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Unite d’Habitation. General Info. Architect: Le Corbusier Location: Marseilles, France Building Type: Multifamily housing Construction System: Concrete Style: Modern Date: 1945-52 18 stories 337 apartments For 1,600 people Still in service. Why was it built?.
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General Info • Architect: Le Corbusier • Location: Marseilles, France • Building Type: Multifamily housing • Construction System: Concrete • Style: Modern • Date: 1945-52 • 18 stories • 337 apartments • For 1,600 people • Still in service
Why was it built? • It was built to alleviate a severe postwar housing shortage. • Inspired by socialist ideals. • Le Corbusier chose the ocean liner, which housed, fed, and entertained thousands of passengers in a very restricted space to help him create Unite d’Habitation. • His goal was a total environment, enhanced with all the amenities of civilization, so one would never need to leave.
Exterior • The Unite block is set in a landscaped park and raised on pilotis. • The apartments are designed to have frontage on both east and west side. • Balconies have deep overhangs for sun protection and surfaces are painted different colors to enliven the bleak mass of concrete. • The concrete is rough, marked with knots and grain of its wood forms. • The strong pilotis create circulation space beneath. • The roof, offers space for recreation and relaxation in its gymnasium, 300m track, outdoor stage, and children’s play area. • Single and double story balconies.
Interior • 15 floors are residential. • Floor 7 and 8 are communal levels where you find commercial services to provide daily needs such as shopping, laundry, catering, medical offices, and hotel rooms for guests. • The units are offset in this pattern, forming a series of vertical interlocking “L” shapes. • The apartments are very narrow, particularly when they are divided into hall like bedrooms. • Corridors are where you find less quality, they are dark, and the only light sources are the lights above every front door. • The corridors run through the center of the building every third floor.
“A machine for living in.” -Le Corbusier The End Jose Valdez Arch 71 Architecture History 2 (Renaissance-21st century) College of the Sequoias Division of Industry and Technology Instructor: Rolando L. Gonzalez M. Arch. Architect, A.I.A. Spring 2005