Claude & Duval Hosiery Mill

Project

Three proposals were presented by the rue de Sèvres workshop before the choice of the preliminary draft in May 1947 and its finalization in April 1948.
This project and that of the Marseille housing unit were largely concurrent and  involved using the same collaborators. Project management was entrusted to André Wogenscky, with Fernand Gardien supervising construction and Vladmir Bodiansky  engineering.
Le Corbusier describes the factory as a composition of three volumes: the space at the level of the pilotis, that of the clothing workshops and the top floor with the offices and roof terrace. This ensemble was connected to the remaining pre-war buildings, which were extended and refurbished to accommodate the hosiery department.

The double row of concrete piles supports the main building, which is in reinforced concrete and on three levels. The offices were built between June and August 1949 at the level of the roof terrace.
The structure of the factory is closed off by two blind gable walls in Vosges sandstone, salvaged from the buildings demolished.
The longitudinal facades are characterized by glass panels, with wooden joinery.
On the main façade, facing south-east, concrete brise-soleils were installed for the first time. They guaranteed the comfort of employees and avoided prolonged exposure of fabrics.

The distribution of the workshops and their annexes obeys the logic of production. The rolls of fabric arrive by freight elevator for cutting on the 3rd floor. They then go down to the 2nd floor, where the finishing and tailoring workshops are located. The 1st floor is designed as storage space.

The space beneath the pilotis houses the loading dock, the caretaker’s flat, the bicycle park and the main entrance. It reveals harmonious contrasts of materials and polychromy. Structural elements of raw concrete, painted ceilings, glass slabs and paving are juxtaposed, some of the stones having been retrieved from the town pavements for use on the entrance wall.

The roof terrace and the offices were given special attention. The left-hand side of the entrance hall gives access to the administrative offices and the right-hand side to representatives’ and management offices and to a meeting room. Also in this hall is a small spiral staircase connecting the offices to the workshops. The two representatives’ offices have oak plywood walls and fixed furniture. The meeting room was created by reducing the space originally planned for the director’s office.

As in Le Corbusier’s apartment-workshop, a large pivoting door on an off-centre axis separates the two rooms. Particular attention was paid to the interior layout of the offices: chairs and table by Jean Prouvé for the meeting room and large photographic reproductions of works by Le Corbusier.
The outer surfaces were treated differently. The north and south facades evoke the  Marseille loggias, punctuated with green, yellow and white ceramic tiles. The northwest facade highlights the curved volume of the waiting rooms.
Two terraces extend the office block. To the northwest, slanting walls obscure the view of neighbouring buildings to open out to the landscape.

Like the Marseille Housing Unit, the factory was an innovative and experimental site, with concrete, polychromy, light modulation by sunscreens and the use of Modulor  proportions.