Unité d'Habitation Firminy

Le Corbusier designed several variations of the Unité d’Habitation,. All were derived from Le Corbusier’s visionary 1922 city plan, known as Ville Contemporaine. The plan envisioned massive residential blocks set in open green areas — towers in parks, bringing light and air to the residents of urban housing. The Unité type was most notable for its creation of internal streets and accommodation of social and communal functions: kindergartens, medical facilities, recreational spaces, all within the housing block. Of the series of 5 Living Units built throughout Europe (Marseilles, Rezé les Nantes, Briey-en-Fôret, Berlin Est) the one in Firminy was the last to have been built. It was the fruit of a second development plan by the architect and by Eugène Claudius-Petit. This plan, which made provision for the construction of 3 Units, would never be totally realised. The work began in 1965, and André Wogenscky completed the building.