Villa Savoye: Le Corbusier's Architectural Masterpiece That Changed Modern Design Forever!

Unravel the captivating story of Villa Savoye, Le Corbusier's groundbreaking creation that redefined modern architecture. Discover how this iconic house embodies Le Corbu's revolutionary "Five Points of Architecture" and learn about the challenges, controversies, and legacy of this masterpiece.

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Location: France

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Public Domain Photos from: Library of Congress,
CC BY 2.0 Photos from: Flickr User: Michael Schanbacher, Jesper Wiking, Esther Westerveld, Fred Romero, Rory Hyde, August Fischer, scarletgreen, End User, Julien Chatelain, jeanbaptisteparis, lawrence_baulch, Yo Gomi, m-louis .®
CC BY-SA 3.0Photos from: Wikipedia User: Valueyou
CC BY-SA 4.0 Photos from: Wikipedia User: Netphantm
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Music from Epidemic Sound

[vivaldi]

Good luck with getting 250k subscribers. I'm already signed up for all notifications. Love the channel.

[proudvirginian]

I'm floored that this is a 1920's design. That's amazing. I would love to live there.

[thomashazard]

While I can admire the beauty and functionality of the modernist style, it's always seemed to be cold and sterile to me. To each their own, I guess. I do love the idea of putting the living area high up off the ground and the garden on top. I'm glad the French Govt saved and restored this home. It's part of history and should be protected.

[deirdreburke]

To me its like an office i like the roof design

[avanm]

Ingenious and idealistic this house pushed the boundaries of the minimal aesthetic early on along with Mies, Rietveld and Gropius.

[alexkasper]

I know a lot of the viewers of this channel aren’t fans of modernism (some of the comments on this video are HARSH) and to a certain extent, I get it. For the lovers of ornate mansions I totally get why in comparison modernist architecture seems cheap and that it is responsible for everything boring and blah that we see in architecture today. I get that and even as a passionate admirer of modernism I too mourn the loss of the beautiful works of art that architects and craftsmen built in the turn of the century through the 1930s. I’m an LA native, Pasadena specifically, and we are blessed with the most beautiful Craftsman homes, gorgeous mansions from that era, there is room for appreciation of those styles as well as a lot of modernism. Modernism was born out of the belief that good, beautiful design should be accessible to all, a utopian ideal that sadly hasn’t really sustained. As explained in this video, Villa Savoye was a statement of a design perspective, one that was carefully crafted and lovingly executed. The issues it had with leaks and other structural issues were equal to the less problematic of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work. (Again, LA native, FLW built concrete blocks houses on mountainsides on earthquake fault lines. USC architecture school owns one as an example of what not to do as an architect). I am always quick to excuse many of the faults of FLW’s designs bc I see them more as fine art pieces, they were more concerned with presenting a conceptual approach to what architecture could be, rather than something that actually functioned as a house, bc a lot of the 100% did not. So I think looking at Villa Savoye as a house you might live in kinda misses the point. There are modernist masterpieces that were meant to be lived in, Villa Savoye isn’t a great example of that. I will say Villa Savoye is stunning in person, again not as a home, but as an incredible series of sculptural form. There are fine artists who specialize in creating beautiful spaces to experience nowadays, I think architects like Le Corbusier and FLW could have been fine artists today. Now begins my passionate defense of modernist residential architecture: some modernism is cold, minimalism tends to be, but that isn’t all that there is when it comes to modernism. I know no one is probably reading this, but if you are are I would suggest looking at LA modernism, which was conceived with the fantasy of bringing the gorgeous views and nature inside. The Eames House (Case Study House #8), the ultimate example of mid-century charm and optimism, a great place to start. The works of R.M. Schindler whose residential architecture had interiors fully built in, custom crafted interiors, same with Richard Neutra though his clients had a much larger budget. Homes like Neutra’s own Research House are hugely aspirational in just as the mansions that came before it (there was a reflecting pond…on the roof!! Sadly it isn’t still on the roof but still). Many of the homes designed for the Case Study House program were designed with the fantasy of what a home could be, that anyone could afford to live that fantasy (ironically all of them are now worth well over $2 million lol). Saul Bass’s Case Study House had a beautiful tree growing through the roof! The architects who designed it, Buff and Hensman, were hugely inspired by the Craftsman movement and their work with wood is a clearly influenced by the Greene and Greene masterpieces in Pasadena. Ray Kappe was clearly inspired by that movement as well as FLW and his homes are also complex celebrations of the natural environment with his use of wood beams along with large panes of glass to bring the beauty of the outdoors inside. The Craftsman movement celebrated the materials found in nature, so many modernists did as well. John Lautner, who isn’t everyone’s taste but was undeniably one of the most innovative residential architects of his time, studied under FLW and you can see that in his work, but the way he worked with challenging budgets and lots led to some of the most iconic houses in LA. Chemosphere, his house in the clouds is the most famous for obvious reasons, but the gorgeous Garcia House is probably my favorite. Its panels of rainbow glass shimmer on the steep hillside up in the Hollywood Hills, truly innovative in its form, structure, and design. So while I understand why people hate on modernism, it makes me extremely sad bc I do believe it is misunderstood. Modernists ended up flocking to LA bc it was such an inspiring landscape: the hills with gorgeous views of the ocean, the forests, the appreciation of fantasy around Hollywood, there was so much to find inspiration in. (Architecture critic Rayner Banham wrote a whole book about it, Los Angeles and the Architecture of Four Ecologies, and it is basically about the fantasy provided by the landscape that produced a whole new approach to residential architecture). It is a happy, sunshine, idealist manifestation of modernist architecture, one that has everything that Villa Savoye doesn’t (and a lot of FLW houses don’t have imo) these are homes, not concepts. I think it is telling that after FLW built the Kaufmann family Fallingwater they did not have him design their desert home in Palm Springs, they had Richard Neutra build it. Their entire fortune has been sunk into (pun intended) preserving and the most beautiful fine art piece masquerading as a house, but they actually also needed a house. I think there is a place for all kinds of architecture, I love pretty much all of it (not a huge fan of Post-Modernism, few Modernist lovers are, and my appreciation for Brutalism has it’s limits), but no one architect or style is to blame for boring corporate industrial style or cookie-cutter residential homes. Money, greed, and growth driven by consumerism is what leads to a lack of thought and beauty in architecture. I don’t think it is fair to blame modernism. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

[carlbenz]

Honest answer: I wish it would never have been built. Its those buildings that are used as justification for the boring architecture of today.
Le Corbusier was also one of the Central proponents advocating for the destruction of inner cities and the development of highways through downtown

[MaiMyTie]

It’s interesting that a structure which failed miserably at its intended function, to be a practical family home, has become so beloved and a protected icon. I appreciate the visual design but am glad I’m not the one who paid for it!

[Judy-rkge]

Love your videos, Ken. I always learn something. Thank you.

[Portia-ocmr]

👍Best wishes on your goal of 250K subscribers by this summer, Ken.
I like the fact that Villa Savoye was built in the '20s and so was ahead of its time. That made it and its history quite interesting.
If I had seen just a photograph of it, I would've guessed that it was built decades later.
Thanks, Ken.

[jennymauger]

Appreciate your efforts, widening our overall inquisitiveness & awe of these treasures & those involved 🙏🏼 so think of the distribution of “wealth”. So glad this dwelling still intact …

[wdjones]

Nice house! Great glasses Ken! I hope you reach 250k🤞🏻🤞🏻
Thanks for sharing🙂

[jonclassical]

I love it Ken! My favorite house in the world is Joldwynds!!
A modernist style house in Holmbury St Mary, Surrey, England, designed by architect Oliver Hill for Wilfred Greene, 1st Baron Greene. Completed in 1932, it is a Grade II listed building. Google the interior pics too!

[millcity]

This is definitely a case of function follows form.

[TruBluYahoo]

Looks like the building where I renew my driver's license. Yuk

[JTThunderBOS]

I've been there twice. The furniture in the images is non-existent. It is used by the neighboring school, and I think they were having dance classes one of the times I was there. The blue glazed tiled bathtub conforming to the "modulor" is awesome though. Just not much furniture, and for someone who designed lots of furniture, it is unfortunate.

[alanpareis]

Thank you so much fo this one, I have always wanted to see it close up and thanks for your research and presentation. I’m guessing the restoration solved the leaking challenges.

[DrinkYourNailPolish]

It looks like an office building.
I feel that buildings like this are demoralizing.

[williamsmith]

Are you planning a new series, where you'll be reviewing homes by Neutra, van der Rohe, Phillip Johnson and RIchard Meier? Very cool.

[josephpiskac]

Your lecture is the masterpiece. I believe stucco was not the desired material for the exterior though no modern material met the vision of the design. Brilliant composition shame it did not perform well or provide habitation.