Art History

Villa Savoye

2005

Constructed by Le Corbusier in 1929-31 , the Villa Savoye , one of the greatest masterpieces of modern architecture , has been widely contested on the part of its originality and its accordance to the practical significance requirements every building should meet . Following the tradition of International style (a major architectural style in the 1920s and 1930s , also known as a Modern movement , the modernistic style of maximum minimalism , the Swiss architect Le Corbusier dreamed of breaking all architectural rules and principles (such as scope tectonics , prossemic etc ) and building

simple , geometrically designed unornamented , spacious houses : as he called them , machines to be lived in (`machines a habiter . Of course , this outburst of the twentieth century architecture towards the numerously criticized for the lack of humanism (box-shaped building dehumanize and deprive people of their individuality , they say , yet Le Corbusier 's (and other modern architects , such as Mies van der Rohe Walter Gropius , Mart Stam , Hans Scharoun , as well ) intention was absolutely humanistic - to provide every man with a place to live in this constantly growing world . Le Corbusier sought efficient ways to house large numbers of people in response to the urban housing crisis He was a leader of the modernist movemnet to create better living condition and better society through housing concepts . But apart from the problem of efficency , many art historians prefer to look on his works , and particularly on the Villa Savoye , as on the works of art which provide many artistic effects and influence human perception with unexpected geometry . As a matter of fact , Le Corbusier disproves Umberto Eko 's functionalistic theory of architecture by costructing buildings to exceed all levels of expectation (as it is required from works of art Many critics refer to his buildings as to the true masterpieces . William J . R . Curtis , for example , analyzing the elaborate shape of the Le Corbusier 's building , compares the Villa with a Cubistic painting . While Mark Wigley pays much attention to the colour of the Villa Savoye - his admiration of its glairing whiteness is unconcealed . So , let 's take these two critics ' analyses into pieces in to find out who sounds more convincing and whose point of view looks more original and advanced William J . R . Curtis takes the most evident uniqueness of the Villa Savoye for analysis - the shape . What he actually notes is Le Corbusier 's excellent ability to combine severe and inanimate square horizontal forms with intricate curvatures and asymmetrical forms . This is the top formalistic skill , he claims

It is a well-known fact that Villa Savoye in Poissy is Le Corbusier 's major work , associated to his cousin Pierre Jeanneret . In this construction he pioneered to concretize the revolutionary five points for a new architecture

constructing buildings that stand on pilotis : thus they should elevate the mass from the ground . The loads are carried punctually and release the peripheral walls , allowing points 2 , 3 ) and 4 . Pilotti was one of the most favorite Le Corbusier 's devices to free...