villa savoye le corbusier visit

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Le Corbusier - World Heritage

Villa Savoye et loge du jardinier, 1928

The villa savoye is the absolute icon of the modern movement, immediately recognized as such..

Built on a large plot of unfarmed land (over 17 acres), free of all constraints, the Villa Savoye is in the form of a simple parallelepiped with four equivalent sides, placed on pilotis and covered by a roof terrace on which the more flowing forms of a solarium stand out . The forms are pure, immaculate, universal. The decision to open up an entire bay of pilotis and set back the ground floor, painted in dark green with its mass lost in shadow, accentuates the impression of elevation. The curve of the ground floor is based on the minimum turning radius of a motor car. Motor vehicle traffic becomes an integral part of architectural composition. Inside, distribution and spatial design are defined according to the movements of users along the ramp, giving access to the entire villa from the ground floor to the solarium.

The lightweight effect comes from the purity and perfection of the ideal shape of the prism as represented by the facades, from the absence of a ground floor and the elevation on stilts, as well as the importance given to the glass surfaces. The architecture is further dematerialized by the use of purist polychromy, erasing the texture of the materials and transforming the walls and partitions into sheer coloured surfaces, as in an abstract composition.

The Gardener's Lodge

This is the archetype of minimum housing as presented by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret at the second CIAM congress in Frankfurt in 1929. It displays the same formal principles as the master villa, illustrating the quest for an architecture that is at once universal and without social differentiation. The compact plan, designed for 3 to 4 people, offers only 30 m 2 of living space together with 9.5 m 2 for the boiler room and storage room. Four small rooms accessible through sliding doors are placed on either side of a shared room of 12.7 m 2 . Nothing to compare with the neighbouring mansion’s 400 m 2 on the ground, yet the two realisations have in common their unity of architectural thought.

villa savoye le corbusier visit

Roof plan with interior layout, captions and ratings Plan FLC 19414

Conférences de Le Corbusier, 1929 Sketches of Villa Savoye, implantation, perspective, plans, section with mentions Plan FLC 33491

Conférences de Le Corbusier, 1929 Sketches of 4 kinds of house : Auteuil, Garches, Tunis, Poissy Plan FLC 33492

Conférences Le Corbusier, 1929 3 sketches about lighting : Pan de verre, Mosquée verte de la brousse, Villa Savoye Plan FLC 33493

Perspective of terrace with silhouette Plan FLC 19425

Facade study drawing. Elevation view Plan FLC 19653

Perspective view of the villa with surrounding vegetation Plan FLC 31522

Ph. Marius Gravot FLC L2(17)8

Ph. Marius Gravot FLC L2(17)35

The entrance of the villa Ph. Marius Gravot FLC L2(17)61

The living room Ph. Marius Gravot FLC L2(17)98

The kitchen Ph. Marius Gravot FLC L2(17)176

Facade Ph. Cemal Emden

Exterior view Ph. Cemal Emden

Walk under pilotis

The roof garden Ph. Cemal Emden

Ramp, outer side Ph. Cemal Emden

Interior view, ramp and staircase Ph. Cemal Emden

The bathroom Ph. Cemal Emden

The gardener’s house Ph. Bénédicte Gandini

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Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier: A Masterpiece of Modern Architecture

Rear View / Villa Savoye

The Villa Savoye , completed in 1931 by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret in Poissy, France, is a landmark in modern architecture and a defining example of the International style. It is considered one of the 20th century’s most important contributions to the field and a pioneering embodiment of Le Corbusier’s “five points” of architectural design. The innovative building features a striking blend of functionality, expressionism, and cutting-edge technology, making it a timeless testament to the power of architecture to shape the future.

Villa Savoye Technical Information

  • Architects: Le Corbusier , Pierre Jeanneret | Biography & Bibliography
  • Location: 82 Rue de Villiers, 78300 Poissy, France
  • Client: Pierre and Eugénie Savoye
  • Topics: Villa , Unesco Heritage , Concrete
  • Style: Modernism , International Style
  • Area: 480 square meters / 5,100 square feet
  • Project Year: 1928-1931
  • Photographs: © Foundation Le Corbusier, Flickr Users: © Fernando Leiva, © proxectodhabitat, © End-User
A ramp provides gradual ascent from the pilotis, creating totally different sensations than those felt when climbing stairs. A staircase seperates one floor from another: a ramp links them together. – Le Corbusier 1

Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye Photographs

Satellite Plan Villa Savoye

Villa Savoye: The History of an Iconic House

The Villa Savoye was built as a country retreat for the wealthy French insurer Pierre Savoye and his wife, Eugénie. In the spring of 1928, they commissioned the design to the renowned architect Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret.

By the late 1920s, Le Corbusier was a well-established and renowned international architect. His architecture book “ Vers Une Architecture ” gained recognition, and he was a member of the Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM). He was known as a champion of modern architecture and was also involved with the Russian avant-garde through his work with the Centrosoyuz in Moscow.

The early 1920s saw Le Corbusier’s emphasis on the “precision” of architecture, where every aspect of a building’s design had a specific purpose and fit within the urban context. However, as the decade progressed, Le Corbusier’s approach became more experimental, as evidenced by his urban plans for Algiers and other projects.

The house is a box in the air – Le Corbusier 2

The Concept Behind Villa Savoye

The Villa Savoye, designed by Le Corbusier, was intended to embody the concept of a “machine as a home” , where the daily functions within it play a crucial role in its design. The driving force behind the design was the movement of cars, which was a passion for Le Corbusier for many years.

The concept also views housing as a standalone object that can be placed anywhere in the world and reflects the influence of transportation design, such as airplanes, cars, and ships, with the goal of mass-producing housing.

The supporting pillars on the ground floor further reinforce this idea, and the independence of the Villa from its garden is considered a key aspect of the first generation of International Architecture.

The Making of Villa Savoye: A Look at its Construction Process

Construction - Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier used reinforced concrete and plastered masonry to build the Villa Savoye. The use of reinforced concrete was a very modern construction method in the 1920s and 30s. Villa Savoye was the vision of Corbusier’s 5 points to a new architecture and included his idea and concept of open plan and free space. This meant that Corbusier needed to use materials with structural integrity.

A French industrialist, Francois Coignet, was the first to use reinforced concrete in construction. He used iron-reinforced concrete to create a four-story house in Paris. However, his intentions in using concrete weren’t to add strength to the building but to prevent the wide, elongated walls from collapsing and falling over. For Corbusier, this allowed him to create a long, horizontal wall that encases the wide windows, giving great structural support. It also gave enormous strength and stability by using reinforced concrete pilotis.

The materials utilized in the Villa Savoye were conventional and commonly used in the construction of houses for lower-class Parisians during that time. Despite the house being designed for the wealthy, simple materials like plaster walls and iron handrails were employed.

Discovering the Lasting Influence of Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye

Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye (1929–1931) most succinctly summed up his five points of architecture that he had elucidated in the journal L’Esprit Nouveau  and his book  Vers une architecture , which he had been developing throughout the 1920s.

  • Pilotis Le Corbusier lifted the bulk of the structure off the ground, supporting it by pilotis – reinforced concrete stilts. These pilotis provided the house’s structural support and allowed him to elucidate his following two points.
  • Free Facade non-supporting walls that could be designed as the architect wished.
  • Open Floor Plan The floor space was free to configure into rooms without concern for supporting walls.
  • Horizontal Windows The second floor of the Villa Savoye includes long strips of ribbon windows that allow unencumbered views of the large surrounding yard and constitute the fourth point of his system. This is a strength in enjoying panoramic scenery while complementing Western Europe’s climatic weakness, which lacks sunshine.
  • Roof Garden A functional roof serves as a garden and terrace, reclaiming the land occupied by the building for nature. A ramp rising from ground level to the third-floor roof terrace allows for a promenade architecturale through the structure.  Inside, the incorporation of  stylish kitchen floor tiles  adds an element of sophistication and practicality to the design, complementing the building’s harmonious blend of functionality and aesthetics.
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. – Le Corbusier

A ramp rising from ground level to the third-floor roof terrace allows for a promenade architecturale through the structure. The white tubular railing recalls the industrial “ocean-liner” aesthetic that Le Corbusier much admired. The driveway around the ground floor, with its semicircular path, measures the exact turning radius of a 1927 Citroën automobile.

The Enduring Impact of Villa Savoye on Modern Architecture

The building featured in two hugely influential books of the time:   Hitchcock and Johnson’s The International Style , published in 1932, and F. R. S. Yorke’s The Modern House , published in 1934, and the second volume of Le Corbusier’s series The Complete Works . In his 1947 essay, The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa , Colin Rowe compared the Villa Savoye to Palladio’s Villa Rotonda .

The freedom given to Le Corbusier by the Savoyes resulted in a house that was governed more by his five principles than by any requirements of the occupants. Nevertheless, it was the last time these five principles were expressed so thoroughly, and the house marked the end of one phase of his design approach and the latest in a series of buildings dominated by the color white.

Years later, it was purchased by the neighboring school, and it became the property of the French state in 1958. There were several proposals to demolish the house at that time. However, it was designated an official French historical monument in 1965 (a rare event, as Le Corbusier was still living). It was thoroughly renovated between 1985 and 1997, and the refurbished house is now open to visitors year-round under the care of the “Centre des Monuments Nationaux.”

In July 2016, Le Corbusier’s house and several other works were registered as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Villa Savoye Floor Plans and Sketches

Floor Plans Villa Savoye

Villa Savoye Image Gallery

Front View / Villa Savoye

About Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier, born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (1887-1965), was a groundbreaking Swiss architect and city planner who merged functionalism and sculptural expressionism in his designs. He was a pioneer of the International School of Architecture and used rough-cast concrete for its aesthetic and sculptural qualities.

In 2016, 17 of his architectural works were named World Heritage sites by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), including the Ronchamp Chapel (France), the National Museum of Western Art , Tokyo (Japan), the House of Dr. Curutchet in La Plata (Argentina), La Tourette in Eveux (France) and the Unite d’habitation in Marseille (France).

Full Bio of Le Corbusier  | Other works from Le Corbusier  

  • Source: Le Corbusier: The Villa Savoye by Jacques Sbriglio
  • Source: Precisions: On the Present State of Architecture and City Planning by Le Corbusier, 1930.

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Visit of the Villa Savoye in Poissy

You must know about the most famous Paris museums , but have you ever heard of the Villa Savoye? This gem of contemporary architecture, accessible with the Paris Museum Pass, is an interesting cultural place to visit in addition to absolute must-sees like the Louvre or the Orsay Museum.

The Villa Savoye, a building by the architecte Le Corbusier

The Villa was built in Poissy on a green site surrounded by meadows and orchards, overlooking the Seine Valley. It combines the five points of modern architecture as expressed by Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris: the pilotis, the free plan, the free facade, the horizontal windows and the roof garden.

This villa was built without respecting what the Savoye family wanted, such as a big living room on the first floor, or the possibility to add extensions to the building. In the end, the Villa Savoye was inhabited for very little time. Just as every project ahead of its time, it was necessary to "deal with teething problems". Concerning the Villa, it suffered from some structural and functional problems. Water leaks and cracks appeared. The villa was not insulated well and was hard to heat. Also, this concrete block clashed with the environment and the neighbors had a hard time accepting it.  

In order to create his ideal villa, Le Corbusier ignored most of the Savoye family's requests (a big living room on the first floor and the possibility to add extensions to the building for example). Even if functionality is a main asset of the building, the Savoye family did not live much time in the villa because it was not adapted to the location, nor to the climate, nor to the inhabitants: because of the building's design, humidity, cracks and water leaks quickly appeared ; it was impossible to heat and the rooms had bad soundproofing.

From a residence to a tourist attraction

The Villa Savoye underwent various events. The Savoye family lived in it intermittently until 1940 , but it was used by the Germans and the Allies during the Second World War, and it still has scars from this time. In 1958, the Villa Savoye was expropriated and the city of Poissy took 6 hectares of land to build a high school for baby boomers. The Villa was given to the French State in 1962 .

In 1965, the Villa Savoye was classified as national heritage site. Abandoned for some more years, the villa finally went through a restoration process lasting many years until 1997. 

The blueprint of the Villa

The pilotis raise the building off the ground and add free space. They lift a part of the second floor, which is thus biggest than the first floor.

The first floor was where lived the servants (still present in upper-class families in the 30s). The garage was also here.

There are two accesses to the second floor : a ramp or a spiral staircase. A part of the second floor is in open air, with a big terrace . From there, you can take a ramp to access the solarium on the roof garden. The other rooms of the house are located around this terrace: a big living room, a functional kitchen and three bedrooms. A small lounge is also on this second floor. There are also two cellars in the Villa Savoye, but those are not on the blueprints because Le Corbusier found them offensive.

When you come to visit, you will also discover a small building in front of the house: a 33 m² gardener’s house with two tiny 5 m² bedrooms. Only the South façade has windows. This small house illustrates what le Corbusier considered to be the minimum space for a family apartment.

Visiting the Villa Savoye in Poissy

Thanks to the Paris Museum Pass , you can visit freely this place and enjoy the sight of this extraordinary testimony of the architectural revolutions of the 20th century.

Opening hours and days

  • Low season (from September 1 to April 30) : 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., opened every day except on Mondays 
  • High season (from May 2 to August 31) : 10 a.m. – 6 p.m., opened every day except on Mondays
  • Closed on : January 1 and May 1 every year.

Address and getting there

  • Address:  Villa Savoye 82, rue de Villiers 78300 Poissy
  • Getting there : RER line A, stop "Gare de Poissy", then bus line 50, stop "Villa Savoye" (towards "La Coudraie")

Other contemporary cultural sites

Do you like contemporary art? Other exceptional tourist attractions await you in Paris and its surroundings. After having visited the Villa Savoye in Poissy, you could discover Paris street art with an experienced and passionate guide to admire the great murals in Paris streets.

Autre classique de l'art moderne, le Centre Pompidou au coeur de la capitale : un lieu extraordinaire, où sont exposées des oeuvres magistrales et chefs d'oeuvre célèbres. The Centre Pompidou in the center of Paris is another must-see for modern art: an extraordinary place where famous masterpieces and remarkable art pieces are displayed.

Do not miss out on the Picasso Museum displaying a collection of art pieces associated to this out of the ordinary artist.

villa savoye le corbusier visit

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Home > Villa Savoye (Le Corbusier): the Icon of Modern Architecture

Villa Savoye (Le Corbusier): the Icon of Modern Architecture

Villa savoye by le corbusier.

Designed by the Swiss architect Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye in Poissy (France) means the starting point of  Modern Architecture.

Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye is not any design house, it is THE house where the architect implemented for the first time his concept of “New Architecture”. Over the years, Villa Savoye became a world icon and a pilgrimage site for any architect or architecture lover.

Villa Savoye is located in the small town of Poissy , 24 km west of Paris. Its easy access from the French capital makes Villa Savoye in Poissy a great side-trip to see the best of architecture.

What is Modern Architecture?

Modern Architecture dates back to the beginning of the 20th century and it is based on an emphasis on form rather than ornament; structure and materials rather than picturesque constructions; and the rational and efficient use of space.

Modern Architecture was possible because new building materials and technologies became available and architects started experimenting with them, trying to break away from historical architectural styles and to invent something that was purely functional and new.

At first, there was a considerable difference in style between the earliest works of Modern Architecture, which was not surprising considering the architects’ wish to break completely from the “conventional” buildings of that time. However, these first works were all based on the epigram “Form should follow function ” and undecorated, minimalist surfaces abounded.

Modern Architecture was led by Le Corbusier , Mies van der Rohe and Alvar Aalto in Europe whilst Frank Lloyd Wright introduced the modern style in America.

Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier via Flickr CC @Alan Wylde

Villa Savoye - Le Corbusier

Villa Savoye Concept: “The Machine to Live”

Villa Savoye was designed by the Swiss architect  Le Corbusier as the weekend home for the Savoye family. The Savoyes were a couple of bankers who gave the architect total freedom to express himself.

Named “Les Heures Claires” and built between 1928 and 1931, this villa closes the cycle of creation of the white or purist houses of Le Corbusier. With this “box in the air” (the house’s nickname given by its creator), Le Corbusier broke with traditional architecture and settled the five points of Modern Architecture .

The architect wrote about Villa Savoye:

The house will rest on the grass as an object without disturbing anything because it is raised above a meadow. It overturns the traditional codes of the architecture of a classic country house and redefines all the architectural criteria of living spaces according to their function, their relationship of forms, light, and landscape

Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye

Villa Savoye Architecture: The 5 Points of Modern Architecture

Formulated in 1926, Le Corbusier’s Five Points of a New Architecture  meant the beginning of the Modern Architecture in the 20th century and dictated a new approach to the design of domestic architecture. The freedom of this new design vocabulary allowed huge amounts of light, air, and space while creating uninterrupted openings in building facades and liberating the interior from the post and beam reinforced concrete structures within.

Le Corbusier’s Five Points for a New Architecture are as follows:

1- THE USE OF PILOTIS (STILTS)

Le Corbusier replaced the supporting walls by a grid of reinforced concrete load-bearing columns, called pilotis, offering increased open space creating a “box in the air”.

2- FREE, OPEN PLAN

Thanks to reinforced concrete and stilts, there is no need for bearing walls and Le Corbusier lets the interior of the villa open and free in its usage. The natural flow of space was a key characteristic of Modern Architecture.

3- FREE DESIGN OF THE FACADE

Free of the load-bearing structure, the exterior of the villa loses its structural function and the architect has more freedom to design the facades.

Villa Savoye in Poissy

4- HORIZONTAL WINDOWS

Thanks to non-load bearing facades, the architect can design long horizontal windows. In Villa Savoye all rooms are lit equally and there is a selective view of the surrounding environment.

5- ROOF-GARDEN

The flat roof becomes a usable terrace where plants can be planted. In this way, Le Corbusier could bring nature into the home and it also allowed for increased views over the site.

Villa Savoye Roof Garden

via Flickr CC @End User

Another concept applied by Le Corbusier to this house was the  “architectural walk” (the use of a wide ramp connecting the different floors instead of a narrow and vertical staircase) proposing the passageway from floor to floor as THE architectonic space for the 20th century and making intangible the boundary between indoors and outdoors.

Villa Savoye's Ramp

Villa Savoye Interior Design

Le Corbusier is also known as a furniture designer. In Villa Savoye’s living room visitors can see the iconic MLF armchair  and the chaise longue, two of Le Corbusier’s most famous designs. The idea of “chaise longue” also appears at the edge of the bath in the parents’ bathroom.

Villa Savoye Interior

Le Corbusier Villa Savoye – Practical Info

Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier, is located in the town of Poissy in Yvelines department. To go to Villa Savoye from Paris, take RER A at Charles de Gaulle-Etoile or Châtelet to Poissy Station. Out of the station, on the right, take bus #50 direction La Coudraie . The bus stop is called Villa Savoye (or just ask the driver to tell you when to stop). The exact address is Villa Savoye 82 rue de Villiers, 78300 Poissy.

Villa Savoye is open every day except on Monday, from 10 am to 5 pm. The entrance ticket is 8€. The entrance is free for UE citizens between 18-25 years. Also, it is possible to visit Villa Savoye for free during special occasions, like Les Journées du Patrimoine (usually on the second or third weekend of September).

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villa savoye le corbusier visit

Villa Savoye et loge du jardinier – Poissy

82, rue de Villiers - FR- 78300 Poissy

Open to visits

LISTED AND CERTIFIED SITE

Logo Unesco

Villa Savoye et loge du jardinier, 1928, Poissy - France

Villa savoye et loge du jardinier.

On the Beauregard plateau overlooking the Seine Valley, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret design for Mr. and Mrs. Pierre Savoye, a weekend house and a gardener’s lodge.

On a vast ground of 7 hectares, free from any constraint, the Villa Savoye is the absolute icon of the Modern Movement. The house is in the form of a single parallelepiped with four equivalent sides, placed on piles and covered with a roof terrace from which stand out the softer forms of a solarium. The forms are pure, immaculate, universal.

The release of an entire span of piles and the removal of the ground floor painted in dark green to erase the mass in the shadows give the impression of elevation. The curve of the ground floor is calculated to allow car traffic, which becomes a full component of the architectural composition. Inside also, the distribution and spatial design are defined according to the movements of users along the ramp from which the ground floor serves the entire villa to the solarium.

The quest for lightness is another major generator of the project. This comes from the ideal shape of the prism, whose facades are equivalent, the erasure of the ground floor, the elevation on stilts, but also the importance given to glazed surfaces. The use of purist polychromy reinforces the dematerialization of this architecture by erasing the texture of the materials and transforming the walls and partitions into simple colored walls as in an abstract composition.

The gardener’s lodge 

It is the archetype of minimum housing. It presents the same formal principles as the mansion, illustrating this quest for an architecture that is both universal and without social distinction.

The compact plan designed for 3 to 4 people offers only 30 m2 of living space and 9.50 m2 of boiler room and storage room. Four small rooms accessible by sliding doors are flanked on both sides of a common room of 12.70 m2. There is nothing comparable with the neighboring mansion, but the same community of architectural thought unites these two achievements.

villa savoye le corbusier visit

Text: Gilles Ragot

Photo credits: Cemal Emden, Paul Koslowski

© FLC/ADAGP, 2022

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Villa Savoye and Gardener's Lodge

Poissy, france, 1928.

« The view is beautiful, the grass is beautiful, the forest too; we will touch these as little as possible. The house will alight on the grass like an object, without disturbing anything ».

Villa Savoye was a veritable manifesto, the last of the Purist houses, and it remains the one that best illustrates the “five points of modern architecture”.

Under the spell of the house built by Le Corbusier for the Church family in Ville-d’Avray , Pierre and Eugénie Savoye commissioned a contemporary weekend home for their spacious seventeen acre site along the Seine at Poissy, on the Beau Regard heights. Devoid of “preconceived ideas” and with a substantial budget, the Savoye couple offered the architect the chance to implement many of his architectural theories of the 1920s.

Villa Savoye © FLC / ADAGP / © Marc Tulane / Dist. Centre des monuments nationaux (Base Regards)

The “ Dom-Ino ” post-slab structure did away with the load-bearing walls of traditional architecture, thus freeing the horizontal layout and the facades and leaving the way open for long strip windows.

As at Maison La Roche , the pilotis freed the ground space, giving the building an air of weightlessness. The ground floor could thus be curved in shape, facilitating the turning radius of the Savoye family’s motor car: “the car goes in under the pilotis, skirts around the servant’s quarters, arrives at the door to the entrance-hall in the centre, enters the garage or continues on its way back: that is the basic feature.” 

After three unsuccessful proposals, Le Corbusier reworked his initial project. The terrace was now reduced to a solarium overlooking this delicate white box.  By November 1928,  the tracings in the studio at 35 rue de Sèvres had given the “box in the air” its final shape.

On 29 April, 1929 the architect, at last satisfied with the project, confided to his mother, “The house in Poissy has become a little miracle. It’s a creation.” Building continued and the house was finally delivered in the summer of 1931.

The interiors were seen by Le Corbusier as “rooms we live in” and he conceived the kitchen, for example,  in much the same way as the living room. As with his other creations of the 1920s, he made use of architectural polychromy,.

As in other programmes, the architect designed the villa as an “architectural promenade”, organizing movement so that spaces, viewpoints and “frames” unfold as one advances, constantly shifting and giving new views of both interior and exterior. Two-way movement is facilitated by a ramp positioned in the centre of the building and a staircase.

Bathed in light, the villa fits perfectly into its wooded park, which includes an orchard and a kitchen garden. While the Savoyes did not make Poissy their main residence, they did plan a house for their full-time gardener at the entrance to the park.

The Gardener’s Lodge is the archetype of the minimum dwelling proposed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret at the second CIAM congress in Frankfurt in 1929. It presents the same formal principles as the Villa Savoye, thus illustrating the desire for architecture that is both universal and without social distinction.

Villa Savoye © FLC / ADAGP / © Jean-Christophe Ballot / Dist. Centre des monuments nationaux (Base Regards)

Subsequent History

In 1940, the villa was requisitioned by the Germans and the Savoyes stopped using it. After the war, its existence was threatened with reconstruction and urbanization. The municipality planned to set up a secondary school on the site.

In 1958, the Savoyes were expropriated and demolition was imminent. At that time, the building was being used as a youth centre. Le Corbusier, who had hoped to set up in it a museum devoted to his work, was distressed. The international architectural community, including Sigfried Giedion, Mies van der Rohe and Paul Nelson, pleaded his cause. Le Corbusier appealed directly to André Malraux, then Minister of Cultural Affairs.

Malraux, a friend of Le Corbusier and defender of his architecture, became personally involved in protecting the “Les Heures Claires” villa. In 1962, the State bought the villa but the creation of the “Le Corbusier” secondary school had reduced the site area from 17.3 acres to 2.5 acres.

On December 12, 1965, four months after Le Corbusier’s death, the villa was listed as a Historic Monument.

Restoration work on the Villa and the Lodge began in 1967, under the supervision of the architect Jean Dubuisson. Work included in particular repair of the facade coatings and replacement of all the wooden frames of the windows by painted aluminum. The work continued in the following years, on the waterproofing of the terraces, the facade coatings, the interior polychromy, etc. The last restoration work was carried out in 2015 and focused on the Gardener’s Lodge, with restoration to its original state of 1929, including in particular the polychrome facades. 

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Villa Savoye – Visiting Le Corbusier’s Famous Villa

Avatar for Kylie Deyzel

Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye, situated in Poissy, Paris, is the epitome of 20th-century modern architecture. From its minimalistic approach, the use of concrete throughout, and the complete celebration of the new machine age. One of Le Corbusier’s most famous sayings is that “the house is a machine for living”, and from the moment you initially lay your sight on the house, it is clear that this statement of his was the inspiration for the house.

Table of Contents

  • 1.1 About Le Corbusier
  • 1.2 Use and Restoration of the Villa Savoye
  • 2.1 Exterior Features of the Villa Savoye
  • 2.2 The Villa Savoye Interior
  • 3 Contradictions of the Villa Savoye
  • 4.1 Why Is It Called the Villa Savoye?
  • 4.2 What Is the Concept of the Villa Savoye?
  • 4.3 What Is the Most Significant Element of the Villa Savoye?
  • 4.4 Why Is There a Ramp in the Villa Savoye?
  • 4.5 What Are Ribbon Windows?

History of the Villa Savoye

In 1928, Le Corbusier and his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, were commissioned by the wealthy Savoye family to design this countryside sanctuary as a retreat for them. The brief that the architects were given was mainly open for interpretation, and the only requirements were that the clients needed a space for their cars, a caretaker’s lodge, and an extra bedroom.

Le Corbusier and his cousin came up with five design proposals for the house within the client’s budget, however, excluded the landscaping and the lodge. This meant that the entirety of the project ended up over double the original budget. A few alterations to the designs were made to bring down the cost, such as a double lodge that became a single lodge.

At this point in his career, Le Corbusier was particularly fascinated with the design of steamships and technology. The streamlined simplicity and modular design techniques contributed greatly to the aesthetic for not only the Villa Savoye but most of his designs.

About Le Corbusier

By the time Le Corbusier designed the Villa Savoye, he was already an established and favorite architect. Born on the sixth of October 1887 in Switzerland, Le Corbusier grew up to become a painter, designer, architect, writer, urban planner, and ultimately the father of modern architecture.

His professional career spanned a lengthy five decades while he designed buildings all over the world.

Le Corbusier dedicated his career to finding solutions for the overcrowding of cities which made him a very influential urban planner. He was a founding member of the CIAM (Congres International d’Architecture Modern) and 17 of his projects in seven countries are on the list of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Le Corbusier

Use and Restoration of the Villa Savoye

When the construction of the house was completed in 1931, it was officially handed over to the new owners that same year. During the next few years, quite a few repairs had to be done due to leaks forming throughout the building, as well as other quality issues which were a result of budget cuts.

The original owners inhabited the house from 1931 to 1937, after which it remained empty and abandoned for about 20 years.

During World War II, the house was used by the German army for storage of hay. In 1958, the city of Poissy bought the house with the intent to demolish it to make way for a new school. Against all odds, Le Corbusier himself, of all people, was appointed by the city to design the new school. This, of course, meant that Le Corbusier took notice of the plans to demolish his Villa Savoye, after which he did everything in his power to put a stop to the demolition plans. He even proposed to take charge of the rehabilitation of the building himself to convert it into a museum for it to properly serve as a historical monument.

Villa Savoye Plaque

He took on the restoration and conversion of the Villa Savoye in 1959. He worked on the project until he died in 1965. The Villa Savoye was added to the register of historical monuments in 1965, while Le Corbusier was still alive, which made it the first restoration project while its architect was still living.

In 1985, a restoration process was funded and put in place by the state and was led by architect Jean-Louis Veret.

The restoration was completed in 1997 and included structural repairs as well as exterior repairs to all the terraces and facades because of the state of the corrosion of the concrete. Also included in the restoration was the installment of security cameras and lighting as well as the replacement of some original fixtures and accessories.

How the Villa Savoye Was Built

Throughout his professional career, Le Corbusier was set on finding a new way of building and he wanted to create a sort of blueprint for all other modern buildings to follow. He came up with a set of rules to follow for the designs of his buildings. He called this list “The Five Points of Architecture”, which he applied religiously, especially in the case of his Villa Savoye. The five points are:

These five points, however, weren’t just conjured up during a dream but were rather developed from his obsession with steamships and technology at the time: The pillars that were the supports for the decks, the ribbon windows on the shops, the diagonal ramps affording movement through the ships – all these elements ended up concluding his five points of architecture.

When combined, these elements are also known as the “domino” concept, which reduces the load-bearing structural elements of a house to only pillars and concrete slabs.

He named the concept “domino” because of a house he designed named Maison Domini, in which he used this concept for the first time. With this method, the weight of the building is pulled downward entirely and leaves the facades free to act only as a light skin to the building.

The piloti of the Villa Savoye is situated all around the perimeter of the ground floor of the building. The piloti forms a square grid that supports the upper volume of the house on three sides of the home, which is referred to as a pentastyle grid. The piloti allows the building to appear as if it is floating, as well as opening the entirety of the ground to enable it to act as a free plan, which visually separates the structure from its partitions. This also means that the facades above are now free from load-bearing elements, which means that windows could be installed from corner to corner, without any interruptions.

The concept of making use of piloti on the entirety of the ground floor contrasted with the popular use of masonry architecture which suggested that a building needs to be structurally and visually connected to the ground.

Le Corbusier wanted a garden space, without occupying the open ground floor. His solution was to incorporate a roof garden in the center of the house, surrounded by large sliding doors and windows that let natural light and sunlight into the house throughout the day.

The roof garden faces south, and instead of the traditional way of the garden being at the end of the house, the garden is the central element around which the house was built. In the case of the Villa Savoye, the roof garden also connects the first and the second floors.

Villa Savoye Sign

Exterior Features of the Villa Savoye

At first glance, the house seems to be floating against a backdrop of greenery on very thin pilotis. Le Corbusier went as far as to specify for the lower-level walls of the building to be painted green to emphasize the floating effect of the building by making the lower-level blend in with the green backdrop. On the lower floor plan, the Villa Savoye has a very eye-catching element: the curved glass façade, which can be seen on the lower level.

The curve of the facade was specifically designed to mimic the turning radius of 1920s cars to make it easier to drive through the driveway underneath the house and pull into the garage.

Interestingly, there is no main facade to the building. None of the facades stand out in any way, and each of them is unique. The free-flowing ramps are considered the spine of the house. The ramp ties all the spaces together and passes from the inside to the outside. The ramp is also entirely visible from outside of the house.

The Villa Savoye Interior

Upon entering the Villa Savoye interior, you are met with stars as well as a long ramp that leads to the first floor, guiding you to peak at specific views, like part of the rooftop garden, through intentionally placed windows.

Le Corbusier described the staircase as an element that “separates” the stories and the ramp as an element that “joins” the stories.

According to the floor plan, the Villa Savoye first floor encompasses the master bedroom, the second bedroom, which served as the son’s bedroom, the guest bedroom, the salon, the kitchen, and exterior walkways. The room which used to be the salon, faces south-east, whereas the terrace faces the east. The kitchen faces southwest, and the son’s bedroom faces northwest.

Villa Savoye Interior

On the second floor is several sculpted enclosures that formed the sunroom. According to the floor plan, the Villa Savoye was designed with the Golden section in mind, which in this case was a square that was divided into 16 parts, and then further divided to set the position of the entrance and the ramp.

Most of the interior walls are, non-surprisingly, modern, clean, and white. What is surprising about the Villa Savoye is that some rooms consist of colored accent walls.

During this time, Le Corbusier warmed up to the idea of using colors, at least indoors, as he believed that color is a strong mood modifier. He chose the wall colors based on the idea that warm colors are very stimulating and that cool colors bring calmness. The specific colors that he made use of on accent walls in the Villa Savoye are light pink, orange, vibrant blue, blue-tinted gray, and warm brown.

Interior of the Villa Savoye

Contradictions of the Villa Savoye

For someone who had such a strong belief system, Le Corbusier made use of building methods that were very contradictory to his system and his explanation for his designs. Le Corbusier is known for working with new, revolutionary materials such as concrete and steel because of their predictability. But for reasons which no one understands, he chose to install wood window frames in the Villa Savoye instead of the more predictable aluminum frames that he lovingly made use of in all his other buildings. During the restoration of the house, which took place between 1963 and 1965, these wooden window frames were replaced with aluminum by John Du Bois, with Le Corbusier’s blessing.

Contradictions and controversies aside, the fact remains that the Villa Savoye was one of the most influential buildings of its time, of which proof can be found all over the world. The loose brief may have been, however regretful by the Savoye family, gave Le Corbusier the freedom to apply all these principles that he believed in so strongly, into one building for us to admire until this day.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is it called the villa savoye.

Le Corbusier simply named the house after his clients. Pierre and Eugenie Savoye commissioned the architects to design and build a country home, with very little stipulations as to what exactly they needed.

What Is the Concept of the Villa Savoye?

Le Corbusier wanted the Villa Savoye to be the ultimate example of modern architecture and the so-called machine-as-a-home archetype.

What Is the Most Significant Element of the Villa Savoye?

The integration of the outdoors with the indoors through the use of diagonal movement making use of a ramp, as well as making use of a rooftop garden right at the core of the house.

Why Is There a Ramp in the Villa Savoye?

Le Corbusier incorporated a ramp in the house that takes you from the ground floor entrance across to the very top of the building to prompt movement and usage of the entirety of the space.

What Are Ribbon Windows?

Ribbon windows are a succession of windows placed side by side to form one continual horizontal band across the entirety of a façade.

kylie deyzel

Kylie Deyzel is an interior designer and sustainability enthusiast from Cape Town, South Africa. She has a passion for writing and educating others on various interior design topics. Her favorite interior design topics include interior design theory, interior design history, and most of all: sustainable interior design.

She received her B-tech degree in interior design from the University of Johannesburg in 2018 and has worked at various interior design firms since and had a few of her own freelance interior design clients under her company name binnekant.

Learn more about the Art in Context Team .

Cite this Article

Kylie, Deyzel, “Villa Savoye – Visiting Le Corbusier’s Famous Villa.” Art in Context. August 12, 2022. URL: https://artincontext.org/villa-savoye/

Deyzel, K. (2022, 12 August). Villa Savoye – Visiting Le Corbusier’s Famous Villa. Art in Context. https://artincontext.org/villa-savoye/

Deyzel, Kylie. “Villa Savoye – Visiting Le Corbusier’s Famous Villa.” Art in Context , August 12, 2022. https://artincontext.org/villa-savoye/ .

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Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier

Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier - Garden

  • Written by Andrew Kroll

Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier - Windows, Countertop, Glass

  • Architects: Le Corbusier
  • Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  1929
  • Photographs Photographs: Flickr User: End User

Text description provided by the architects. Situated in Poissy , a small commune outside of Paris, Villa Savoye is one of the most significant contributions to modern architecture in the 20th century. Completed in 1929, Le Corbusier's masterpiece is a modern take on a French country house that celebrates and reacts to the new machine age.

Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier - Windows, Countertop, Glass

The house single-handedly transformed Le Corbusier’s career as well as the principles of the International Style; becoming one of the most important architectural precedents in history. Villa Savoye’s detachment from its physical context lends its design to be contextually integrated into the mechanistic/industrial context of the early 20th century, conceptually defining the house as a mechanized entity.

Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier - Facade, Windows

Le Corbusier is famous for stating, “The house is a machine for living.” This statement is not simply translated into the design of a human-scaled assembly line; rather the design begins to take on innovative qualities and advances found in other fields of industry, in the name of efficiency.

In response to his aspirations and admiration of mechanized design, Le Corbusier established “The Five Points Of Architecture" , which is simply a list of prescribed elements to be incorporated in the design. The Five Points of architecture can be thought of as Le Corbusier’s modern interpretation of Vitruvius’ Ten Books on Architecture, not literally in the sense of an instructional manual for architects, but rather a checklist of necessary components of design.

In fact, Villa Savoye is thoroughly tailored to Corbusier’s Five Points:

  • Flat Roof Terrace
  • Ribbon Windows
  • Free Façade  

Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier - Windows

At this point in Le Corbusier’s career, he became intrigued by the technology and design of steamships.  The simplistic, streamlined result born out of innovative engineering techniques and modular design had influenced Corbusier’s spatial planning and minimalistic aesthetic.  

The pilotis that support the decks, the ribbon windows that run alongside the hull, the ramps providing a moment of egress from deck to deck; all of these aspects served as the foundation of the Five Points of Architecture and are found in the overall composition of Villa Savoye.

Upon entering the site, the house appears to be floating above the forested picturesque background supported by slender pilotis that seem to dissolve among the tree line, as the lower level is also painted green to allude to the perception of a floating volume.

The lower level serves as the maintenance and service programs of the house. One of the most interesting aspects of the house is the curved glass façade on the lower level that is formed to match the turning radius of automobiles of 1929 so that when the owner drives underneath the larger volume they can pull into the garage with ease of a slight turn.

Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier - Facade, Handrail

The living quarters, or the upper volume, are fitted with ribbon windows that blend seamlessly into the stark, white façade, which void the façade(s) of any hierarchy.  The ribbon windows begin to play with the perception of interior and exterior, which does not fully become expressed until once inside.

However once inside, there becomes a clear understanding of the spatial interplay between public and private spaces.  Typically, the living spaces of a house are relatively private, closed off, and rather secluded. Yet, Le Corbusier situates the living spaces around a communal, outdoor terraced that is separated from the living area by a sliding glass wall. 

Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier - Facade, Handrail

This notion of privatized areas within a larger communal setting is a common thread later on in Le Corbusier’s housing projects.

Both the lower level and the upper living quarters are based on an open plan idea that provokes the inhabitant to continuously meander between spaces.  As an architectural tour de force, Le Corbusier incorporates a series of ramps moving from the lower level all the way to the rooftop garden, which requires the inhabitant to slow down and experience the movement between spaces.

Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier - Sink

Villa Savoye is a house designed based on an architectural promenade. Its experience is in the movement through the spaces. It is not until one becomes familiar with the subtle peculiarities that the movement and proportionality of the spaces evokes a sense of monumentality within the Parisian suburb.

Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier - Facade

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Architecture Classics: Villa Savoye / Le Corbusier - Garden

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Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye

“The house is a box in the air,…” Le Corbusier, Précisions (1929)  

Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, 1929, Poissy, France (photo: Renato Saboya, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, 1929, Poissy, France (photo: Renato Saboya , CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The Villa Savoye at Poissy, designed by Le Corbusier in 1929, represents the culmination of a decade during which the architect worked to articulate what he considered the essence of modern architecture. Throughout the 1920s, via his writings and designs, Le Corbusier (formerly Charles-Edouard Jeanneret) considered the nature of modern life and architecture’s role in the new machine age. His famous dictum, that “The house is a machine for living in,” is perfectly realized within the forms, layout, materials, and siting of the Villa Savoye. [1]

Located just outside Paris, the Villa Savoye offered an escape from the crowded city for its wealthy patrons. Its location on a large unrestricted site allowed Le Corbusier total creative freedom. The delicate floating box that he designed is both functional house and modernist sculpture, elegantly melding form and function.

Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture (Towards a New Architecture) (New York: Dover Publications, 1923), pp. 134–35

Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture (Towards a New Architecture) (New York: Dover Publications, 1923), pp. 134–35

Le Corbusier had been developing his theories on modern architecture throughout the previous decade. In 1920, he founded the journal L’Esprit Nouveau ( The New Spirit) , and many of the essays he published there would eventually be incorporated into his landmark collection of essays, Vers une architecture (Toward an Architecture) in 1923. This book celebrated science, technology, and reason, arguing that modern machines could create highly precise objects not unlike the ideal platonic forms valued by the ancient Greeks. Le Corbusier lavished praise on the icons   of modernity—race cars, airplanes, and factories—marveling at the beauty of their efficiency. However, he also argued that beauty lay not only in the newest technology but in ancient works such as the Parthenon , whose refined forms represented, in his view, the perfection of earlier Archaic  systems. Le Corbusier sought to isolate what he called “type forms,” which he referred to as universal elements of design that can work together in a system. He found these across time and across the globe, in the fields of architecture and engineering. The many images embedded throughout the text drew striking visual parallels and eloquently expressed his search for modern perfection through universal forms.

Le Corbusier House, Weissenhofsiedlung, 1927, Stuttgart, Germany (photo: Andreas Praefcke, CC BY 3.0)

Le Corbusier House, Weissenhofsiedlung, 1927, Stuttgart, Germany (photo: Andreas Praefcke , CC BY 3.0)

During the 1920s, Le Corbusier designed a series of houses which allowed him to develop his ideas further. By 1926, he had devised his Five Points of Architecture, which he viewed as a universal system that could be applied to any architectural site. The system demanded pilotis to raise the building off the ground and allow air to circulate beneath; roof terraces, to bring nature into an urban setting; a free plan that allowed interior space to be distributed at will; a free façade whose smooth plane could be used for formal experimentation; and ribbon windows , which let in light but also reinforced the planarity of the wall.

Ground plan (left), first story (center), atrium and roof garden (right), Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, 1929, Poissy, France

Ground plan (left), first story (center), atrium and roof garden (right), Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, 1929, Poissy, France

The Villa Savoye incorporated these principles, and also realized many of the concepts expressed in Vers une Architecture . Made of reinforced concrete, the ground floor walls are recessed and painted green so that the house looks like a box floating on delicate pilotis. Visitors arrive by car, in true machine-age fashion. The stark white exterior wall, with its strips of ribbon windows, has a remarkably smooth, planar quality. This stands in contrast to the fluidity of the interior, which is organized by a multistory ramp that leads the viewer on a gently curving path through a building that is nearly square. The contrast between the sharp angles of the plan and the dynamism of the spaces inside charge the house with a subtle energy.

Ramp and spiral staircase, Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, 1929, Poissy, France (photo: Scarletgreen, CC BY 2.0)

Ramp and spiral staircase, Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, 1929, Poissy, France (photo: Scarletgreen , CC BY 2.0)

The ramp winds from the entrance up to the salon, a formal interior space that flows seamlessly into the roof terrace outside. Corbu, as he is also known, treated the terrace as a room without walls, reflecting his desire to fully integrate landscape and architecture. The ramp finally culminates in the curved solarium crowning the house, whose rounded enclosure appears to be an abstract sculpture when viewed from below. Seen from the roof terrace, the ramp and cylinder of the solarium echo the forms of the ocean liners lauded in Vers une Architecture . Le Corbusier and Madame Savoye believed in the health benefits of fresh air and sunshine, and considered leisure time spent outdoors one mark of a modern lifestyle. The Villa Savoye’s integration of indoor and outdoor spaces allowed the family to spend time outdoors in the most efficient way possible—the house was, in a sense, a machine designed to maximize leisure in the machine age.

Solarium viewed from the roof terrace, Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, 1929, Poissy, France (photo: a-m-a-n-d-a, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Solarium viewed from the roof terrace, Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, 1929, Poissy, France (photo: a-m-a-n-d-a , CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

The Villa Savoye can be understood as Le Corbusier’s refinement of his architectural system, his own personal Parthenon. Its essential geometric volumes embody his concept of the type form, and its careful consideration of procession and proportion connect the building to Classical ideals. At the same time, its clean simplicity and its use of concrete evoke the precisely-calibrated works of engineering so admired by the architect. The Villa Savoye represents Le Corbusier’s re-conception of the very nature of architecture, his attempt to express a timeless classicism through the language of architectural modernism.

[1] Le Corbusier, Toward an Architecture (Vers une architecture) , translated by John Goodman (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2007), p. 87.

Bibliography

Centre des monuments nationaux

Model at The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Fondation Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture (Toward a New Architecture)  (New York: Dover Publications, 1923).

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Iconic House: Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier

By Devanshi Shah

Iconic House Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier | Architectural Digest India

House: Villa Savoye, 1931 Architect: Le Corbusier Style: Modernist Location: Poissy, on the outskirts of Paris, France

Corbmoma

Le Corbusier designed Villa Savoye in 1928 and worked with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret during the construction

What makes Villa Savoye iconic?

A physical manifestation of Le Corbusier's manifesto on the Five Points of Architecture, the villa is an embodiment of ‘modern architecture' and is one of the most recognizable and renowned examples of the International style. Working in collaboration with his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, construction began in 1928 and lasted three years. Because of the free reign the Savoyes gave Corbusier, this structure was the first and the last time that Le Corbusier was able to translate his ideas into concrete in such a complete manner. Many critics consider it to be the end of his design thinking process.

Le Corbusier's five points are summarised below:

  • Pilotis: Support of ground-level pilotis, to elevate the building and allow the garden to continue beneath. 2. Flat roof terrace: A functional roof which served as a garden and terrace. 3. Free floor plan: Using a structural grid as opposed to load-bearing walls, allowed Corbusier to place walls freely. 4. Ribbon Windows: Long horizontal windows, instead of smaller framed windows. 5. Free Facade: The facades served only as a skin of the building.

plan

A physical manifestation of Le Corbusier's manifesto on the Five Points of Architecture, the villa is an embodiment of modern architecture'

Fascinating History

Villa Savoye was occupied twice during the Second World War: first by the Germans and then by the Americans, both occupations damaging the building severely. The Savoyes abandoned Villa Savoye after the war and ownership of the house was transferred to the town of Poissy in 1958.

Did You Know?

The villa functioned as a public youth center and was almost demolished to make way for a schoolhouse complex. Protest from the architectural community and Le Corbusier himself, managed to prevent the house from being demolished.

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Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier was occupied twice during the Second World War: first by the Germans and then by the Americans

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Visit Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye

Visit Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye

⭐  Discover Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye : Le Corbusier's modernist icon awaits you!

Tickets to visit Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye 🎫 Standard input

Highlights 🏰 Tour this emblem of modernist architecture created by Le Corbusier 🎯 Discover the distinctive features of Le Corbusier's work, which revolutionized the design of the modern house 🏛️ A site classified as a historic monument during its designer's lifetime!

General Info ⚠️ This experience is conducted in French 📅 Dates: select your dates directly in the ticket selector 🕒 Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (last admission at 4 p.m.) ⌛ Duration: variable 📍 Location: Villa Savoye 👤 Age requirement: all ages welcome ♿ Accessibility: this tour is unfortunately not wheelchair accessible due to steps ❓ For this experience, all purchases are final and tickets cannot be refunded, exchanged or modified. See our Terms and Conditions for more information.

Description Explore the extraordinary Villa Savoye, a jewel of modernist architecture! Discover the fascinating world of Le Corbusier and let yourself be seduced by the five revolutionary principles of his design. This unforgettable experience will allow you to discover the secrets of this masterpiece, learn more about its history, and admire the ingenious details of its design. Prepare to be dazzled by this captivating monument! Buy your tickets for the Villa Savoye tour now!

📝 Additional information

  • Guided tours in French every Saturday and Sunday, 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m
  • Guided tours in English on Tuesdays and Fridays at 2:30 p.m

How to get there?

Villa Savoye

82 Rue de Villiers, Poissy, 78300

Select date and session

Similar experiences, visit the château de vincennes, treasures : le corbusier and visit to the swiss pavilion, guided tour in the footsteps of artists in montmartre, perfume-making workshop and guided tour of the fragonard perfume museum, château de versailles : guided tour with priority admission + train from paris, tickets for the château de versailles, gardens and trianon estate, tickets for the château de versailles, visit to the yves saint laurent museum, free guided tour with audio download: gardens of the palais royal and passages couverts, visit the paris pantheon.

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article | Reading time 5 min

The villa Savoye in color

Color is life, and at the villa Savoye, Le Corbusier makes this quote his own. Let's discover its polychromy.

Le Corbusier incorporated color into his designs, as he saw it as part of the spatial construction process.

In 1931, for the Swiss company Salubra, he created a "chromatic keyboard" of 43 shades, which he completed in 1959 with 20 new colors.

This color chart is defined along three major axes: space interacts with color, color reveals objects and color acts physiologically on people.

© Benjamin Gavaudo / Centre des monuments nationaux © FLC (Fondation Le Corbusier) - ADAGP

Pale colors bring warmth and light, while stronger hues enhance or conceal.

The perfect illustration can be seen as soon as you arrive in front of the villa, with the dark green or "English green" camouflaging the first floor and integrating it with the surrounding meadow, topped by the white of the upper floor : the villa seems like a box in the air !

Jean-Christophe Ballot / Centre des monuments nationaux © FLC (Fondation Le Corbusier) - ADAGP

Although white is the villa's dominant color, we know from the polychrome research campaigns    that 8 shades of the "Salubra" range were used for the interiors.

The paints created by Le Corbusier have a matte finish, meet very precise requirements and are still produced today.  

© Jean-Christophe Ballot / Centre des monuments nationaux © FLC (Fondation Le Corbusier) - ADAGP

also to discover

An architectural promenade.

article Reading time | 5 min

A hanging garden

COMMENTS

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    Next opening on 23 March 2024 at 10:00. See all timetables. Price : 9€. Free admission for under 26-year-old residents of the EU. Book your ticket. UNESCO. Near Paris, visit the Villa Savoye in Poissy, a modernist manifesto by Le Corbusier. Read the history of the monument.

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