Cité de Refuge
The Salvation Army Refuge in Paris was Le Corbusier's first opportunity to create accommodation for the urban poor. The compact site provided the chance for a radical approach both to bringing in light and space and to laying out the entrance halls to accommodate the Salvation Army's reception process. The core of Le Corbusier's design was the dormitory slab with a sheer glass curtain wall. Critical to the success of this south-facing glass wall was to have been a technologically ambitious system of double glazing and air conditioning ('respiration exacte'). These were never built as intended, and the sheer skin of the wall was lost to Le Corbusier's trademark brises soleils later on in an attempt to prevent the inhabitants from overheating. In the spirit of the free plan, Le Corbusier took the entrance hall components out of the dormitory block, constructing a geometric pathway through separate reception buildings outside (text from www.galinsky.com).
HOME
No MIMOA account? Register here!