Little Villa on the shores of Lake Geneva

Project

This villa already brings together three of the future “five points of a new architecture”: the free plan, the roof garden and the long window. A real piece of technical experimentation, the 11-metre window opening onto Lake Geneva and the Alps illustrates a new conception of the framing of the landscape and the relationship to the site and to nature. The garden around the house is part of the space of the villa. Inside the house, the “living machine”, everything is organized on a limited surface in a highly functional way: the entrance space; the living room with the workspace; the bedroom ; the modular guest bedroom; the wardrobe; the kitchen and laundry room; the bathroom and the toilets. Villa “Le Lac” is the result of exceptional functionalist research aimed at achieving an architectural standard: the narrow house with a single bay. Considered by many to be the founding act of a certain idea of modernity, Le Corbusier’s little Villa is one of the architect’s most personal achievements. In 1931 Le Corbusier added a “fruitière” (orchard), a functional annexe with a bunk bed, a simple desk and a chair, opening onto the landscape and placed at the top of the house. A wall was built in the same year to separate the house from the road. The facade is covered with galvanized steel sheets. In 1951, the lake facade  was covered with aluminum sheets.