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The Villa Savoye

The Villa Savoye in Poissy is a major work of Le Corbusier, associated to his cousin Pierre Jeanneret.

He was 40 years old when he started this construction. He concretized there his " five points for a new architecture " :

1. use of piles elevating the mass from the ground. The loads are carried punctually and release the peripheral walls, allowing points 2), 3) and 4)
2. a free plan
3. a free façade
4. long horizontal windows running from one wall to another and outcropping the frontage. They allow generous opening on light and sun
5. a roof garden : the terrace, accessible, is a place to live with.

 

Click on any thumbnail below to see an enlargement (30 to 80 Ko).

The villa erected

Mr. and Mrs Savoye (the husband beeing a Parisian businessman) contracted this villa, " les Heures Claires ", for their dwelling. The construction took place in 1928/1930; the estimated cost was exceeded and some short-cuts happened.

A few time after construction, disorders appeared, in particular sealing, difficult to control with the terraces and the windows outcroping the walls. Due to these disorders and some fortune misfits, the Savoye family left the villa, which remained unoccupied.

Purchased by the public local authorities, its fate remained a long time dubious and degradations were accentuated.
Renovated and saved from ruin, we are today lucky to visit it, whereas generations of students in architecture had to satisfy of studying it only on plans.

The terrace

The terrace has two floors, one at the level of the living-room, and one upstairs, more intimate

The kitchen   -   a bedroom

the hall   -   a corridor

 Butler's pantry   -   bathroom

Photographs by D. Césari
Nikon FM2, Nikkor 28 PC and 20 mm AIS

Practical informations
Villa Savoye
82, rue de Villiers, 78300 Poissy
Opened: 10:00-12:00 / 13:30-16:00
Closed: Tuesday and public holidays
33 1 39 65 01 06

Poissy is located in the north-west suburbs of Paris
Railway : RER A - about one mile walk from the station to the villa
Highway A13
map of Poissy (43 k)

 

Some dedicated links

• Great Buildings : some photographs of the villa, plans, 3D view
• a clip on the villa (preview of a video tape to order)
• AGRAM Works of Le Corbusier, some pictures of the villa
• Le Corbusier, der Architekt   a very comprehensive site by Hermann Kühn from the Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg, University Library. In German, but a must, even if you don't speak Goethe's tongue (neither I do).
• Five points for a modern architecture by Ana Tse
• Fondation Le Corbusier
• Jeffery Howe's links to architecture