Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye

If you had to guess what year this house was built, when would it be? It bet you wouldn't suppose that it is nearly 80 years old! One of the most famous houses of the 20th century, and one of the most recognizable examples of the International Style of architecture - Villa Savoye was completed between 1929 and 1930. Designed by Le Corbusier, it was built as a weekend home outside of Paris for Mr. and Mrs. Savoye and their son. Today it is a museum open to the public.


Professor Norman Reuter, who teaches our architecture course and led the trip, explained the significance of the building. It represents Le Corbusier's "Five Points" of modern architecture incorporating reinforced concrete:

1) Raising the building up on columns preserves usable land underneath the structure for practical purposes
2) A flat room also reclaims space and actually increases the property's usable outside space
3) The elimination of interior load-bearing walls allows for more freedom in layout decisions
4) Horizontal windows allow for increased natural lighting that is even across the room
5) Facades are not load-bearing and can act as a thin skin with windows over a frame

These "Five Points" had already been tested after WWI. Le Corbusier designed a simple 2- story reinforced concrete shell, including a concrete roof and stairs, that could be finished into houses to replace those lost in during the war. Families would start out by finishing off the second story, and later when they had enough money, they could do the lower level. Hundreds of these were constructed across Europe after WWI.


As you enter the front door, there is a front foyer that now serves as a desk and gift shop for the museum. Originally, the driver would have driven the family to the front door, and they would enter while the car was parked in a built in garage around the corner. While this spiral staircase connects all levels of the house, it is not the intended route up to the second floor where the living quarters are (the servants lived on the first floor). To the right of the staircase is a long ramp that leads upstairs. This feature is something that first dates back from the ancient Greeks - you were never supposed to walk up to a Greek temple straight on. It is more impressive to approach a building at an angle so that you can see its depth. There is another ramp that leads up to the rooftop terrace - making the whole house essentially handicapped accessible, although that was not the purpose of doing it.


This combination of sun/living room predates today's mainstream concept of the "great room". On the left next to my classmates in the photo you can see an example of Le Corbusier's design for a leather chase lounge. For the past several decades, a company owned the copyright for this design and one would cost you $3,000. Fortunately, the patent recently expired and now you can get one for $300. They are supposed to be very comfortable, as several members of my class on the trip verified! On the ceiling you will notice the long shiny metal fixture running the length of the room. Florescent tube lighting had just been invented, and this is perhaps one of the first designs for up lighting where the light is reflected off the ceiling rather than shine down directly. This building was truly ahead of its time, it is just incredible to walk through this knowing it is 80 years old. Other than the aging of the materials, this building would be very modern even today.


The kitchen is off one end of the great room shown above. The family would not have done their own cooking most of the time, but they would be served their meals at the dining table in the great room. It has a very practical layout, which is customary of Le Corbusier's designs. He viewed houses and all buildings as "machines for living". For this reason, he made no effort to hide structural elements such as columns as well as other useful fixtures like the radiators you can see under the counters here.


This is the view looking out from the great room onto the lower level of the outside terrace. You can see how columns like the one to the right allow for the elimination of load-bearing walls. Instead, plate glass windows create a seamless blend of inside and out and let natural light flood the room. Outside you can see the ramp to the left that goes up to the roof-level terrace. The floor tiles are placed on the ramp at an angle so the water can drain down the grooves in between.


Mrs. Savoye's bathroom flows right into the room, with a privacy curtain that can be closed if desired. I took this picture from where the bed would have been. The tiled lounge is electrically heated underneath so you could lay there and dry off. The toilet was in a separate little room behind the black door. Again, natural light is allowed to enter through a skylight in the ceiling.


Looking from the lower lever terrace at the ramps up to the roof, you can't help but notice the ocean liner inspired elements. There is a ship-like railing on the ramp, and on the roof there is a privacy wall that looks like ship's funnel. Le Corbusier was fascinated by the modern day ocean liner, which he viewed as a floating city...a machine that supported life and fostered interaction. As a result, many of his buildings have similar elements, especially the funnel. The funnel shaped wall here gave privacy to members of the family who wanted to sunbathe - a trend that was new in the 1920s. It had been a popular activity in Roman times, but had fallen out of style for several centuries until the beginning of the 20th century.


Finally, this is a storage area of the son's room. The empty room is a reminder of this house's sad history. The Savoye's were Jewish, and during WWII when the Nazis invaded France all three members of the family were sent to concentration camps. Only the mother survived, and when the war was over she never returned to this house. By the end of the war there wasn't much to come back to anyway. Hitler hated Le Corbusier and his modern architecture - he considered it fit only for Arabs, who he also didn't like. The Nazis took over the house and used it for storage. By the 1960s, it had fallen into complete disrepair. In fact, the school next door bought the property and planned to demolish it for a playground. Luckily a high ranking government official heard what was about to happen, and realizing its historical significance, put a stop to it and made it a landmark. Over the past several decades it has been restored to its current state, and stands for thousands of visitors to appreciate as one of the greatest buildings of the 20th century.