This image of a room in Villa Savoye, the Le Corbusier-designed modernist villa in the outskirts of Paris, defies notions we had previously held about the WRONGNESS of having a wall run right into a window. That is what we encountered when we bought our laboratory space; we saw it as a major design flaw, the result of the developer cutting corners. To us, it made the room feel unbalanced and closed in. Our solution was to place a mirror directly adjacent to the window, to create the illusion of a corner window.

Sally Schneider
Sally Schneider

Le Corbusier INTENDED the wall to run into the window, and then he celebrated it. He painted the wall a spectacular blue. The difference of course is that Le Corbusier’s window  is a single, clean-lined volume that plays well in the geometry of the space. But it makes us wonder if there was in fact a way to EMBRACE the window we found so ugly in our laboratory.

Here’s what the room looked like when we first took possession, arriving with the things we needed for sussing the space — a folding recliner and table, stools —lashed to a cart.

Sally Schneider
Sally Schneider

Was there ANOTHER way to transform this odd, homely room into something clean, modern, Le Corbusier-inspired?

Sally Schneider
Sally Schneider

What do you think?

Top image via aqqindex

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6 replies on “Le Corbusier’s Wall Built Tight-to-The Window, and Ours

  1. honestly…?
    your room with it’s warm light and mirrored opposite window and wood simple furniture in diagonal, is great. i like it a whole lot better than the LeCorbusier room (sacrilegious as that may sound to some).
    to me, the blue room is focused on the window, which is beguiling enough, but your room feels whole, ready-to-create-in, functional and warm.

  2. This might just be the difference between theory and practice. If it were not Villa Savoye, it might be an “Annals of Bad Design” post. Sorry, Le Corbusier. I also prefer your solution.

  3. Here’s a third vote for Le Schneider’s solution. Much more livable and inviting!

  4. Hard to tell, but I’m betting the room itself is much larger than yours. That’s why I like your solution to make a small room seem bigger and with more light. Thanks for posting his, though, it’s lovely.

  5. HaHa. So you mean my design trumps Le Corbusier’s??????? Wow. Though secretly, having visited his cabin in the South of France, built on a hillside facing the sea but with windows that only gave oblique views, I thought: The guy has a problem with windows, light, access and CONTROL. It’s as though he were rationing the view. Hmmm. Maybe a post there.

  6. The difference between your before and after window/s is wonderful! I remember the first time you were posting about what you intended to do and wondered how that would work. The answer – splendidly. It reminds me of another post – the studio apartment done by a new architect or perhaps student with help from I think her father?

    Have you seen any more of her work?

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