The Villa Savoye is a wonderful demonstration of Le Corbusier's 'five points of a new architecture', which he developed in 1927, exploiting the new opportunities of reinforced concrete.
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Open to public, but no tours are available on-site
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More Visit Info and How to Get there
The house is open to the public. You are free to tour the house unaccompanied, with an informative leaflet as a guide. The sitting room is partially furnished; other rooms are empty.
The house is open every day except Mondays as follows:
Closed - 1 January, 1 May, 1 and 11 November, 25 December.
To confirm opening hours:
Telephone +33 1 39 65 01 06villa-savoye@monuments-france.fr
To get there from Paris, take the RER line A to Poissy (west end of the line, 30-40 minutes from central Paris). The take bus 50, direction La Coudraie, stop Lycée Le Corbusier, or it's 15 minutes' walk (up hill) or 5 minutes in a taxi. Well worth the trip.
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Building Info
History, Background and Context
Le Corbusier's 'five points of a new architecture':
The pilotis (supporting columns): 'The house on pilotis! The house is firmly driven into the ground - a dark and often damp site. The reinforced concrete gives us the pilotis. The house is up in the air, far from the ground: the garden runs under the house...'
The roof gardens: '...the garden is also over the house, on the roof... Reinforced concrete is the new way to create a unified roof structure. Reinforced concrete expands considerably. The expansion makes the work crack at times of sudden shrinkage. Instead of trying to evacuate the rainwater quickly, endeavor on the contrary to maintain a constant humidity on the concrete of the terrace and hence an even temperature on the reinforced concrete. One particular protective measure: sand covered with thick concrete slabs, with widely spaced joints; these joints are sown with grass.'
Free plan: 'Until now: load-bearing walls; from the ground they are superimposed, forming the ground floor and the upper stories, up to the eaves. The layout is a slave to the supporting walls. Reinforced concrete in the house provides a free plan! The floors are no longer superimposed by partition walls. They are free.'
The horizontal window: 'The window is one of the essential features of the house. Progress brings liberation. Reinforced concrete provides a revolution in the history of the window. Windows can run from one end of the facade to the other.'
The free facade: 'The columns set back from the facades, inside the house. The floor continues cantilevered. The facades are no longer anything but light skins of insulating walls or windows. The facade is free.'
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By Le Corbusier In Poissy international style Residential
