Villa Shodhan

Le Corbusier

Slides Presented By Sumaiya Islam

ID : 152081002

Semester : 3rd

Batch : 8th

Course name : Design Theory

Course code : ARCH 236

Department : Architecture

Slides Submitted ToArch Mehereen Hossain

Lecturer

Submission Date : 21st March , 2017

About the

Architect

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier

Born in October 6, 1887La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland

Died August 27, 1965 (aged 77)Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France

Was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture

Le Corbusier did not have formal academic training as an architect.

Le Corbusier began teaching himself by going to the library to read about architecture and philosophy, by visiting museums, by sketching buildings, and by constructing them LE CORBUSIER

Philosophy5 Points of Archtecture

Free floor plan

Pilotis Free facade

Single long

window

Terrace garden

5 points of modern architecture

He made a principle of 5 points of the modern architecture.They are-

the Pilotis The building is raised up on reinforced concrete pylons, which allows for

free circulation on the ground level, and eliminates dark and damp parts of the

house.

The Roof Terrace The sloping roof is replaced by a flat roof; the roof can be used as a

garden, for promenades. sports or a swimming pool.

The Free Plan Load-bearing walls are replaced by a steel or reinforced concrete

columns, so the interior can be freely designed, and interior walls can put

anywhere, or left out entirely. . The structure of the building is not visible from the

outside.

The Ribbon Window Since the walls do not support the house, the windows can run the

entire length of the house, so all rooms can get equal light.

The Free Façade Since the building is supported by columns in the interior, the façade

can be much lighter and more open, or made entirely of glass. There is no need for

lintels or other structure around the windows.

Use of ramp Use of moduler

Use of pure geometric forms

Use of golden ratio

Use of Four Composititions

Early life buidings of Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier's student project,

The Villa Fallet, a chalet in La Chaux-de-

Fonds, Switzerland (1905)

The Villa Favre-Jacot in Le Locle

Switzerland (1912)

Le Corbusier’s Buildings

Villa Savoye, Poissy

Notre Dame du Haut, RonchampUnité d'habitation, Marseille

Villa La Roche, Paris

Buildings in Chandigarh, India

Palace of Assembly (Chandigarh),

Palace of justice

Sarabhai house

Shodhan house

About Shodhan House• Alternative names Shodhan House

• Type of Function Villa

• Construction started 1951

• Completed1956

• Size (16X6X13)Meters

• Client Surottam Hutheesing (original)Shyamu Shodhan (later)

• Owner Shodhan family

• Design and construction (Architect) Le Corbusier

Location

• Address Near Gandhigramrailway station, Ellisbridge, Kharawala Road, capital of the Indian state of Gujerat and center of the textile industry of India .

• Coordinates23°01′31″N 72°34′03″E

Background story

In the 1950s, when Le Corbusier came to India at

Jawaharlal Nehru’s insistence, he met Surottam

Hutheesing, a leader of mill owners of Ahmedabad. In

1952, when he visited the city, leading industrialist and

former mayor Chinubhai Chimanbhai commissioned him

to design the Mill Owners’ Building and work on four

other commissions in consultation with Hutheesing and

Kasturbhai Lalbhai, the other textile barons who were

important decision-makers of the city back then, Just

when the construction plans were completed Mr.

Hutheesing there upon sold them to Mr. Shodhan, who

owned another plot and desired to start construction

immediately. As luck would have it, Le Corbusier's Indian

projects are always dictated a priori by the Indians. The

transfer of this house to a new plot was therefore a

perfectly natural event.

Site had curved mounds, irregular terrain.

Site faced south-east direction

There were no water bodies near the site though a pool was dug later

Site context

N

N

•According to placing of

house,

house faces north east

•There is a pool in east

direction

•House placed diagonally,

making 3 quarters of it

visible at once

•The house is surrounded

by gardens.

Thus suncutters also acts

as wind catchers in

southwest direction

Cold northern winds are

blocked by smaller

windows.

SW winds all

year round

Site Considerations

Indian Culture

Client’s way of

life

Climate

The house had to respond

to varying Indian climate.

The client was very rich

and wanted a house

reflecting his flamboyant

lifestyle

India was in post

colonisation phase, thus

innovation was

important.

Has three main seasons: summer, monsoon and

winter

Aside from the monsoon season it’s very dry.

The weather is characterized by extreme hot and

almost no rain from March to June.

Monsoons sweep into Ahmedabad in mid July.

During this time weather and climate is very humid.

Design considerations

Architect’s main focus

Sun

Wind

Landscaping

view

concept

Le Corbusier referred to the house as Shodhan

update the Villa Savoye. This metamorphosis

involves the emergence of a brise soleil and a

parasol-like armor béton brut superimposed on the

city of Ahmedabad, a lattice wall to the bread of

watercress and a roof garden on toit.

On a magic trick that, by juxtaposition of two new

elements, a refined house gives the appearance of a

warrior of concrete, however, suggests the presence

of the former.

Entry

The house is entered through north-west with entry marked by a cut-out in a blank wall and pronounced by a cantilevered porch. This leads to an arrival space defined by the walls and a freestanding ramp. Transversely placed ramp forms a barrier arresting the views into more intimate living spaces of the house. The bottleneck created at the confluence of horizontal and vertical circulation, at the commencement of ramp, further marks the threshold to family and dining areas, which extend naturally into gardens. Once the threshold is crossed, the volume transforms vertically with floor cut-outs linking two floors, spatially as well as visually.

Entry &

Approach

Bubble diagram of Ground floor

entry

Entry hall

wardrobe

Stair &

Ramp

Living room

toilet

Dining room

officeServant quarter

varanda

varanda

kitchen varanda

garage

toiletpan

try

Ground Floor Plan

entry

Entry hall

ramp

stair

Living room

varanda

Dining room

office Servant

quarters

garage

toiletpantry

kitchentoilet

wardrobe

column

Ground floor design On the ground floor was

located the spacious entrancehall that shares space with awardrobe

Entering the house we find onthe left the beginning of theramp leading to the upperlevels and to the right a roomservice and a toilet, to the frontthe space opens to a livingroom and a living room, bothopen to a Gallery that framesthis body of the ground floorand that leads following itsarchitectural route to a secondbody where the kitchen islocated, the bedrooms for theservice staff, a bathroom and agarage.

Despite being mainly rightangled, sanitary areas havecurved walls to breakmonotony and deflectmovement.

Bare minimum walls

(free plan)

Curved wall

BUBBLE DIAGRAM OF

1ST FLOOR PLAN

ramp library

bedroom bathroom

stair

stair

1st floor plan

bedroom

closet

bathroom

void

library

ramp

Stair(up)

stair

1st Floor• The ramp leads to the first level

above where in front of this is a

curious guest room with private

bathroom and dressing room.

• At the side of the ramp and like

lung of light and breeze of the

plant we have the great hollow on

which balconea great part of the

house.

• Another smaller gap faces the

first separated by a study-room.

• The façade openings continue on

this level as do the numerous

porches and open spaces.

Bubble diagram of 2nd floor

Ramp

Bedroom

Bath

room

BedroomTerrace

Up

stair

st

ai

r

stair

gallery stair void

2nd

floor plan

7

3

4

5

6Privatearea

Public area

bedroom

bedroom

Terrace

bathroom

void

gallery

ramp

2nd Floor plan• In it was arranged the large

private room, consisting of a large bedroom, a smaller one, a bathroom, numerous galleries with plants, open spaces, verandas and the ramp that follows its route started on the ground floor.

• The gallery can be accessable only by 1st floor with a stair.

• The bedrooms have also stairs to go up.

3rd floor plan

gallery

void

varanda

4th Floor Plan

Third and fourth floors

• The ramp continues to a third and fourth level, where open

spaces continue to allow light and air to enter the building

and offer wide covered terraces with numerous openings

to the façade where you can see the pilotis structure. In

the fourth level a water tank has been placed.

Roof form

Oval apertures are cut in theroof.

When viewed from below,they mislead about cubical form of house, and act as

lens to sky

Roof supported on recessedcolumns and thus appears floating.

A terrace garden at top to provide insulation.

Roof is a parasol( inspired from de stilj movement)

The rooms are arranged on several levels, which make up the three floors,

separated and at the same time in contact with each other. At ground level, Le

Corbusier applied the "optimum pavement" Modulor

The garden terrace, with its triple height, a scalar mechanism that

magnifies the house, giving it almost monumental proportions ...

Apart from the private spaces such as bedrooms, whole place acts as transition area, because client wanted a place where he could entertain guests.

Ramps and staircase are designed in such a way so that they culminate towards certain viewpoints.

rampsInterlinking of levels

Double heighted rooms

Inference: The levels are layered spatially and horizontally, with help of terraces, double heights, etc to create interesting spaces and connect to nature, while maintaing privacy.

spaces

1st floor bedroom

bathroom

2nd floorbedroom

3rd floor gallery

Interior Spaces

We can see how levels, terraces are juxtaposed to define spaces.

Human figure

4th floor

Interior Spaces

Low heighted washrooms

Use of Contrastive colors Against concrete wall

Circulation in section

Circulation in plan

light• Choreographed

movement through light, from the cave-like entrance horizontally through the double height, multicolouredkaleidoscopic living room, out onto the oblong pool and the undulating lawns ; or vertically through a dark criss-crossing ramp that opens into a series of cascading terraces underneath a pierced parasol through which you can see the sky.

light

• Due to the absence of interior partitions, Le Corbusier was able to bring natural light to certain spaces as an architectural element that together with the warm breeze of India created a tactile and changing environment that maintains a strong connection with nature

Shade and Shading devices

• Living quarters of the house are sheltered under an umbrella-like free standing roof parasol. A fitting device for the hot-dry climate where shade is essential during daytime and the outdoor is pleasant in the evening

• The suncutters or brise soleil also works as shading device.

Parasol roof

Main roof

Sun Cutter

Openings in NorthEast

Elevation(Front)

Openings in NorthWest Elevation

Openings in SouthWest Elevation

Perspective view

Structure

Independent structure of concrete, foundations pilotis

Cut off roofs with visible pillers

Structurally simplistic

Ramps to upper floor

Overall frame of the building is in raw concrete, with clear markings of the wooden formwork.

Standard sheet metal is added to the underside of the interior ceilings and a protective parasol is used as the roof

Recessed columns to hold roof

Material

On site cast concrete

Wooden formwork

Stone flooring

Raw Concrete as frame

Building

Geometry

• Substractiveform

• Cubical form

• Solid & Void

Exterior form

• The house is derived from basic cube.

• Volumes are sculpted out of it on basis of modular scale

• Due to dimensions of brises soleil, house almost attains monumental scale

Design Influences

The house comprised of several of the themes of Le

Corbusier’s previous works and is a synthesis of

previous ideas played at a higher pitch.

Villa Baizeau(cut off roof,visible pillars)

design influences of villa shodhan

Villa Savoye,(Ramps to upper floor)

Design influences

• There are also influences from he DE STIJL movement and Rietveld Schroder House

• There are windows inspired by mondrainsquares

DESIGN PRINCIPLES OF SHODHAN HOUSE

• Dom-Ino skeleton design

• Interlocking cascades

Critical Analysis

• There is an interesting play of light and shadows

• Interior façade is revealed but not overlapping of spaces

• All independent elements act in harmony to create overall view

• House was called refined version of villa savoye as it accepted nature beautifully

• The house gives a sculptural feeling.

sources

http://www.reocities.com/arquique/lecorbu/lecorbush.html

https://es.wikiarquitectura.com/edificio/villa-

shodhan/www.greatbuildings.com