Toward an Architecture

Le Corbusier's Five Points of Architecture

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Le Corbusier's Five Points of Architecture is an architecture manifesto noted by architect Le Corbusier.
[1]
It was authored in L'Esprit Nouveau and his book Vers une architecture.
Contents
1 Five Points of Architecture
2 Villa Savoye
3 Carpenter Center
4 References
Five Points of Architecture
During his career, Le Corbusier developed a set of architectural principles that
dictated his technique, called "the Five Points of a New Architecture" which
were most evident in his Villa Savoye. These were:
Pilotis The replacement of supporting walls by a grid of reinforced
concrete columns that bears the load of the structure is the basis of the
new aesthetic.
The free designing of the ground plan The absence of supporting walls
means that the house is unrestrained in its internal usage.
The free design of faade By separating the exterior of the building
from its structural function the faade becomes free.
The horizontal window The faade can be cut along its entire length to
allow rooms to be lit equally.
Roof gardens The flat roof can be utilized for a domestic purpose while also providing essential
protection to the concrete roof.
[2]
Villa Savoye
It was Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye (19291931) that most succinctly summed up his five points of
architecture that he had elucidated in the journal L'Esprit Nouveau and his book Vers une architecture,
which he had been developing throughout the 1920s. First, Le Corbusier lifted the bulk of the structure off
the ground, supporting it by pilotis reinforced concrete stilts. These pilotis, in providing the structural
support for the house, allowed him to elucidate his next two points: a free faade, meaning non-supporting
walls that could be designed as the architect wished, and an open floor plan, meaning that the floor space
was free to be configured into rooms without concern for supporting walls. The second floor of the Villa
Savoye includes long strips of ribbon windows that allow unencumbered views of the large surrounding
yard, and which constitute the fourth point of his system. The fifth point was the roof garden to compensate
for the green area consumed by the building and replacing it on the roof. A ramp rising from ground level to
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Villa Savoye
The Carpenter Center
the third floor roof terrace allows for an architectural promenade
through the structure. The white tubular railing recalls the industrial
"ocean-liner" aesthetic that Le Corbusier much admired. The
driveway around the ground floor, with its semicircular path,
measures the exact turning radius of a 1927 Citron automobile.
Carpenter Center
The Carpenter Center was Le Corbusier's only building in the United
States, and he aimed to incorporate his Five Points into the design of
the building.
[3]
References
^ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&
objectid=10862664
1.
^ Le Corbusier (1986). Towards a New Architecture. Mineola, NY:
Dover Publications, Inc.
2.
^ Sekler (1978). Le Corbusier at Work. p. 2. 3.
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