CIRCULATION + FUNCTION

Figure 24: Villa Savoye, ground floor spatial hierarchy Figure 27: Maison A Bordeaux, ground floor spatial hierarchy Figure 25: Villa Savoye, first floor spatial hierarchy Figure 28: Maison A Bordeaux, first floor spatial hierarchy Figure 26: Villa Savoye, second floor spatial Private

Semi-Private

Un-Private

Outdoor

hierarchy Figure 29: Maison A Bordeaux, second floor spatial hierarchy Figure 30: Maison A Bordeaux, roof plan

CONCLUSION

Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye follows a strict set of rules developed in the early 20th Century, whereas Maison A Bordeaux by Rem Koolhaas is a concept challenging late 20th Century contemporary structure. Even though decades apart, both architects challenged the conventional, experimented and developed impacting works of architecture.

Structurally, Corbusier developed and employed a system which creates openness and flexibility, while Koolhaas achieved the seemingly impossible at Maison A Bordeaux using minimal primary structural elements.

Corbusier places emphasis on the journey throughout the building in Villa Savoye with the use of a ramp, transforming the way one passes and experiences a building and space. Koolhaas has similarly, having taken into account the physical and psychological requirements of his client, developed a vertical circulation system which creates experiential excitement and complexity.

The most common connection between the two projects is the division and connection of private, semi-private and public spaces. Boundaries between these spatial qualities are created through the physical accessibility and openness of space.

The quality and scale achieved over many years of technological developments in Maison A Bordeaux sets these projects apart. At the core of both projects however, lies shared quality in the themes of structural stability, circulation and function and hierarchy of space.

Figure 31: Maison A Bordeaux, rear, carved into landscape

END NOTES

1. Le Corbusier (1986). Towards a New Architecture. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc.

2. Dominic Bradbury, The Iconic House: architectural masteworks since 1900 (London: Thames & Hudson, 2009), 66.

3. Wouter Vanstiphout, “Rockbottom; Villa by OMA,” Harvard Design Magazine, no. 5.

4. Richard Weston, Key Buildings of the 20th Century: Plans, Sections & Elevations (London: Laurence King, 2010).

5. Richard Weston, Key Buildings of the 20th Century: Plans, Sections & Elevations (London: Laurence King, 2010).

6. Unwin, Simon. Twenty-Five Buildings Every Architect Should Understand. 2nd Edition. New York: Routledge, 2015, 114.

7. Richard Weston, Key Buildings of the 20th Century: Plans, Sections & Elevations (London: Laurence King, 2010).

8. Riley Terence, The Un-Private House. (Manhattan: MOMA, 1999), pp 92-95.

9. Ching, Francis. A Global History or Architecture. 2nd Edition. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, 2011, 720-721.

10. Flora Samuel and Peter Blundell Jones “The Making of Architectural Promenade: Villa Savoye and Schminke House,” Architectural Research Quarterly 16, no. 2 (2012): 118.

11. Flora Samuel and Peter Blundell Jones “The Making of Architectural Promenade: Villa Savoye and Schminke House,” Architectural Research Quarterly 16, no. 2 (2012): 118.

12. Richard Weston, Key Buildings of the 20th Century: Plans, Sections & Elevations (London: Laurence King, 2010), 242-243.