L – C 1954 : 1922, 1923, I boarded the Paris-Milan express
several times, or the Orient Express (Paris-Ankara). In my pocket was the plan
of a house. A plan without a site ? The plan of a house in search of a
plot of ground ? Yes !
The Villa “Le Lac” is a little bijou of
ingenuity and functionalism – an architectural manifesto where one can find the
key ideas of the program developed by Le Corbusier during the 1920s for his
famous “white houses”. Situated in Corseaux, Switzerland, the Villa “Le Lac” is
one of the architect's most personal and inventive works.
This small detached house was designed by Le Corbusier and by his
cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, for Le
Corbusier’s parents and was built in 1923-24. The architectural drawings had
been prepared even before a building site had been chosen.
The Villa "Le Lac" is the first example of modern architecture
by Le Corbusier in Switzerland, and announces three of the “five points for a
new architecture”: the use of the roof as a sun deck or garden (its first
application is seen here), the free floor plan and the ribbon window (11 meters
long in this case). This “machine for living”, marks a decisive stage and precedes
the Villa Savoye, a masterpiece of 20th century architecture.
The house is 64 square meters (16m x 4m) consisting of a living room, a
bedroom, a small salon that could be converted to a bedroom for guests, a hall,
a bathroom, a kitchen and a closet.
The house, as it stands today, has remained quite true to the original
plan. An upper annex was added on the northwest (1931), the north façades were
surfaced with hot-dip galvanized steel sheets (1931), and the south face was
coated with aluminum sheets (1950) in order to correct structural problems
caused by the lake and cheap construction materials . The wall that closes off the property on
the north was not part of the original plan; it was added in 1931, when the new
international road replaced the old “Chemin Bergère”.
Le Corbusier’s parents moved into the house in 1924. Georges Edouard
Jeanneret, the architect’s father, only lived there for one year. Nevertheless,
his mother, Marie Charlotte Amélie Jeanneret-Perret, remained in the house
through her 100th birthday; after her death in 1960, Albert Jeanneret (Le
Corbusier’s brother) lived there by himself until 1973.
