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#FabDesignFriday
By Barbara Hahijary
Modern Architecture is a phenomenal style since its development in early 20th century and it has remained as a popular topic and a style that many architects follow to this day. One of the most significant modern architects, namely Le Corbusier, is famous for his masterpiece: Villa Savoye.
The Swiss-born architect designed the villa dedicated to the Savoye family in Poissy, a suburb in west side of Paris, France. The construction started in 1928, five years after he published his book “Towards an Architecture”. He applied his manifesto of “five points of architecture” in this work – the first two points can be easily seen from its façade - pilotis and free facade.
To create the pilotis appearance, the designer constructed the U-shape planned on ground level and hidden in the shadow of the second level. The five columns in each side, which support the levels above, are continuous to the second level as appeared to be window sashes. The windows have the initial rectangle shape of the building. Though the villa does not appear like one whole building, the free façade principle delivers optimal function. The construction has an open floor plan and each room can be placed anywhere with non-bearing walls. The fourth point has the continuous ribbon window, which allows the residents to watch overt the green area around the villa. Lastly, Corbu added a flat roof garden as an exchange for the area he took for the building construction.
Le Corbusier confessed the machine age had influenced the design, he later stated, “The house is a machine for living.” The French architect is noted not only as a founding member of International Congresses of Modern Architecture (Congrès internationaux d'architecture moderne/CIAM), he is also one of the most influential modern architects. Le Corbusier is one of only a few architects whose work inaugurated as an official French historical monuments during his lifetime. Completed in 1958, Villa Savoye is truly one of the most important architectural works in history.