Other

My Drawing

I tried to highlight the geometric structure. You can see the almost layers of rectangular structure all leading up to the semi-circle extension on the left side of the sketch. 

Google Earth Comments

By looking at google earth to observe the surroundings of La Villa Schwob, it is evident that this home is in an urban, residential area. This makes sense considering the original client, who would have needed easy access to the center of the city because it would be the hub of business. As well, four other houses that Le Corbusier designed are only a short walk from where La Villa Schwob is located. 

Video 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5ARWfhhsTA

This video explores the interior of La Villa Schwob and highlights the lavishness of the furniture and decorations, which give an almost ephemeral feeling. 

Photo Cache

(1)The symmetry in the room and decor. (2) A view that shows the yard, and how its quality and "cleanliness" match that of the house. (3) Shows how important the window is as a concept because it's in the original sketches and final product. (4) Balance of rounded and squared elements even in the bathroom detail. (5) Striking angle--shows dominance within the neighborhood.


Firsthand Accounts


These aren't people that I was able to interview firsthand, but they are journalists who visited the home and gave their impression in writing. 

Quote from Julien Caron in "A Villa of Le Corbusier": [3]
"I have visited this village. There is an ease, a cohesiveness to the volumes, to the surfaces, and also a science of the detail, infinitely rare in our day, of that which most people call the "details", the moldings in particular. It is perhaps in the moldings that one recognizes the limits of an architecture: they are almost the signature of the architect. The architect who is capable of making a good plan when he creates the volumes. But when it comes to the moldings, nothing any longer guides him but his imagination, the sureness of his taste, and his own aesthetic; and it is necessary to underscore this point. The moldings are so precise in this house, so perfectly adapted to its ends, so much in accord with all the rest, that during construction the error of a plasterer completely destroyed the harmony of the living room. One should not think we are exaggerating; it is a precise fact that sculptors will understand, but which will astonish most architects, who are not able to appreaciate that architechtural proportions are measured to the millimeter. We believe that Ictinos was very much of this opinion. To be an architect is to be able to comprehend this and to be able to accomplish it.

Quote from Andrew Mead in "A Letter from Chaux-de-Fonds": [4]
"No one would argue that the Villa Turque has the invention and conviction of Le Corbusier's Parisian houses of the 1920s or the resonance of the Maisons Jaoul (1952-56), not that it synthesizes all the influences it reveals. But for its overall conception (especially the double-height living room, its detail (such as the stonework of the chamfered door frames and stark stripped-classical capitals), its evidence of Le Corbusier's first attempt to apply a regulating system of proportions--not to mention that contentious blank panel--it is engrossing to visit"

Magazine Article on Le Corbusier [6]


Three important takeaways: (1) Le Corbusier was also an artist and urbanist and actually developed the manifesto of cubism with French Painter Amedee Ozenfant. (2) Le Corbusier had five points of architecture:

  1. Raise the building on “pilotis,” freeing the walls of their structural function.
  2. With the walls freed of their structural role, a free plan should be employed.
  3. Similarly, the facade should be designed freely.
  4. The horizontal ribbon window, enabled by the free facade, should be used to light rooms evenly.
  5. The roof should be flat and host a roof garden, replacing the ground space that is occupied by the building.

(3) Le Corbusier believed that function should be a primary driver of design. He believes that the architect should be able to solve all the challenges to do with, light, structure, heat, as an engineer normally would. 

Blog Featuring La Villa Schwob

Blog Name: Utopia/Dystopia [7]

Link: https://utopiadystopiawwi.wordpress.com/purism/le-corbusier/villa-schwob/http://

"Jeanneret constructed the building before he left for France and assumed the pseudonym, Le Corbusier, which is significant because he built it while still discovering his aesthetic as an architect.  The Villa Schwob appears larger and more complex than some of his later buildings, revealing that Le Corbusier was still experimenting with methods to best depict Purist ideals of clean lines and balance in architecture.  The Villa Schwob was important to Le Corbusier’s career because it gave him a chance to experiment with ideas, such as the Dom-Ino System, the free plan, and mathematical order, which he refined in his later buildings."

I disagree with, or more so don't like the phrasing, the author uses when they say Le Corbusier was "still discovering his aesthetic" as an architect, or the way they imply that Le Corbusier consciously tried to depict purist ideals. I would rather argue that the design is a more natural manifestation of Le Corbusier's ideals at the time. However, I do agree with the author on the fact that this building allowed him to explore the free plan and mathematical order in his buildings.