INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND

PORTFOLIO

LE CORBUSIERTHE DEVELOPMENT OF PURISM

wwwwww

JOSHUA MOLLMAN FALL 2014ARCHITECTURAL THEORIES AND CONCEPTS

After a brief introduction to Le Corbusier and the Purist movement, this project will:

• Explore his design philosophies• Analyze his organizing principles• Discuss his design language as seen in provided

works• Use provided examples to show the growth of

Le Corbusier’s style through time• Present a precedent analysis of one of his mas-

terworks: Villa Savoye (1931)

• Born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret on October 6, 1887 in Switzerland

• Studied art under Charles L’Eplattenier in La-Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

• Travelled globe from 1907 to 1911• Returned to live in Paris at age 30 and collaborated

with designer Amédée Ozenfant on Purist manifes-to and avant-garde review, L’Esprit Nouveau

• Opened design studio with cousin Pierre Jeanneret in 1922

• Practiced 1914-1965

Le Corbusier helped create and develop the Purist movement. Other achievements include:

• One of the most important fi gures in the Modern-ist movement

• Utilization of modern technologies such as steel-reinforced concrete in most works

• Philosophies and principles would be hugely infl u-ential in the International Style

• Visions of utopia and social change through archi-tecture

• Pioneered urban planning and mass-produced housing ideas

OVERVIEW ARCHITECT INFLUENCE

Believed in effi ciency, simplicity, and innovation of mechanized design: “A house is a machine for living in”

Industrialized architecture as the only way to avoid social unrest: “Architecture or Revolution”

Mathematics and proportion were essential to Le Corbusier’s designs

Proponent of rebuilding entire cities through urban planning in order to advance society

Steel frame support systems utilized grid organiza-tion and free wall placement

Balanced asymmetry

“Modulor” proportional system in later works (hu-man proportions)

“Five Points of a New Architecture,” listed by Moos (1979) as the following:

1. pilotis2. roof garden3. free plan4. elongated window5. free façade

Le Corbusier’s design language used the Five Points to derive the following:

• Rooftop gardens and terraces• “Ribbon” windows and skylights placed where

needed to maximize natural night• Unadorned, stark exteriors generally free of hier-

archy—a result of the free façade• Exposed concrete utilized natural properties of

material rather than added decoration• Use of ramps: “A staircase separates one fl oor

from another; a ramp connects” – Le Corbusier (quoted in Baltanas 2005)

PHILOSOPHY ORGANIZING PRINCIPLES DESIGN LANGUAGE

VILLA SCHWOB VILLA BESNUS - “KER-KA-RÉ”LA CHAUX-DE-FONDS, FRANCE, 1916 VAUCRESSON, FRANCE, 1922LA CHAUX-DE-FONDS, FRANCE, 1912

VILLA JEANNERET-PERRET

Designed for the Schwob family of watchmakers, this villa “marked Jeanneret’s fi rst clean break with local tradition” (Baltanas 2005). It was nicknamed the “Turkish Villa” due to its Byzantine infl uences and resemblance to a harem. More so than in any of his previous works, Villa Schwob featured organizing principles and a design language that would evolve into his Purist style, including elements like use of reinforced concrete, regulated geometrical systems, and a fl at roof.

The villa designed for M. and M. George Besnus is a large mo-tion even closer to Le Corbusier’s modern style and design principles. The villa features two rectangular masses contrast-ed by size and the vertical and horizontal orientation of each. The small vertical stairwell element was originally added to the house at a 90 degree angle, creating an ‘L’ shape, but Le Corbusier changed it for the purpose of unity. One can see even more evidence of what would become Le Corbusier’s recognizable style.

Still known at this point as his birth name, Jeanneret was given the opportunity to design his parents’ new home. This work is described as “strikingly different from [his] earlier works,” as it is highly infl uenced by his travels during the four years prior to its design (Baltanas 2005). One can see elements in the villa which would resurface in his later works: long, horizontal strips of glazing, a relative lack of ornamentation, favoring of simple materials, and use of geometrical forms, to name a few.

LE CORBUSIERA PRECEDENT ANALYSIS

wwwwww

JOSHUA MOLLMAN FALL 2014ARCHITECTURAL THEORIES AND CONCEPTS

VILLA SAVOYE

CONCEPT

ANALYSIS

STRUCTURE

POISSY, FRANCE, 1929-31

ACCESS CURVE, SLAB, & ROOFTOPPLAN TO ELEVATION RELATIONSHIP

2D ORGANIZING PRINCIPLE & CIRCULATION

MASSING & HIERARCHY

Piloti/Column

There is a structural grid of 5 x 5 pilotis (modifi ed because of the ramp) which “becomes a rectangular space on the fi rst fl oor due to the slight prolonga-tion of two of its facades” (Baltanas 2005). The column grid extends through all three levels, sometimes concealed within walls, which are not structur-al. This grid allows for a freef fl oor plan and facade (two of the Five Points).

Access Curve

Pilotis

Primary Axis

Massing

Key:

Central Slab

Square Grid

PrimaryHierarchy

Roof Screen

Central Ramp

Secondary Hierarchy

The grid of the pilotis can be seen in both plan and section views. The access vol-ume on the ground fl oor is seen in elevation as a segmented curve of glaz-ing, while the curved roof screen is seen on the top fl oor. The front edge of the slab appears as the largest rectangular volume in elevation view, and the ribbon windows (one of the fi ve points) have been highlighted in yellow.

The organizational systems of each fl oor, set into the same grid allowing for a separa-tion of structure and enclosure, are:

• Access curve determined by car’s turning radius, balanced asymmetry on primary axis

• Rectangular slab divided on a diagonal axis into balanced public and private areas• Free curved roof screens which “both proclaim and contain” the relationship to

nat- ural surroundings (Baker 1984).

“The movement route has special signifi cance, being the means of linking the succes-sive experiences provided by the villa” (Baker 1984)

Key:

Key:

Key:

The silhouette (red) is very simple and linear, and there is very little hierar-chy other than size. From the second elevation, the silhouette is slightly dif-ferent. However, the general idea is very much the same. The large slab is hier-archical in size, where one can even see the extension of the form over the grid. Additionally, the roof screen is pushed towards one side of the roof.

The Villa Savoye was designed as a summer home for the Savoye family. According to Le Corbusier, they were “clients totally free of preconceptions, ancient or modern” (Quot-ed in Baltanas 2005). Le Corbusier aimed to integrate the home and the automobile, and because it was to be a summer home, he also wanted to allow for “contemplation of nature” (Benton 1987). It is described as a “receptacle for sunlight elevated above the landscape” (Baker 1984).

The essential concept of the villa consists of three distinct layered elements: the ground-fl oor access curve, fi rst fl oor slab, and second fl oor curved roof screen. All three are linked by a ramp spanning all of the fl oors, as the route of movement was highly infl uencial in determining the forms.

“This regular cubic form provides an ordering baseline which states the major theme of the design, that of the relationship between an elevated cubic volume and its surround-ings. The roof screen and access volume explore the fundamental tension between curves and the orthoganal system...” Geoffrey H. Baker (Baker 1984)

“The house is a box in the air, pierced all round, without interruption, by a horizontal window.” Le Corbusier (Quoted in Baltanas 2005)

“The sense of dynamism is encouraged by the way the route curves around the access volume and by the dramatic exploitation of the ramp.” Geoffrey H. Baker (Baker 1984)

Ribbon Windows

Grid

Vehicle Circulation

InteriorCirculation

Key:

Stairs