“A house is a machine for living in”
Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier was a Swiss French architect, painter, urban planner and pioneer of what is now known as modern architecture.
In 1923 Corbusier designed a modest 64 meter lakeside house for his parents, with a single bay window overlooking Lac Leman near Vevey in Switzerland. He incorporated ergonomics and functional analysis in his design, and set a new standard which was applied all over the world. Villa ‘Le Lac’ crystalised the minimalist design that would influence 20th century architecture, offering a maximum of comfort, space and natural light.
The residential house brought together 3 of the ‘five points of new architecture’: the open floor plan, the roof garden and the ribbon window – one of the first in the history of architecture. The 11 meter long horizontal window bears witness to a new concept of landscape framing. The Villa ‘Le Lac’ became a Grade 1 listed building in 1962 and in 2016, it was listed as a world heritage site by UNESCO.
Corbusier is widely considered one of the most influential architects.
