“The home should be the treasure chest of living” is a quote from one of the first modern architects, Le Corbusier. He practiced in the early 1900’s around Europe. One of his famous residential works is a home that was named Villa Savoye. For most non-architecturally interested people this does not look like any “treasure.” However there are some interesting points that could get us closer to realizing how his work could be classified as any “treasure chest.” Some architects, at this time, were fighting the influences of history and classical style. Obviously this isn’t the typical house with a nice gable roof, quaint front door, and typical brick or stone exterior.
Le Corbusier had 5 points, or design principles, which he tried to implement in his designs: These points are:
1. Lift the house with Columns = provide air circulation and elevate the space from the damp ground.
2. Garden Area = on the roof or ground, provides a connection to nature and provides benefits of cooling.
3. Free Plan = open floor plans create a greater flexibility for life at home.
4. Windows = brings in ventilation and light.
5. Free Façade = walls weren’t structural allowing vast ribbons of windows.
As the pirates of old sought eagerly after buried treasure, architects should seek solutions with a same passion to promote quality of living and enhance lives through the built environment. Sometimes this means to sacrifice form (aesthetics) for function. The limitations of the function don’t have to be restrictive, but can be expressed in a way as to define beauty. Much like a treasure chest, the Villa Savoye, was full of rare elements that made it unique and special for its time. A home should be a place of refuge, a place that is valued and a part of the people within. In order to accomplish this it has to be livable and relate. It can’t be cold and a rare gem, if people can’t or won’t live in it. After all in residential architecture, it is Their house and not Your house.
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