn

characteristic which it holds hits ground strongly on that specific

location. The house was built into the slope to further enhance the

stubbornness. (Ching, F., 1979)

2.3 Comparison

By comparing the massing and form of this villa with Tadao

Ando’s Koshino House which he used some of Le Corbusier

concept, we were able to separate this villa with the other building

and learn how the mass and form of this villa make it so special.

In massing, Tadao Ando used multiple structures in the Koshino

House to represent largeness, turgidity and strong by enlarging the

surface of the plan, creating a larger span, but on the other hand,

Le Corbusier uses a different approach. He used only a single

structure but in a solid cubical form with also represent turgidity and

strong.

For Le Corbusier’s villa, it is a simple form which is located

on a plain field which did not blend well with the surrounding but

something that pops out from the landscape. But for Tadao Ando’s

Koshino House, the form of the structure is similar but the way he

put it on the site which blended with the landscape brings a different

feelings to the viewers. To sum it up, Le Corbusier’s villa sits on the

site, but Tadao Ando’s house sits with the site.

Moving into the transformative techniques each of them

used. Le Corbusier used a variety of transformation techniques

from additive, subtractive to dimensional transformation.

Dimensional transformation is to use the plane of the cube as the

walls of the villa. This is to maintain the identity of the cube using

the plane even though the cube has been subtracted. Subtractive

transformation is to cut out some parts of the cube to form a new

form. Additive transformation is to add new spades or form into the

cube which he added a staircase to connect the surrounding with

the villa itself. Whereas Tadao Ando used minimal transformation

but replace it with multiple structures which fulfil the uses of space.

The transformation technique was also used to create more space

in the villa by Le Corbusier but Tadao Ando used multiple structures

instead but the way it sits on the slope also create the connection

between the house and the surrounding. There were no specific

entrance created by Tadao Ando but rather than door, he created

large opening using subtractive transformation to showcase the

entrance. Le Corbusier used the hanging canopy to emphases the

entrance instead.

As for the symmetrical element which both Villa Stein de

Monzie and Koshino House possess, Le Corbusier balance the

structure using proportion while Tadao Ando balance the structure

using distribution. From the façade of Villa Stein de Monzie, the

used of ribbon windows and the careful placement of the doors,

windows, terraces and openings tidy up everything balancing the

structure from its elevation view; Tadao Ando balance the structure

by distributing the larger rectangular shape structure to a side and

the other smaller structures to the other side, balancing it from the

main staircase in the middle of the whole plan. By utilizing the

landscape, both Le Corbusier and Tadao Ando were able to

emphases their point of view. As people approach the Villa Stein de

Monzie, the façade became their first sight of the building; as

people approach the Koshino House, the plan became their first

sight of the building because they approach from the higher side of

the hill.

2.4 Conclusion

The order concept was largely used in Roman and

Greek architectures as their architectures show the beauty of

columns and proportions. To be frank, they invented the art and

beauty of order. As the “order” concept can be obtain in most parts

(plans, elevations, etc.) of architectures during that time, however in

Le Corbusier’s Villa Stein de Monzie, this concept is only obvious in

the elevations. He emphasized that this villa is an exercise which

the exterior of the villa is secondary to the space and functional

elements.

A lot of Tadao Ando works have the characteristic similar to

Le Corbusier’s because Tadao Ando admired and learn a lot from

Le Corbusier. But despite this fact, there were also some

characteristic of their works which separated them from each other.

Both of them like to use simple forms but in different manners. Both

of them did not ornament their façade to keep the initial identity of

the form but yet the way they separate the spaces and connect it

again with the surrounding is distinct. To sum it up, the form of Le

Corbusier’s villa is more to sitting on the site, but Tadao Ando’s

house is more to sitting with the site.

References:

- (Ching, F. (1979). Architecture, form, space & order. New York:

Van Nostrand Reinhold.)

- (Zukowsky, J. (2014). Andō Tadao. Encyclopædia Britannic)

3.0 THE EXTERNAL FAÇADE

Goh Yen Nee

0315551

3.0 The External Facade

3.1 Introduction

Source: http://imgbuddy.com/villa-stein-de-monzie.asp

The building of Villa Stein De Monzie is located at the

suburbs of Paris in France which is surrounded by the forests that

have a lot of trees. This building is completely built in the year 1927

which the client is the family Stein that are always lived in the urban

area of Paris. They wanted to have a more quiet and relaxing area

that are move out from the busy life in urban area when they get

older but still could able to get to the centre of Paris for daily goods.

Basically, Le Corbusier built and designed this building based on

his five points of concept in architecture which are the piloti, free

facade, free plan, long horizontal of ribbon window and the roof

garden.

Source: https://mollyizattarchitecture.wordpress.com/2012/09/30/ad-classics-koshino-house-

tadao-ando/

Next, the Koshino House have been selected to be the

comparison analysis of building between the Villa Stein De Monzie.

The Koshino House is designed by the famous Japanese architect,

Tadao Ando and it is located in the Ashiya city that is between Kobe

and Osaka. Tadao Ando built the Koshino House which is a holiday

home for a fashion designer in the year 1980 with two parallel

rectangular blocks at first. Another curved element is added to the

building in the year 1983. Tadao Ando was getting interested in

architecture when he had accidentally read and inspired by Le

Corbusier’s book.

3.3 Comparison between Two Façade Buildings

Symmetry is occurred when the element is equally turned

into two sides that same in size and shape after getting cut or fold.

The overall of the building seems to be not a symmetrical during the

first sight but actually the element of symmetry is placed randomly

in different ways and various parts of the building that made the

building is arranged accordingly that brings out the concept of

proportions. Le Corbusier had used the five points in architecture

and the concept of proportions for the building design of Villa Stein

which also fulfil the requirements from the client. As you can see

from the elevations of Villa Stein below, it accommodates the

symmetrical parts in a vertical direction that occurred in every each

part of the building. Most of the symmetrical elements can be seen

through the front façade of Villa Stein. The long horizontal

arrangement of windows are obviously in the symmetrical way

which is same with the bottom window and the balcony that give a

sense of order to the building. You could also find out the element

of symmetry through the parts of surrounding building such as the

garage on the left side and the windows on the right side below.

Combination of many symmetrical element that are different in

shape and size had made a totally one symmetrical façade in

overall of the building. The other side of the building exterior also

used to be have the elements of symmetry but it is less powerful

and strong as the front facade of the building. On the other hand,

Koshino House is used to be a symmetrical forms with two different

size of rectangular concrete boxes that are arranged in a parallel

way during the year 1980, However, it turned into an asymmetry

element when there is a second renovation to the building which the

circular segment is added into the building and thus becoming the

third element of the building after three years later. Asymmetry is

defined as the sides of the element are not equally in size and

shape when they get cut or fold into half. The picture below shows

the composition of several different buildings is connected and

linked by the covered corridor that turned out the element of

asymmetry based on the overall forms of the building.

Front façade of Villa Stein

highlights most symmetrical

elements.

Source: http://www.timmaier.com/files/architectuuranalyse.pdf

Additional of curved element to

the building give an asymmetry

façade.

Source: http://www.smartdad.club/gallery/tadao-ando-koshino-house-plan.html

The Stein couple had requested to have more light to the

building of Villa Stein as they like to show their artworks that

collected by themselves in an open space. Therefore, Le Corbusier

had designed a very open and highly transparency building for

them. You could directly find out that there is lots of windows in

almost all the façade of the Villa Stein and this is not only occurred

in this building but mostly of the architecture that is designed by Le

Corbusier. This highlight the concepts that he used when design a

building which are the light, space and order while this three

elements are also included in the Villa Stein building. Through the

back façade of the building, it emphasize the highest transparency

to the house between the other façade as it contains many long

rows of windows which is big in double size compared other

windows that are arranged horizontally in the order way. This give a

more open character and light to transmit into the house. Based on

the five points in architecture, Le Corbusier had used the iron frame

with small and long glass elements which represents the concept of

ribbon window to give an enclosed character at the ground floor of

the front façade building. Comparing with Koshino house, Tadao

Ando is more concern on the concept of lighting and shadows that

enter to the building with a strong concrete structure. However, the

building is different with the Villa Stein that have a very high

transparency facade as he designed the wall and ceilings of

Koshino House with narrow slits. A limited of light that enters

through narrow slits in walls and ceilings creates an emptiness of

shadows and beautiful space in the house. Large and enclosed

concrete structure with some large windows that facing to the

courtyard from the living room creates a feelings of connection with

the nature. Even though the strong concrete surface of the building

could give an enclosure feelings to people, but Tadao Ando had

designed that there will be enough amount of lights and winds

passing through the building which reducing the feelings of

enclosed that surrounded by the hard and solid wall. Pictures below

show the shadows that create by limited of lights passing through

from the long narrow slits in the corridor which highlight the concept

of lighting to the building.

Long and large row of windows at the back façade transmit lots of

light.

Source: http://www.timmaier.com/files/architectuuranalyse.pdf

Narrow vertical

slits that apply at

the concrete wall

of Koshino House.

Source: www.sfu.ca/~ckl27/Portfolio/Design/Slides/KoshinoSlides.pdf koshino house.pdf

The main component that used on the both buildings are

also different but both form a feeling of harmonious to the building

based on the material that used. The key element that used by Le

Corbusier in design which create a strong character to the Villa

Stein facade is the white plaster. The white plaster is typically well

known to be used by the master of modern architecture, Le

Corbusier. Therefore mostly all of his designs in architecture are

found in using the white plaster as the key material to his buildings.

By using the material of white plaster to the main structure of the

house, it strongly gives a feeling of one unity and become an only

one hard solid element even though there are a lot of various type

of elements that used in every each part of the facade. On the other

hand, Tadao Ando had used the concrete as the main material to

the Koshino house. The concrete walls of Koshino House are

constructed as a block-like grid and each of the block is having

holes for the passage of light into the building. The using of

concrete to the façade produces an illusion of beautiful and smooth

textile surface rather than giving the feeling of just a heavy and hard

structure.

White plaster is used as the main structure for Villa Stein

.Source: http://www.timmaier.com/files/architectuuranalyse.pdf

Concrete façade

of Koshino

House.

Source: http://adobeairstream.com/art/fifa-in-montreal-framing-design-in-films-on-art/

Through the analysis that made between this two buildings, both

also have some similarities that occurred in the building. Both

masters of modern architecture also emphasize the concept of

lighting to the buildings but in the different way. Le Corbusier

applies a higher transparency with lots of windows to transmit more

light into the villa based on the requirement from the client. Tadao

Ando had designed a narrow of vertical and horizontal slits to the

wall of the Koshino House that brings the amount of light passed

through the slits and it produces a beautiful scenery of shadows in

the spaces.

Besides, both of the architects are also aware on the

principle of nature and bring them to be part of the integral into the

design of architecture. They have a great respect to the nature and

thus their buildings are situated with the existing nature. They also

use natural elements to the building so they could protect the nature

from getting destroy as little as possible in order. Villa Stein is

situated at the suburb area that surrounded with a lot of trees that

give a feeling of blending with the nature. Le Corbusier had

included one of the five points which is the roof garden into the Villa

Stein. He had also brought the nature inside the villa at the first floor

terrace. Based on the Japanese traditional architecture, Tadao

Ando always design and built his buildings by using natural

materials as the main component to the buildings. Like, Koshino

House is built by using concrete which emphasize a natural

appearance that remains the original colour and creates a smooth

surface. The building is blend with nature as it partially placed into

the sloping ground of a national park carefully so that it would not

disturb the existing trees on the site.

Villa Stein De Monzie is in contact with nature as it placed in the

middle of forests with many trees surrounded.

Source: http://www.viewpictures.co.uk/Details.aspx?ID=133331&TypeID=1

Picture shows that Koshino House is blend with existing nature

Source: http://www.archdaily.com/tag/tadao-ando/

3.4 Conclusion

To overall the analysis on both façade of the buildings, different

perceptions have different opinions to the building. Le Corbusier is

the master of modern architecture that design the flat façade of the

Villa Stein based on the concept of proportion and the five points

that made it arranged accordingly and in order. However, Tadao

Ando had created a clear and simple appearance with a unity

feeling to the Koshino House that focus on the lighting and shadows

elements even though it looks more rigid compared to Villa Stein.

Not only that, he encourage in using some very basic and massive

material that are environmental friendly to the nature like concrete

which use mainly for the structure of the Koshino House.

References:

-http://www.timmaier.com/files/architectuuranalyse.pdf

-http://imgbuddy.com/villa-stein-de-monzie.asp

-http://www.viewpictures.co.uk/Details.aspx?ID=133331&TypeID=1

-www.sfu.ca/~ckl27/Portfolio/Design/Slides/KoshinoSlides.pdf

koshino house.pdf

-Tan G-Ming, M. (2010, July 1). Sweetlittlething~. Retrieved June 8,

2015, from

http://mariehadalittlelamelamb.blogspot.com/2010/07/perception-in-

architecture-analysis-of.html

-AD Classics: Koshino House / Tadao Ando. (2012, September 29).

Retrieved June 8, 2015, from

https://mollyizattarchitecture.wordpress.com/2012/09/30/ad-

classics-koshino-house-tadao-ando

-Allen, K. (2014, September). Spotlight: Tadao Ando. Retrieved

from ArchDaily : http://www.archdaily.com/tag/tadao-ando/

-Ando, T. (2002). The Spirit of Modernism. (R. Ivy, Interviewer)

2015 Dodge Data & Analytics. Retrieved March 23, 2015, from

http://architect.architecture.sk/tadao-ando-architect/tadao-ando-

architect.php

4.0 Component and Elements

Alexander Chung

1003A78541

4.0 COMPONENTS AND ELEMENT

4.1 Introduction

This essay aims to compare the two building from different

architects. The reason of compare the two architects is because

Tadao Ando was inspired by Le Corbusier to interpret it in his own

fashion. According Villa Stein early proposal, it proposes the main

site forces and theme of the emerging design. Le Corbusier was

given the opportunity from the client to build a number of modest

and not-so-modest houses, putting his design theories into practice.

At Garches, he designed the Villa Stein. The primary living floor is

at the piano-nobile level, and the floor turns into a rich porch. The

regularly spaced structural piers permit freely curving interior

partition, while continuous bands of horizontal windows extend

across both the north and south facades. The end height are to a

great extent clear for him, it was viewed as a model for rather

contract rural parts, where the neighboring houses would make

gathering dividers. The major building proportions were based on

Palladio and determined by the Golden Section, the “regulating

traces” being included in the published elevation drawings.

Arrangements of the Villa Stein demonstrate the aftereffects

of the domino framework in a rural estate. The dividers don't

fundamentally adjust to the segment bayous, and the edge divider

can be infiltrated anytime.

Villa Stein de

Monzie by Le

Corbusier

1927 Garches/

Vaucresson near

Paris France.

The Koshino House is situated in Ashiya city, between Kobe

and Osaka, at the foot of the Rokko Mountains. This is second

realization of Tadao Ando; it was completed in two phrases (1980-

1981 and 1983-1984).

It was originally the house consisted of two parallel

rectangular volumes, built in 1980. The volume with the entrance

contains a living room, a kitchen and two guestrooms. The other

lower volume, slightly lower on the hill contains a series of room,

where the last two are Tatami rooms. Three years later, a curved

volume component was added at the upper side of the house. It has

master bedroom. The three spaces are connected with a corridor

that is situated under the ground and not visible from the outside.

This house is combination of all fragments of Tadao Ando’s

Architectonical vocabulary, mainly the light.

4.3 Analysis and Comparison

In the Villa Stein design process, he formulated his famous

“Five Points Toward a New Architecture” that are parts of

component in this building; which became a canonical work of

modern architecture. They are:

1. The supports, also called as pillotis, are precisely calculated,

spaced regularly, and used to elevate the first floor off the

damp ground

2. The flat roof or roof garden is used for domestic purposes

such as gardening play, and relaxation thereby recovering

all the built-upon ground for outdoor activities.

3. The interior walls, independent of the support system, can

be arranged in a free plan.

4. The horizontal windows, made possible by the support

system, assure even illumination from wall to wall and admit

eight times as much light as a vertically placed window of

equal area.

5. The facade also independent of the structural support, it can

be freely designed using the unobstructed surface of the

exterior, which can be left entirely open to face a terrace or

glazed extensively for maximum light and ventilation.

Initially situated at the edge of a major dry close Etang de

Saint-Cucufa, a timberland loaded with trees, and indigenous

habitat. Encased by different structures on the other three sides.

The house is the first full embodiment of these standards. As

requested by point 1, the structure of the Villa Stein contains three

solid floor chunks; a framework of sections backings them. The

sections structure coves, with 3.50 meters or 11'5" interims in a

bearing and rotating interims of 5 and 2.5 meters (8'3" and 16'6") in

the other. The supporting structure is therefore separated from

every single other part of the building, consequently expanding the

configuration alternatives. This arrangement of section upheld

structures likewise permit the cellar to be abstained from, or the

building is to be raised over the ground as in a large portion of Le

Corbusier's ensuing venture later on.

In contrast, Koshino house undergo the design process where

the implementation of the project adopted a rather special

procedure. For external fragmentation and indoor unit, it emphasize

on 3 volumes, 3 heights, and 3 collections. Implanted home non-

parallel to the boundaries of the land. The diagonal layout effective

in increasing the linear frame, and thus avoids building an additional

floor. It manifests itself primarily in the plan by the non alignment

three volumes and different vacuum values that separate View of

the exterior, mainly the entrance, The Koshino House three blocks

appears completely dissociated, independent. The unity of the

building, expressed usual facade, is found here in plan and buried.

It therefore includes the house as inside. The natural terrain hides

the spaces linking these three divisions. Whereas the liaison hidden

by the natural terrain areas.

For Villa Stein, in light of Le Corbusier point 2, the idea of

having the south half if the highest section in the Villa Stein is a

rooftop porch ensured at either end by screen dividers. Its most

sculptural component is a circular tower, additionally called as

solarium, was initially proposed to hide as water tank. It is open by

a winding staircase from room; it served as a post or watchtower

from which to appreciate the visual nature of Paris out yonder. The

top floor is committed in totality to adequate patios. A rectangular

window opens toward the front of the house yet more windows

spread generally into the greenhouse.

Contrast with Villa stein, Tadao Ando utilized steel rail as a

part of such a route as to propose a convention dry greenhouse,

generally as the faintly lit hallways inside, evoked the conventional

dim insides, topped the level rooftop. License regular light through

restricted openings in the roof. Taking after the slanting of the

ground, he guides its long more open south veneer. It additionally

constrains visual of the field towards the cove: and the house turns

its country byways, making between the volumes of shut spaces

themselves close, for example, the internal course.

In Villa Stein, the steel staircases, together with the railings

around the opening over the third floor patio, make a quick

relationship with a watercraft deck. It reflects Le Corbusier's 5

focuses propose what has turn into a most noteworthy development

of advanced building design, the open arrangement. Unhindered by

bearing dividers, the space between the floor and roof pieces allows

any course of action of subdividing parts. White mortar is most

predominant material utilized on the divider. By utilizing it the house

alludes as one solidarity and one strong component.

In Koshino house, it is not symmetrical, with the parts not

masterminded correspondingly indistinguishable on both sides of

the focal pivot. It makes a feeling of balance by the game plan of

two arrangements of types of diverse size and shape. The staircase

in the center goes about as the line of symmetry and both sides

have lopsided parity.

In Villa Stein, most of the partitions for these spaces fill within

the orthogonal grid of the columns, which they often incorporate.

The curved walls introduced on all floors echo the pure, taut forms

in Le Corbusier’s paintings of the period. The orientation of space

above mentioned can’t be achieve without the column interval with

their emphasis on the central bay suggest a Palladian rhythm. The

reappearance of the same 2:1:2:1:2 ratio or A: B: A: B: A on the

exterior is somehow of a surprise, since in his last two points Le

Corbusier had proclaimed in the independence of the façade, where

the structural supports removed to the interior, the design of

facades is limited only by the requirements of the rooms. This

compact regular framework reduces the energy level and degree of

fragmentation of the other scheme and successive design. Both

main facades of the Villa Stein are elaborate compositions. They

contain the long ribbon windows Le Corbusier had declared to be

the most efficient source of daylight for any room. Ribbon windows

are running on the outer wall. Long strip windows need an

equivalent continuous space. Harmonize the continuum of windows

and space. Divided into 2 different zones, contrast with the form of

the horizontal continuous windows in both the rear and entrance

facade.

Arranged symmetries and volumetric emphasizes guide the

guest towards the primary passage, which is ensured by gigantic

yard. The rotation of straightforward and strong groups gives the

façade vertical beat. The veneers are given further request by what

Le Corbusier called the directing lines that focus their general

association. For instance, the stair leading from the second floor

terrace to the garden parallels the imaginary diagonal that

intersects the rectangle of the façade; and because the vertical line

of the central bay interrupts the stair before it reaches ground level,

Le Corbusier in his preliminary drawing provided a grass mound as

footing that replaced by conventional landing in the future. The

larger area forms a square that, repeated identically on the front,

shows a symmetrical arrangement of the hall window and the

garage door on either side of the service entrance. White plaster is

most dominant material used on the façade and wall. By using it the

house refers as one unity and one solid element. Innovative and

complete denial of constructive structure in the image presented by

the façade, and the renunciation of constructive order associated

with modern. Horizontal strip windows celebrate assertive

independent.

In Koshino House, the structures are separated in a more

private and a more open part. The further you investigate into the

building the more security it gives. The division is in connection to

the matrix of the development. A passageway that is arranged

under the ground and not obvious from the outside unites the three

volumes to one another. The hallway flanks a yard and has an

atelier that is totally underground. A bend is included the future to

counter the rectilinear plan. This crescent shape atelier is adjacent

to the living room. It creates a strong contrast to the rigid

composition of the two existing bodies; and completes the entire

composition. Combine with Vertical slot windows in the flanking

concrete walls. Widely used to make large glass windows

throughout the house, to permit light and the use of zenithal light in

the living room, and offer view to the garden.

The exteriors react quietly to changes in light, which indicates

dynamic methodology; henceforth it responds contrastingly

accordingly with geometry. It underscores profundity and strength of

the dividers and communicating light and wind cuts cut off from the

outside. Negligible trimming utilizing light and makes concentrate on

article. Square like framework, every piece having six-uncovered

opening produced using formwork. Brilliant covering makes

homogeneous surfaces. The structure is apparent from inside and

outside, there is no dubbing. Tadao Ando has preferred to coat

insulation through the roof and the floor under the lower floors. The

temperature inside the frame is a minimum comfort. The concrete is

as a flat wall holes punctuated by a frame. The concrete slabs

module is set to the size of a tatami (0.90X1.80m). The concrete

has a significant amount of reinforcement (seismic regulation) and

several (indoor lighting) at the end of construction, concrete is

sanded and dusted, a water-repellent coating maintenance every 2

years. For constructive system in Koshino House, in the building

that contains the bedrooms, the floor tiles are all in the same

direction on the walls. Concrete sails ensure the stability of the box;

it is braced by a longitudinally bearing wall 20cm thick. In the other

building and in the workshop, one notices the presence of rolled

beams. This allows the skylights. Thus they support the roof the

spin beam located at the entrance of the kitchen door on the upper

level floor and allows the opening between living room and kitchen.

From the street, the Villa Stein now appears as a cube,

because the rest of the façade is hidden behind the gate lodge and

trees. This concept is Cubism, to express the contemporary

“geometric spirit”. As one approaches the house, the dominant axis

appears to shift, its to wards the center, emphasized by the

penthouse balcony opening, then toward the main entrance under

its canopy. As for the topography, through the years the area

surrounding Villa Stein got more crowded with other residential

houses and villas. Natural character of the area remained because

of the green and trees in the neighborhood area.

Koshino House concentrate on the nature is essential piece of

Architecture, as it permits an incomplete internment of three

volumes to the field. The geology methodology is from above and

gives the guest an aggregate perspective of the arrangement of the

house. As per the width of the field, whence the shape or bend

level, was the answer for stay away from a precarious slant of the

plot. Between the structures there are squares that unite the

structures with nature. In this squares the nature is dependably a

conceptual structure of an immaculate perfect, so the mindfulness

turn out to be more concentrated.

4.4 Conclusion

In summarise, the perceptions of different generation have

different opinions to the building as Le Corbusier later work has

transform into orgnaic architecture. The five points that applied in

this building are compliment with the cubism, which complete the

component. However, Tadao Ando direct the light in all its projects.

In the house Koshino, the light pace and split the space in two

sequences. At the first level reigns the light, in the second

darkness. This distribution corresponds separation of day / night.

Tadao Ando focus not only the form, but he also treat light and

shadow as an important role. They determine the appearance that

can take the concrete. Four types of openings are remarkable:

Serial opening, opening the ground floor bay windows and high

opening skylights

References:

- http://zacharytoddbarr.prosite.com/55393/489747/w-o-r-k/le-

corbusier-villa-stein

- http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/villa_stein.html

- A World History of Architecture By Marian Moffett, Michael W.

Fazio, Lawrence Wodehouse

- https://books.google.com.my/books?id=IFMohetegAcC&pg=PT51

8&lpg=PT518&dq=villa+stein+le+corbusier+plan&source=bl&ots=

adG7gheESc&sig=Q4PMt-

AzvfwlyhyCwzs8jhMjDp8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ukJvVZKfGsu9ugTg5o

GADA&ved=0CFEQ6AEwCw#v=onepage&q=villa%20stein%20le

%20corbusier%20plan&f=false

- http://ccb722.wix.com/colemanblanchard#!villa-stein-de-monzie-

analysis/c1oe7

- https://books.google.com.my/books?id=XWfAacUb3gAC&pg=PA6

4&lpg=PA64&dq=villa+stein+le+corbusier+analysis&source=bl&ot

s=avPI9SL7UD&sig=5aW-

k991zejuBwS9Sg2alUfDkGU&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7FBvVbzWINPHu

ATPxoCACQ&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAjgU#v=onepage&q=villa%20stei

n&f=false

- Raumplan Versus Plan Libre: Adolf Loos [and] Le Corbusier By

Max Risselada, Adolf Loos, Le Corbusier, Johan van de Beek

- https://books.google.com.my/books?id=eEG8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA1

5&lpg=PA15&dq=villa+stein+construction+details&source=bl&ots=

3fcgULg76q&sig=PS_fJR5McNap4vvbud1Aa-

5LERQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=WFNvVbfmHI_g8AX43oCIDA&sqi=2&re

dir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=villa%20stein%20construction%20detail

s&f=false

- Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier: The Romantic Legacy By

Richard A. Etlin

5.0 SPATIAL ORGANIZATION

Siew John Loong

0315871

5.0 Spatial Organization

5.1 Introduction

Spatial organization is the arrangement of space in a building.

Different space has different kind of functions and they are built

according to the user’

The building, Villa Stein de Monzie was built in 1927 at Garches,

France. The building is located at 17 Rue de professeur Victor

Pauchet. The architect of the building is Le Corbusier who designed

spacious homes in middle class neighborhoods on the outskirts of

Paris. He is a famous, as well as well-known throughout the world.

Le Corbusier who is with the five concepts emphasizes on that his

building design is based on piloti, a free façade, an open floor plan,

ribbon windows and roof garden.

Compared to the Villa Stein de Monzie, the Koshino House was

designed by the famous architect, Tadao Ando. It is located at the

foot of Rokko Mountains, in Ashiva City, east of Kobe. The building

undergoes two phases to be completed which are from 1980-1981

and 1983-1984. It was originally made up of two parallel rectangular

concrete boxes.

In building design, Le Corbusier does not search for stylistic

features but for principles of spatial organization, as well as rational

structure while Tadao Ando looks for brutal architecture and he is

inspired by Le Corbusier.

The Koshino House

Villa Stein de Monzie

5.2 Spatial Organizations

For outer spaces, both of the buildings are built and surrounded by

trees. They seem to be connected to the nature. The architects

want the people to experience the interior building spaces, as well

as getting touch with the exterior spaces, which is the nature.

There are four floors in Villa Stein de Monzie, which are the ground

floor, first floor, second floor and third floor. In the ground floor,

there are few spaces provided which are the garage, servant room

and the entrance. From the entrance, the first floor will lead the

people to the stairs (to the first floor). Le Corbusier designs the

house by putting curve wall in the first floor. By using the curve wall,

it helps to lead the people, especially the customers to the stairs

which will then lead them to the second floor. It is amazing to see

that Le Corbusier has used the big empty space to lead the people

from one place to another, instead of using it as a functional place

like living room. The space is totally empty because Le Corbusier

wants to create a comfortable and wide place to welcome the

customers once they reach the entrance. People tend to feel

comfortable in a wide area rather than a narrow area as everything

seems sound and clear there. It tends to provide a public area for

the arriving customers. At the same time, the servant rooms are

placed in the first floor and they are separated from others. This has

created a hierarchy from low to top which can be shown in the

building.

There are two floors in The Koshino House which are the ground

floor and the first floor. In the ground floor, there are atelier, living

room and the bedrooms. The space design is raw and without any

ornamentation. At the same time, the atelier is designed with the

curve-shaped which provides a wide and comfortable space for

drawing. The living room is located in the first floor instead of the

second floor while the volume closer to six identical rooms, is

aligned like Le Corbusier's monastic cells at Sainte-Marie-de-la-

Tourette. The house is structured as a Japanese garden and it is

designed to boost awareness of nature. Besides, the light can

penetrate the space through opening and windows which also

create some kind of 'natural light effect' in the building.

At the ground floor, we can see some similarities and differences

between the two buildings. From the floor plan, there is a row of

bedrooms in the Villa Stein de Monzie and the Koshino House.

Those rooms are arranged in a row in order to make it convenient

for the people to make their ways to it. There is some slightly

different between spaces. There are only bedrooms and garage in

the group floor of Villa Stein de Monzie while there are atelier, living

rooms and bedrooms in the Koshino House. This is because Le

Corbusier wants to separate the servant rooms from others and he

purposely make a big space for guide the people to the stairs which

leads to the second floors through the curve walls.

Ground floor plan

Villa Stein de Monzie

The Koshino House

Now we will move to the first floor of the building. In this floor, the

spaces are divided into living room, dining room and the kitchen. Le

Corbusier has designed this house as a public floor as well. It tends

to provide a social place for the customers. The people can have

their chit-chatting and business talk in the living room without

disturbing others. The space is wide and big enough to accumulate

a large number of people in there to have their activities.

Meanwhile, there are kitchen and dining room been separated from

the living room. The kitchen is fully separated from the living room

to avoid oil and gas from entering and disturbing the people while

the dining room is separated partially from the living room by a

curve wall to allow movement between the two spaces easily. The

people can have their meal and head to the living room for chatting.

Le Corbusier uses the space to make it convenience to the people

when having their activities. The best thing is the circulation of the

people will not affect others from having meal in the dining room.

From the staircase, people will just walk through a small corridor to

the next staircase (to the second floor). Again, the people are

leaded by a curvy book shelf along the corridor to the next staircase

so that the people will not get confused about where they head to.

Everything is in order, just like the concept of Le Corbusier.

For The Koshino House, there are study room, bedroom and

terrace. The study room and bedroom are separated by a small

corridor. It allows easy movement from study room to bedroom and

vice-versa. The terrace acts as an open space for the people to

have a view from the inside to the outside. Also, the open space

allows more light to penetrate into the building and also air

circulation.

At this point, the living room is placed in the first floor of Villa Stein

while it is placed in the ground floor in the Koshino House. This is

because for Villa Stein, Le Corbusier wants to separate the servant

rooms from the living room and so, the people can have more

privacy when having their activities here compared to the Koshino

House. At the same time, both of the buildings do share some

common which is light penetration. Villa Stein de Monzie has lots of

windows that allow light to penetrate while the Koshino House uses

open space.

First floor plan

Villa Stein de Monzie

The Koshino House

Next, we will head to the second floor of the building. The spaces

are divided into bedrooms and washrooms. There are three

bedrooms and two washrooms in this floor. Le Corbusier designs

this floor as a private room as only the customers live in these

spaces. The number of bedrooms indicates that there might be

more than one family to live in the building as the rooms are all big

and wide which again, provides a comfortable and relaxing

environment for the customers. The washrooms are separated from

the bedrooms to provide a more private area for the customers and

they can enjoy themselves without been disturbed by others. The

bedrooms are separated from servant room to allow full privacy for

the customers and this creates a building hierarchy. When the

customers reach the floor, there are only two directions from the

staircase. So, it is easy for the customers to identify their own

rooms without getting confused or getting lost. There is a void

space that connects to the first floor to allow air movement from

floor to floor and the customers will feel cool, as well as relaxing in

this floor. At the same time, Le Corbusier is using his order concept

which separates each spaces distinctively. Although it is in a very

order arrangement, it cannot be defined as Le Corbusier’s “ABABA"

because the arrangement is not constant. For the space between

the void and bedroom, the 'ABABA' concept cannot be used

because they can hardly be separated.

For the Koshino House, the space in Koshino House is clearly

divided but there is no specific space arrangement compared to the

Villa Stein de Monzie.

Second floor plan

Finally, we head to the final floor which is the third floor. There are

solarium, guest rooms and staff rooms in this floor. It is an open

space area of the building. Le Corbusier uses one of his concepts,

which is the 'open space' to design this floor because he wants the

people to enjoy and feel the mother nature, instead of just resting

inside the building all day as the building was built surrounded by

the forest. The floor is considered as an exposed private area as

only guest can enter this area. The staff who stays in staff rooms

can serve the customers immediately. That is why Le Corbusier

designs one staff room in between the guest rooms. From the

staircase, the guest can just walk through the door beside the

solarium and enter the wide open space. It can be considered as

the coolest area of the building as the floor is wide and exposed. It

enables the air to flow through the space. Meanwhile, there is void

space in the floor to allow air movement as well. The people here

can enjoy the greenery around the building, as well as resting

themselves in the building.

Third floor plan

For The Koshino House, it has terraces (open space) that allows

light penetration to take place. Tadao Ando emphasizes solidity

which enhance the depth of the thick solid wall which can be found

in the ground floor and first floor. The wall appears to be solid but it

permits light to penetrate through the space. It also allows the user

have a glimpse of the surrounding with the presence of light. At the

same time, there are less ornamentation to be seen in the interior

space. It looks plain from the inside because Tadao Ando wants to

give minimal ornamentation to the building.

Creating sense of

progressive approach

Light

Creating focus on subject

Light reacts differently in response with geometry

5.3 Conclusion

The conclusion is spatial organization is very important for a

building as it can affect the activities and functional of the spaces.

Without a good spatial organization, a building will be like an empty

hollow shell .Le Corbusier has designed a house by the concepts of

his which are the 'order' and 'open space’. The building is designed

in a way that allows people to get in touch with the nature, as well

as resting peacefully in the building. The well- designed architecture

of Villa Stein de Monzie has become so famous and well-known

because of its special structure and spatial organization. The

building is designed in order and the spaces are separated

systematically for the users. For the Koshino House, Tadao Ando

has designed in a way that emphasize on light reaction and also

without ornamentation. Both of the buildings have their similarities

and differences, but still, their passions in architecture have made a

huge changes in architecture history. Everything happens for a

reason

References

-Key Houses of the Twentieth Century. (n.d.). Retrieved June 8,

2015, from

https://books.google.com.my/books?id=GdIbk8X4HTEC&pg=RA1-

PR1&lpg=RA1-PR1&dq=villa stein de monzie&source=bl&ots=-

Yny56RC6A&sig=fIPHnjbEiizo6x3_5HkLOJPJEIE&hl=en&sa=X&ei

=uz11VfrsJofW8gXDpYCYAw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=villa

stein de monzie&f=false

-AD Classics: Koshino House / Tadao Ando. (2011, September 25).

Retrieved June 8, 2015, from http://www.archdaily.com/161522/ad-

classics-koshino-house-tadao-ando/

6.0 STRUCTURE, MATERIALS

AND CONSTRUCTION

Chong Chui Wern

0321359

6.0 Structure, Materials and

Construction

6.1 Introduction

Tadao Ando was studying architecture by going to see

actual buildings, and reading books about them, he had no formal

education in Architecture. His first interest in architecture was

nourished in Tadao’s 15 by buying a book of Le Corbusier

sketches. In general, Tadao Ando had been following Le

Corbusier;s architecture for years. With that said, we could safely

assume that their architecture styles would have a number of

similarities. However, that is not true if we are looking have a few

things in common, there was more difference compared to the

similarities.

As of what I can see, both of them do emphasize quite a lot

on the light and space. I believe the elements which will affect both

light and space in a building the most is the structure, construction

and the materials itself. Although they do have a few things in

common, there are also many things which are different from one

another.

So, by using Villa Stein de Monzie to represent a building of

Le Corbusier and the Koshino house to represent a building of

Tadao Ando, an analysis is done to show the similarities and

difference between the executing methods of the individual

architects towards their significant buildings.

Villa Stein de Monzie

Source: architectureandmorality.blogspot.com

Koshino House

Source: http://www.3dvalley.com/gallery/rukout/ext09_sample_Koshino_House

6.2 Structure and Construction

Starting with the structure and construction, both of the

building has similar geometrical shape, a rectangular shape from

the outside. However, aside from that, the structure and

construction are very different. Just the fact that Le Corbusier likes

the building the stand out from the greenery and Tadao Ando

prefers his to stay low and blend with the site already shows very

conflicting construction preference,

Le Corbusier is well-known for his 5 points of modern

architecture, and among them is the usage of piloti. He is the first

architect to use columns to support the structure of a building. The

pilotis allow the walls to be a non-load bearing wall, therefore

allowing free plan to this spaces, which is also another point in his

famous 5 points of modern architecture. For this building, the outer

walls are built as such reason being that it tends to help the stability

of the construction together with the concrete floor. Le Corbusier

used three types of different columns within this building. The

square columns, the round columns, and the egg-shaped columns,

their purpose differs with the types. The square ones are used in

the construction where they are placed between the smaller, non-

load bearing inner walls. The round and egg-shaped columns are

used in the spaces or whenever there’s a column inside the room.

The concept of free space creates big open spaces which gives the

house a light and transparent feeling.

Red parts shows the constructive walls.

The pilotis also allowed ribbon windows (another one of his

5 points) to be made as the outer walls does not have to bear the

load of the whole structure which allows more light ventilation to

happen.

From this section is is visible that the sides of façade are non-

contructive walls. Hence it does not need to take the load of the

structure, allowing it to have more openings.

With the Koshino house, Tadao Ando used the load bearing

walls to construct the entire structure. With that said, the walls are

not able to move hence not allowing free plan to the building. The

walls bring out a private feeling when being in the space. This gives

the building a sense of solidity and rigidity in comparison to Villa

Stein’s free plan. The solid walls are also used to more clearly

define and emphasize the spaces within the building. Using load

bearing walls, less open spaces on the walls are able to be used.

As not much light is able to enter the building, the lights are aimed

to focus just to certain spots in the building. The light ventilation in

the Koshino House is considerably minimal and it’s only made to

emphasize on certain parts which may contain certain function, or

where light is necessary.

From the section, it is clear that the walls has to support the

structure by itself and it is has not a single columns in the space.

As a whole, Le Corbusier’s 5 points of modern architecture has

allowed him to free himself from load-bearing wall hence creating a

more open space. Tadao Ando, however, decided to go with load-

bearing walls, which gives it a more enclosed feelings.

6.3 Materials

Moving on to the materials of the buildings, both of the

buildings has 3 materials in common, which are glass, steel and

concrete. Glass is used to allow light penetration. The usage of light

is significant in both the buildings therefore glass does take up a

significant part of the building. Steel is used in both buildings

however only a very small part of the Koshino House. Concrete is

used in Villa Stein and almost the entire building of the Koshino

House because it’s a very strong material which holds up the

structure.

For Villa Stein, the key materials used are white plaster,

glass and dark steel bars. Aside from that, there are also tiles and

concrete present. One of the element that gives the villa such

strong character and also contributing to the unity of the villa is the

materials choices and usage. The overall structure, such as the

floor using concrete as it is a stronger material to hold up the house.

Also, every wall in the house uses white plaster, except the toilet.

The toilet uses tiles to fill the walls as it is stronger water resistant,

therefore more durable in the presence of water.

Source : http://divisare.com/projects/199431-Le-Corbusier-Villa-Stein

The key material of Villa Stein is the white plaster in the

facades and balconies. Le Corbusier is known for using plaster and

it can be found in nearly all of his designs and buildings. By using

white plaster, the house will seem unity and as one solid element

even though different elements and parts of the house. White

plaster gives the interior a very light and open feeling. It makes the

interior also flat and very smooth. This follows the function and

needs of the Stein couple who are artists themselves and would like

to showcase and display their art.

Dark Steel

White Plaster

Glass

Facade mostly consist of white plaster

Source : http://pixshark.com/villa-stein.htm

Red represents white plaster (interior)

The next material widely present in the villa is glass. The

glass contributes to the transparency of the house through the

windows. There are 3 different dimensions of windows in the

building which is made and adjusted to the function, privacy and

importance of the spaces. The more private parts of the house have

windows sized only small thin line. There’s repeating rectangular

windows on the first and second floor which are a lot bigger and

more transparent, as these rooms needs more lights due of their

functions. The last group are the huge windows in the sides where

these windows are huge glass elements, which brings in to the villa

even more lights and also to bring the nature and surroundings to

the inside of the villa.

The glass varies in sizes according to the function of space. The

one shaded in red represents glass.

Furthermore, Le Corbusier used quite a bit of dark steel bars

in this building. Dark steel bars in the window give these parts an

enclosed and private feeling. This way light can enter these rooms

without losing their difference in function, importance and privacy.

Besides the bars in the windows, the dark steel can be found in the

guard-rails at the doors on every floor of the building. The balconies

give the house a more open character from the inside but it does

not work as a balcony at all. The hand-rails and other steel

elements are all made out of the dark steel which brings the house

together with the glass and white plaster.

Steel bars as handles of stairs

Source: www.ncmodernist.org

The red represents the steel present in the building.

For the Koshino house, the materials used are glass, wood,

a small portion of steel and mainly concrete.

Close up of Koshino House

source: http://imgkid.com/tadao-ando-koshino-house-plan.shtml

Glass is used to give a good view of the garden from the inside, and

also to allow the natural light from outside to be shinning in to the

spaces. Wooden floors are used in the Koshino house. As this

space reveals a courtyard that drapes over and contours to the

natural topography, wooden floors allows the building to feel closer

and in fact, more connected to the nature outside. The living room

is lit by two large rectangular windows with supporting steel frames

of different sizes. This is actually to mix around the western and the

Japanese styles of architecture. The other windows in the buildings

are also supported by steel frames.

Last but not least, concrete. Tadao Ando used Concrete to

build the walls to set limits and boundary of the space. All the walls

are made of concrete are completely free of ornamentation and are

in their natural form. The pre-cast concrete’s surfaces are very well

made and are “smooth-as-silk”. Ando’s concrete is both structure

and surface, so it never has to be camouflaged or plastered over.

Narrow apertures have been punched through the facades, they are

shaped adjacent to the exterior staircase and it manipulates

complex crossings of natural light and shadow into the interior

spaces. The patterns provided by the natural lights the only amount

of ornament to the simple rooms. Other slots are also cut from

various walls of the two structures to produce the same effect of

complexity throughout the entire house. Another reason why it is

used is due to industrialization and technological resources, which

allow the concrete blocks to be easily assessable.

Concrete

Glass

Steel

Wood

Concrete Structure of Koshino House

Source: http://www.archdaily.com/161522/ad-classics-koshino-house-tadao-ando/

Overall, the key materials for the building, which is white

plaster for Villa Stein and concrete for the Koshino House are both

very different materials and they bring out different kinds of

aesthetics and feelings of privacy when a person is in the building.

Even with similar materials, the quantity used varies, which gives

the building a very different feeling.

6.4 Conclusion

From the analysis, Le Cobusier’s Villa Stein emphasizes more onto

the wide and spacious feeling from the inside of the building. This is

attained by using 3 out of 5 of his points of modern architecture,

which is piloties, free plan and ribbon windows. With careful

selection of the sizes of the glass and the selection of white plaster

as the key material, the building has a very light and open feeling to

it.

However for Tadao Ando’s Koshino House, it emphasized more

onto the rigid and enclosed feeling from the inside. That was able to

be achieved solely with just the thick, solid concrete load-bearing

walls. The choice of using concrete did give a very private feeling

as well and the glass opening are much less compared to Villa

Stein.

At the end, their choices of construction methods and structure, as

well as their choice of materials are able to pull out their intended

feelings very well.

References:

-http://www.insideoutside.in/inside-outside/issue-

magazine/1437/concrete-intentions-tadao-

ando#sthash.ep71oWni.dpuf

-http://www.timmaier.com/files/architectuuranalyse.pdf

-http://www.archdaily.com/161522/ad-classics-koshino-house-

tadao-ando/

- http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/Koshino_House

7.0 SITE CONTEXT AND

CIRCULATION

Lee Yen Chei

0320568

7.0 Site Context and Circulation

7.1 Introduction

“I traced the drawings of his early period so many times, that

all pages turned black,” says Tadao Ando: “in my mind I quite often

wonder how Le Corbusier would have thought about this project or

that.“ Le Corbusier is the master of modernism in architecture.

Tadao Ando's work is characteristically simple, and we can find

similar forms in the first half of 20th century.

"I am interested in a dialogue with the architecture of the

past", Tadao Ando says, "but it must be filtered through my own

vision and my own experience. I am indebted to Le Corbusier and

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, but the same way, I take what they did

and interpret it in my own fashion." As what Tadao said, his design

will somehow will show some similarities which he got influenced by

Le Corbusier’s work. The project that we will look into is the

analysis on the site context and also the circulation of Villa Stein de

Monzie which designed by Le Corbusier, and Tadao Ando’s work

for Koshino House.

Villa Stein De Monzie

Source: www.ncmodernist.org

Villa Stein de Monzie is built in 1927, designed by Le

Corbusier, a Swiss-born French architect, who was recognized

worldwide for his modern architecture. This villa was designed for a

couple, Michael Stein and his wife, Sara, and their friend, Gabrielle

Monzie, a faithful supporter of Le Corbusier, and her adopted

daughter. And the villas was named after them. Michael and Sara

Stein were well known connoisseurs and collectors of modern

painting and sculptures. They decide to live together due to the

common interest towards art collection.

Koshino House

source: www.cgarchitect.com

While Koshino house was built in 1976, designed by Tadao

Ando, a famous Japanese architect is basically two rectangular

concrete boxes are joined together and making a courtyard in

between. The house is built for the designer Koshin, is a veritable

maze of lights and shadows. It is an example of contemporary

architecture built in two parallel wings that barely interrupt the

landscape, as Ando built his design according to the location of

trees on the site.

7.3 Site Context

There is similarities between the Villa Stein De Monzie and

Koshino House. Both houses built in the sense of embracing the

nature and blend to the surrounding site.

Villa Stein surrounded by the dark trees

source: www.flickr.com

Villa Stein is located in the suburbs of Paris in France, which

is Garches. The family Stein always lived in the centre of Paris.

When they got older they wanted to move out of the city centre for a

more tranquil and relaxing environment but wanted still be able to

get to the centre of Paris without having to travel a lot to go

shopping, for work or for their art collection. The house is set far

back on its site, and approached via a long, straight driveway that

ends at the door of an ample garage, the house`s pristine white

walls and crisp ribbon windows give it the appearance of a modern-

day Palladian villa set in a landscape of dark trees.

Top View of Koshino House

source: trendland.com

While for Koshino House, the house is located in Ashiya, a

small town between Osaka and Kobe two major urban centers in

Japan, at the foot of the Rokko mountains.The site composed of

irregularly shaped slopes.

The Koshino House is embedded in the ground, as it

immerses with the Landscape. When viewing from top, you can

see how the three volumes are placed to each other within the

forest site. Ando calls the act of designing a site “site-craft”; he

blends together the site and the building, incorporates the

landscape into the building, and makes use of every bit of the site.

Diagram shows Koshino House is embedded in the ground

source: www.archdaily.com

7.4 Circulation

7.4.1 Human Circulation

Villa Stein-de Monzie consists of three floors. Before

entering the villa, you can see that there are two entrances on its

front façade. The front entrance for guests and private use is

emphasized by a big element above the door. There is a separate

entrance for servants on the left next to the garage for private use,

emphasized by the small fake balcony above.

A lone lawn leading to entrance

source: www.nytimes.com

In my opinion, I think why there are two entrances provided

to the villa is because the maids were expected to work invisibly

and sweep and dust when the family was asleep, or work in a room

when the family was not scheduled to use it. In fact, many of the

lower servants never encountered the family during their years of

service.

So in generally, Le Corbusier imply a contrast difference on

the pathway circulation between the owner and guest with the

servant use.

The concept behind is come from the hierarchy in the social

status during that period of time in Paris. The clients don’t want to

have a clash of spaces use with the servants. Besides, Le

Corbusier also put effort on the connection of the flow. Implication

of curved wall also used as a guide for the circulation.

Diagrams show the routing pathway for different floors

(Ground floor, First floor, Second Floor, and the third floor)

However, koshino house doesn’t have a clear division on

the circulation pathways. Tadao Ando made the entry of this house,

semi batch, is level.

Entrance of Koshino house

source: www.archdaily.com

From here go down in the living room with double height. In

one wing parallel to the building, connected through a corridor of

almost underground, a number of halls and rooms for children,

since that can be accessed by a long hallway. The spaces of the

house are intricate. For the interior, the viewer encounters many

scenes while in motion.

The movement throughout the structure shows the complete

evolution of the scene. It has a clear and direct movement. The

three volumes are connected to each other by a corridor that is

situated under the ground and not visible from the outside.

Wide set of exterior stairs

source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/49942362@N03/

The approach is from above and gives the visitor a total

view of the plan of the house. There is a wide set of stairs follows

the sloping land into the enclosed exterior space. Tadao Ando used

a very intimate enclosed pathway throughout the whole house. It is

different from the Villa Stein which the circulation is accessed by a

vertical long staircase.

The diagram shows the circulation pathway on plan

7.4.2 Light Circulation

Le Corbusier is well- known as the master of light. There

was one famous quote from Le Corbusier:

“Our eyes are made to see forms in light; light and shade

reveal these forms”

Tadao Ando's work is also known for the creative use of

natural light. While once this has said by him:

"Light is the origin of all being. Striking the surface of things,

light grants them an outline; gathering shadows behind things, it

gives them depth. Things are articulated around borders of light and

darkness, and obtain their individual form, discovering

interrelationships, and become infinitely linked.”

Both of them like to imply the natural use of light inside the

building. Both of them strongly focus on the concept of light into

their work.

Front view of Vila Stein

source: www.flickr.com

For Villa Stein, Le Corbusier applied one of the five points of

architecture principles which introduced by himself, the ribbon

window. He applied ornamentation-free facade and horizontal

windows in strips for maximum natural light. From the front facade,

you can see the long row of windows frames with the same size

and width.

At the ground floor, you will find the windows with the iron

frame and the small long glass elements which give a closed and

intimate character at the ground floor.

Especially at the back of the Villa appears the house to be

very transparent with the big double size windows. You also find the

big transparent terraces at the back side of the house which gives

the house an open character. For the left and right side of the

house are very big windows present. Furthermore, the dark steel

bars in the window are quite transparent too and hence helps

penetration of light enter to the rooms.

Back View of Villa Stein

source: www.retrotogo.com

The diagrams show the position of the windows on the elevations

Because of the size of the Villa, the house needs a lot

of windows to bring light into the spaces and rooms. This follows

the function and needs of the Stein couple. This is perfect for the

couple to hold up exhibitions of art and having guests over to

discuss and show the art.

Front Elevation Back Elevation

Left Elevation Right Elevation

Ribbon windows

For the use of light on Koshino house, Tadao Ando is more

emphasizing on solidity. The penetration of the light enhancing the

depth of the thick solid wall. Appears to be solid but permits light to

penetrate through the space and allows user to get a glimpse of the

surrounding.

This is also why Tadao Ando giving minimal ornamentation

to the interior space using the element of nature. In a result, the

light that penetrates through the slit creates a sense of progressive

approach.

Light creates approach in Koshino House

( source: http://www.archdaily.com/)

Light enters through a sky-light between the wall and the

roof, illuminating a curved wall. And large window has been opened

in the living room wall.

The light reacts differently in response with geometry, it

creates a focus on the subject such as the furniture. He allows

residents to experience nature without the distractions of the city. I

think Ando’s intention in creating this design was to return to a

traditional Japanese life-style of “contact with light, air, rain, and

other natural elements” within the confines of a small physical

space.

Light penetrates and creates focus on furniture

( source: http://www.archdaily.com/)

7.3.3 Air Circulation

For the air circulation, both Le Corbusier and Tadao Ando

are very concern about the air ventilation inside their buildings. In

Villa Stein, Le Corbusier designed a lot of windows and also provide

an open terrace on the top floor. This is to ensure there is a good

ventilation throughout the whole building.

While for Koshino House, Tadao Ando did apply large

windows opened in the living room wall. Besides, there are also

many openings on the wall for air ventilation. Furthermore, there are

slits designed on the ceiling wall too as a function for sunlight

penetration yet air ventilation throughout the space.

Some openings of Koshino House

(source: imgkid.com)

7.4 Conclusion

Through the analysis, I feel that Le Corbusier is more focus

on the circulation of the client on how to guide the users to the villa

from the road, then the long lawn pathway which leads the users to

enter the building from outside. Besides, he also designed two

distinct pathways to separate the servants from his clients.

The guidance of the circulation is led by the designed

curved walls to the staircase, and the staircase connected the users

from one floor to the other floor. The design of Le Corbusier can be

considered as a solid guidance which users may look to the side

when front view is being blocked or shifted.

However, Tadao Ando is more focus on the concept of light.

He uses the natural light in different aspects inside the building. He

even uses light to create a guide for the users. The opening slits

that he designed on the ceiling wall allowed the sunlight to

penetrate through. The effect of the light and the shadow from the

concrete wall create a progressive approach along the pathway.

In conclusion, both architects concern on the intimate

visualisation from the concept of light and also how to place a

building in a natural site without interrupting the beauty of the

nature. They also create a sense of bringing the nature into the

building itself.

References:

-http://www.timmaier.com/files/architectuuranalyse.pdf

-http://www.archdaily.com/161522/ad-classics-koshino-house-

tadao-ando/

-https://lanhwang.wordpress.com/2011/02/25/koshino_house/

-http://architectboy.com/koshino-house-tadao-ando/

-http://www.pritzkerprize.com/1995/essay

-http://architect.architecture.sk/tadao-ando-architect/tadao-ando-

architect.php

-http://issuu.com/ben.strak/docs/villas_of_le_corbusier

http://www.moma.org/momaorg/shared/pdfs/docs/press_archives/4

559/releases/MOMA_1970_July-December_0079.pdf?2010

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Corbusier's_Five_Points_of_Architec

ture

8.0 Conclusion

A lot of Tadao Ando works have the characteristic similar to

Le Corbusier’s as Tadao Ando admired and learn a lot from Le

Corbusier. But despite this fact, there were also some characteristic

of their works which separated them from each other. The both

façade of the buildings, different perceptions have different opinions

to the building. The perceptions of different generation have

different opinions to the building as Le Corbusier later work has

transform into orgnaic architecture. The spatial organization is very

important for a building as it can affect the activities and functional

of the spaces, and both the architects designed it differently. Their

choices of construction methods and structure, as well as their

choice of materials are able to pull out their intended feelings very

well into their respective buildings. Lastly, both architects concerns

on the intimate visualisation from the concept of light and also how

to place a building in a natural site without interrupting the beauty of

the nature. They also create a sense of bringing the nature into the

building itself.

In the end, to sum it all up, both of the buildings, Villa Stein

de Monzie and the Koshino house has their similarities and

differences. However, their passions in architecture have made a

huge change in architecture history.