Situated across the Bois de Boulogne and the Roland Garros tennis stadium, Corbusier designed the building for a private developer. Conceived to take in sweeping views of Paris, it was the world’s first residential building facade made completely of glass: reinforced glass, glass bricks, and clear glass. Corbusier moved into the penthouse duplex unit at 24 rue Nungesser et Coli in 1934 with his wife, Yvonne and dog Pinceau and lived there for the remainder of his life till 1965. Unfortunately for Yvonne, the amount of glazing was overwhelming and she reportedly complained, "all this light is killing me... driving me crazy."
Despite the spousal complaints, the apartment appears to be a modern masterpiece. Upon closer inspection, however, you can see how Corbusier translated ideas from his early travel experiences (Istanbul, Rome, Pompeii) into built form. To show how these ancient influences are woven into his work, I’ll provide excerpts from Cobusier’s book “Towards A New Architecture” in orange and interleave them with my insightful Beavis and Butthead commentary which will be organized around the notion of the “architectural promenade”.
The architectural promenade, or interior circulation was an obsession Corbusier engaged in throughout his entire career: “Everything, especially in architecture, is a question of circulation”... “Arabic architecture teaches us a valuable lesson. It is best appreciated on foot: it is by walking, by moving that one discerns the underlying architectural arrangement. This principle is exactly the opposite of baroque architecture”
To develop a successful architectural promenade, Corbusier believed three essential ingredients were necessary: first, the entrance has to whet the visitor’s curiosity and entice him to follow the determined path; second, the path must accommodate multiple, successive points of view; and third, the diverse components of the promenade must form a cohesive architectural whole. For this project, Corbusier created a set of key vignettes showing his early ideas for views of the promenade going through his apartment.
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| Apartment duplex lower floor plan and section. |
The Entrance
Approaching the building from the street, one sees the standard hallmarks of Corbusier's buildings, piloti (grid of concrete or steel columns that replaces the load-bearing walls), roof garden, flexible plans allowing users to adjust their interior wall positions, expansive horizontal ribbon windows, and a free facade. 
The entry to his apartment is through a modest door in a skinny corridor. Immediately upon entry, a small low space with a spiral stair ascending to the light is analogous to entering the greeting atrium of a Pompeii house.
From Towards a New Architecture - "Casa del noce at Pompeii. Again the little vestibule which frees your mind from the street. And then you are in the atrium; four columns in the middle shoot up towards the shade of the roof, giving a feeling of force and a witness of potent methods; but at the far end is the brilliance of the garden seen through the peristyle which spreads out this light with a large gesture, distributes it and accentuates it, stretching widely from left to right, making a great space. Between the tow is the Tablium, contracting the vision like the lens of a camera. On the right and on the left two patches of shade -- little ones. Out of the clatter of the swarming street which is for every man and full of picturesque incident, you have entered the house of a Roman. Magistral grandeur, order, a splendid amplitude: you are in the house of a Roman. What was the function of these rooms? That is outside the question. After twenty centuries, without any historical reference, you are conscious of Architecture, and we are speaking of what is in reality a very small house."
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| casa del noce |
Oversized large pivot doors open up to the studio to the right and living room to the left. Whereas the entry area and living room have low flat ceilings, the art studio space soars into a surprising barrel vaulted space 6 m wide, 12 m long and 3.50 m high with windows overlooking the street. At the end of the studio, the barrel vault is held back revealing the party wall, the rough concrete block and brick wall of the neighboring property that Corbusier left exposed like an abstract canvas. Of this wall, Corbusier wrote : “Stone can speak to us; it speaks to us through the wall. Its covering is rough yet smooth to the touch. This wall has become my lifelong companion.”
The conceptual treatment of the concrete block wall is similar to Pompeii house walls. Our elements are vertical walls, the spread of the soil, holes to serve as passages for man or for light, doors or windows. The holes give much or little light, make gay or sad. The walls are in full brilliant light, or in half shade or in full shade, giving an effect of gaiety, serenity, or sadness. Your symphony is made ready. The aim of architecture is to make you gay or serene or sadness. Your symphony is made ready. Have respect for walls. The Pompeian did not cut up his wall spaces; he was devoted to wall spaces and loved light. Light is intense when it falls between walls which reflect it. The ancients built walls, walls which stretch out and meet to amplify the wall. In this way they created volumes, which are the basis of architectural and sensorial feeling. The light bursts on you by a definite intention, at one end and illuminates the walls. There are no other architectural elements internally : light and its reflection is a great flood by the walls and the floor, which is really a horizontal wall. To erect well lit walls is to establish the architectural elements of the interior. There remains to achieve Proportion.
The studio space was divided into three sections. The largest section was for painting. Since the site is oriented East-West, corbusier couldn't design the studio with north facing light. Instead, Corbusier chose clear glass and glass bricks to diffuse the light evenly throughout the space. Tucked in the corner of the studio was his office, the desk where he wrote his numerous books. Corbusier didn't like clutter, so he thickened his walls between rooms for storage. The wall between the office and studio is essentially a library bookshelf which contained Corbusier's own writings (he authored 40 books), technical manuals and classics. The third section was for the servant and storage space.
Looking at the workspaces you can imagine how Corbusier spent his mornings painting, then retreating to his desk to write and draw. The spaces were designed for maximum creativity. According to former coworker Jerzy Soltan, Corbusier's schedule was highly regimented. "at 6 A.M., gymnastics and …. Painting, a kind of fine arts calisthenics; at 8 A.M., breakfast. Then Le Corbusier entered into probably the most creative part of his day. He worked on the architectural and urbanistic sketches to be transmitted to us in the afternoon. Outlines of his written work would also be formulated then, along with some larger parts of the writings. Spiritually nourished by the preceding hours of physical and visual gymnastics, the hours of painting, he would use the main morning time for his most inspired conceptualization. A marvelous phenomenon indeed, this creative routine, implemented with his native Swiss regularity, harnessing and channeling what is most elusive. Corbu himself acknowledged the importance of this regimen. “If the generations come”, he wrote, “attach any importance to my work as an architect, it is to these unknown labors that one as to attribute its deeper meaning.”“After everything is said and done, I am a painter, and fervently so, since I paint everyday. It’s true that I began late in life, suddenly at the age of thirty-three… I would spend the morning painting and, in the afternoon, on the other side of Paris, devote my efforts to architecture and urbanism. Can we measure to what extent this patient and obstinate gardening, plowing, hoeing of forms and colors, rhythms and proportions, nourished the architecture and urban plans born each day at 35, rue de Sèvres? I think that if some value is to be accorded to my work as an architect, it is on this secret labor that the underlying quality depends.”
“I am a painter, basically, with tenacity, since I paint every day. In the morning, it’s painting, in the afternoon, on the other side of Paris, it’s architecture and urban design”, he observed. As he believed that his very persistent research was indeed the secret of its virtues as an architect. No one is just a sculptor, or just a painter, or just an architect. Artistic creation is carried out in the service of poetry.”
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| Corbusier in action |
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| barrel vault terminted in front of concrete block party wall left, casa del noce right. notice how corbusier lights the wall with high windows like the Pompeii House wall. both walls have a similar appearance. |
The conceptual treatment of the concrete block wall is similar to Pompeii house walls. Our elements are vertical walls, the spread of the soil, holes to serve as passages for man or for light, doors or windows. The holes give much or little light, make gay or sad. The walls are in full brilliant light, or in half shade or in full shade, giving an effect of gaiety, serenity, or sadness. Your symphony is made ready. The aim of architecture is to make you gay or serene or sadness. Your symphony is made ready. Have respect for walls. The Pompeian did not cut up his wall spaces; he was devoted to wall spaces and loved light. Light is intense when it falls between walls which reflect it. The ancients built walls, walls which stretch out and meet to amplify the wall. In this way they created volumes, which are the basis of architectural and sensorial feeling. The light bursts on you by a definite intention, at one end and illuminates the walls. There are no other architectural elements internally : light and its reflection is a great flood by the walls and the floor, which is really a horizontal wall. To erect well lit walls is to establish the architectural elements of the interior. There remains to achieve Proportion.
Looking at the workspaces you can imagine how Corbusier spent his mornings painting, then retreating to his desk to write and draw. The spaces were designed for maximum creativity. According to former coworker Jerzy Soltan, Corbusier's schedule was highly regimented. "at 6 A.M., gymnastics and …. Painting, a kind of fine arts calisthenics; at 8 A.M., breakfast. Then Le Corbusier entered into probably the most creative part of his day. He worked on the architectural and urbanistic sketches to be transmitted to us in the afternoon. Outlines of his written work would also be formulated then, along with some larger parts of the writings. Spiritually nourished by the preceding hours of physical and visual gymnastics, the hours of painting, he would use the main morning time for his most inspired conceptualization. A marvelous phenomenon indeed, this creative routine, implemented with his native Swiss regularity, harnessing and channeling what is most elusive. Corbu himself acknowledged the importance of this regimen. “If the generations come”, he wrote, “attach any importance to my work as an architect, it is to these unknown labors that one as to attribute its deeper meaning.”“After everything is said and done, I am a painter, and fervently so, since I paint everyday. It’s true that I began late in life, suddenly at the age of thirty-three… I would spend the morning painting and, in the afternoon, on the other side of Paris, devote my efforts to architecture and urbanism. Can we measure to what extent this patient and obstinate gardening, plowing, hoeing of forms and colors, rhythms and proportions, nourished the architecture and urban plans born each day at 35, rue de Sèvres? I think that if some value is to be accorded to my work as an architect, it is on this secret labor that the underlying quality depends.”
“I am a painter, basically, with tenacity, since I paint every day. In the morning, it’s painting, in the afternoon, on the other side of Paris, it’s architecture and urban design”, he observed. As he believed that his very persistent research was indeed the secret of its virtues as an architect. No one is just a sculptor, or just a painter, or just an architect. Artistic creation is carried out in the service of poetry.”
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