Unite D Habitation, 1952- present
A CITY ON LEGS
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Unite D’ Habitation is a apartment building located in France and built by Le Corbusier in 1952. After world war two europe was still feeling the effects of the war. Many families lost their homes during the war. Corb was commissioned to design a multifamily apartment building. He was a famous architect, however he had never worked on such a large scale before. Corb would have to design the building to accommodate approximately sixteen hundred people. Most people when given a large space would designed a stretched building, however Corb built a taller more compact building. He had already developed his five points which he used as a outline for all his work. Any observer can notice some of the five points corb uses in all his buildings. The building is lifted onto pilates freeing up the ground floor. There is an open ground floor plan, and a green roof. The building had to have public and private spaces. The building would have shared community spaces. Corb built the building like a city. It does not need anything from the outside and is self sufficient. The building he designed resembles a small city. Residents do not leave the building to get what they want. The apartments are inside, there are many programs on the roof. There are stores, outdoor activities and even a kindergarten. There are programs such as medical spaces and hotels are also located in the boundaries of the building. Corb placed all the community spaces on the roof and filled the floors with apartments .
Corb allowed for more apartments by making the apartments narrow and double height. Corb created two story apartments in which one side is a reflection of the other. He creates an interlocking of volumes that is stacked on top of eachother. The apartments are placed in the direction they are and are double height to allow for cross ventilation. The layout also allowed for the Volume of the apartment to feel more open. The material was unlike his previous works. The material of the facade in this building is made of rough cast concrete as opposed to his usual stark white facade. The rough texture and grey complexion speaks to the country’s state. The place is rough , grey, worn and unforgiving like the material of the building. The material was used as it was easily obtained after the war. Not all of the moves Corb made was successful. It was the first time he attempted a project of this scale. Corb tried to implement his five points which he has been using for villas. One point of Corb’s that does not work is the pilates that openness up the ground floor. The pilates does open up the ground floor however the space is dark, cold and uninviting. The space that was created is not welcoming which defeats the purpose of making it. Throughout the building many spaces are unwelcoming. Lighting is not great in the hallways indoors. There is one long hallway which is dark and does not look safe. The emphasis of the project was on the roof and it shows. Corb was concerned with getting people to the roof and designing the experience there that he failed to further develop the other parts of the building
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