THE LESS FAMOUS BY THE FAMOUS

We have been following two modernist phenomenons in these pages, the Weisenhof housing estate and Le Corbusier. Put those two together, and we see what Corb built for the housing project.

I always find it amazing to see what famous architect built less famously.  We think of Corb and we think of all of the great buildings.  But when the program is small, or when the project hits at a different time in their careers, or when the budget is smaller, then we are presented with an entirely new viewpoint.

As a result of studying photographs and drawings so that I could draw the building transparently, it became clear that many of Corb’s elements were in play.  The horizontal banding.  The floating facade behind the structure.  Vertical circulation emphasis.  The roofscape.

Yet certainly this house is not the masterpiece of his iconic great works.  And this is as it should be.  Given that this house was to work in sympathy with the other modernist houses, there is a degree of blending in.

Still, it is comforting to have a fuller understanding of a building constrained by the demands of a project.  Just like in real life.  I wonder how our sense of the great architects would be modified if we were exposed to every building that an architect built?  Obviously, there is an impossibility to this scenario given that the output of these architects was quite large.

Nevertheless, there would be something to be learned if we were presented, for example, this house along side of say Villa Savoye.  Instead of just being presented with Villa Savoye and proclaiming its mastery, we would be given a broader initial understanding of the famous, and the less famous.

Sounds like a good idea for a design lecture