The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier

La Manufacture à Saint- Dié, September 2024

Saint-Dié-des-Vosges is a truly enjoyable little town which boasts two world heritage sites: a small World War I nécropole some 30 minutes walking distance in the eastern suburbs, and of course the famous Duval factory building, the only one of its kind ever realized by Le Corbusier.

Progressive industrialist Jean-Jacques Duval somehow managed to convince the Great Architect to visit the far countryside in order to rebuild his hosiery factory, destroyed during World War II. Constructed during 1948 and 1951 and based entirely on Le Corbusier’s “Modulor”-principles, the building remains in tip-top shape, and was apparently recently renovated. The only qualm I have is that the typical primary-colored ceilings of the pillared ground floor (large red, blue, and yellow surfaces) have not been restored (why?) and remain barely visible today.

The factory remains in active use, surrounded by a brightly blue-colored fence, and I’m not sure it can be visited easily, but some plaques around the building tell the story of the factory and its significance in three languages.

There’s an interesting back story to Saint-Dié-des-Vosges: As the German troops were retreating from Alsace in November 1944, Saint-Dié-des-Vosges was largely destroyed and needed to be completely rebuilt from scratch after the war. As Le Corbusier was already onsite and involved in the planning for rebuilding the local factory of his friend Jean-Jacques Duval, in 1945 he put forward an unsolicited proposal for a radical new city based on his …

Visited March 2024.

I visited the Cité Frugès in Pessac while living in Bordeaux, which is what my review will focus on. I don't think it's worth coming here just for Le Corbusier, but it's worth the half-day detour for those travellers who're in Bordeaux as a base for other sites in the area.

As a new(-er) community member who's benefited immensely from previous reviewers, I'm continuing my mission to provide some 2024 updates to sites that others may not have visited in some time.

The other reviewer for the Cité Frugès unfortunately did not access the new visitor centre that has just opened. Upon first moving to Bordeaux and having a stroll round the neighbourhood with just the street signs to guide me, I found the whole thing very disappointing and indeed shocking that it was in such a state of disrepair. Pessac has invested quite a bit of money into the Cité Frugès recently and now has a full-time employee devoted just to giving free tours, as well as podcast-style audio guides (which aren't well-advertised). The Cité Frugès would be very disappointing without them.

Tours run at sporadic times and must be pre-booked online exclusively. They're conducted in French only, but I asked the guide and she said it's not unusual to have non-French speakers follow along too. She was absolutely excellent, a doctoral candidate on Le Corbusier. She utterly lives and breathes this stuff and was a breath of fresh air from …

This one was a bit of a surprise. When I originally looked up UNESCO sites in Japan, this didn't come up, I think as there are multiple sites from Le Corbusier worldwide.

We went to Ueno Park (which has an incredible 6 museums and a zoo in the ground, so is well worth a visit), to find the Museum of Western Art, by Le Corbusier, and it was free to enter the grounds and the gallery itself.

I don't have a great understanding of architecture, but I didn't think it was that impressive a building, thouh it was still worth going to to see the works by Rodin, Picasso and Monet inside.

"I’m struggling to understand how an original Le Corbusier building could be in that state of disrepair" was the comment from meltwaterfalls when I posted this photo of the Cité Frugès in our WhatsApp group. And I was shocked too when I visited Pessac in June 2021. To be fair, I must admit that the photo shows the worst example of disrepair. But there were a few more houses that appear to have been uninhabited for a long time and are in urgent need of renovation. And the photo also shows that the public areas, the streets and pavements are not well maintained, the whole neighbourhood looks a bit run down.
However, the majority of the housing units are inhabited, some would benefit from a new coat of paint but all in all most of them are in good condition. And renovation work is in progress in some of the dilapidated houses. Thus, there is some hope that the situation will improve in the near future. Unfortunately, the information office (4 rue le Corbusier) was closed when I visited. Therefore, I could not inquire why some of the houses are in this dilapidated state and whether extensive restoration work is planned.

The Cité Frugès was built as a workers' housing estate, commissioned by the industrialist Henri Frugès. It consists of 51 housing units in three streets in Pessac, a suburb of Bordeaux. Seven types of houses can be distinguished in Pessac, including "arcades" or "zigzags". The photo shows examples …

With wide foresight, we visited Maisons La Roche et Jeanneret when we made a trip to Paris in 2008. We only visited it from outside though, and If I remember correctly it was under renovation as well. So not really a tick-off.

In February 2022 we went to Marseille by train. Due to storms in Germany we arrived 2 days late. So had only half a day to see Marseille. Right after breakfast we took the metro and bus to Cité Radieuse. At first glimpse it looks like our Corbusier Haus in Berlin built for IBA 1957. But it has a few more details. We visited the floors which are accessible. Looks like nothing changed here since the 50th, thus it didnt loose any of this eras charme. Finally we went onto the roof. Amazing view at the Calanques and above Marseille.I still plan to visit further components. But this one is definitely top-notch.

After visiting the Le Corbusier inscribed locations in Japan in 2009 and in Belgium in 2016 without entering, and not being much of a modern architecture enthusiast myself, I failed to appreciate any particular OUV and hence gave a low rating on the basis that other WHS like Bauhaus were much better.

Four years later, in June 2020, I kept my promise and I decided to visit one of Le Corbusier's most iconic designs, the Notre Dame du Haut Chapel just outside Ronchamp, France, and I was positively surprised. This time round, not only did I really enjoy the site but also managed to enter to appreciate the interior features and understand why this chapel is nicknamed the chapel of light. I must confess that the drawing factor for me to visit was a news update I received about the unveiling of a UNESCO inscription plaque which is strangely placed outside the site just in front of the entrance gate.

The chapel was completed in 1954 on a pre-existing pilgrimage site. The previous stone chapel had been largely destroyed during World War II. It is considered one of the most important buildings of the 20th century and represents a key shift away from the functionalist form of Modernism that Le Corbusier displayed in his earlier projects. The main structure consists of thick masonry walls, which are curved to improve stability and provide structural support. The monumental curved concrete roof is a shell structure supported by columns hidden in …

Despite the start of Corona pandemy and the closing of all museums in Argentina the house of Le Corbusier in La Plata was still open to the public. I knew roughly were it was and almost ran past, but a nice guy that was the cashier stopped me from passing by. It costs not even 200 Pesos and I was able to run through the whole building without any restrictions. Only some drawers were locked but many cupboards were even openable. Not having any touchpoints with Le Corbusier before I checked his Wikipedia article in beforehand and what striked me most and made me dislike him was his assumed sympathy to national socialism in times of Nazi Germany. However being in the House I was able to focus on his architectural work. It is really a nice house that he has built for a doctor in La Plata shortly after WW2. I would like to live in it although it´s slightly too big for me and my girlfriend. Especially fancy is the tree in the middle of the were open house building that you can stand beside on every level of the house from the trunk to the crown. Also the terrace facing northwards towards the street and of course the lunchtime sun I really liked. It would also be a great house for some hide and seek or chasing games as there are many different spots to hide and many different ways how you can come to the same …

I like modern architecture, thus, it is impossible not to like the buildings of Le Corbusier, who was on the forefront of 20th Century modern architecture from 20s to 60s.

From the inscribed sites, I saw only Maison Guiette at Antwerp (PHOTO) and Unite d`habitation at Marseilles. In the former case, I spent maybe ten minutes walking around and taking photos of the house, while the latter building I saw through the bus window when I passed by on the avenue to the city center, which took however comparable portion of time or even more in the morning traffic jam in Marseilles. Even such short visits were however enough to understand the qualities of the buildings.

Maison Guiette is small white house that is characterized by a set of vertical and horizontal windows completed by a narrow balcony on the main façade. From the side, the house looks even more “modern” and minimalist than from the front – PHOTO – a large white plane of the house is cut only by two small horizontal windows in the central part completed by an odd hole in the right-upper corner, which is the only indication of a roof terrace, substitution of a garden, from the outside. I liked the house as I like the international style of 20-30s, and I trust the experts who selected this as a representative building of Le Corbusier. What I could see on photos, in contrast to austere and cubic exterior, the house is surprisingly …

Community members have now reviewed most of the inscribed Le Corbusier (LC) sites in Europe, Argentina and Japan - but not the Indian site at Chandigarh. I therefore add comments arising from our visit in Feb 2019. I had originally visited the Capitol Complex way back in 1976. Travelling between Simla and Dehli, I had wandered freely around the site before catching my onward bus. I have since counted it as “seen” (together with some other inscribed locations) but, in all honesty, I then lacked the background knowledge to appreciate or learn! 43 years later it isn’t as easy to visit. These are sensitive government buildings situated in a province which has had terrorism problems and lies near the Pak border. In Aug 1995 a suicide bomb at the Secretariat killed the Chief Minister of Punjab – Sikh “terrorism” may have quietened down since then but only to be replaced by the Islamic variety. So, you can no longer just visit on demand and walk around.

Instead you must join an official tour which departs the Capitol Complex Info Centre at 10am, noon and 3pm each day. You will be accompanied by an official guide and 2 armed policemen – and are supposed to stay close to them and not wander off! But it is even more complicated. Officially you can’t just turn up and join a tour. Your details have to be security pre-checked. We had pre-booked a wider day tour of Chandigarh and our “permit” had been …

I visited the Casa Curutchet in Argentina on the day after its inscription as WHS in 2016.

It's on the right side of the Rivadavia Park so it's quite easy to find. From outside you can already see some of the principle elements Le Corbusier used on his architecture design, including free facade and long windows.This might look normal to you but imagine this was built in 1953 where majority of the buildings were built on bricks (you can compare to the buildings both on the left and right). This really stands out as a modern architecture and many architects followed his concept of design. That's why it's inscribed as a World Heritage Site.

This place is considered cheap as a WHS compared to those in Argentina and quite easy to access. The building has three floors. I was totally amazed by the big tree in the middle of the house when I first walked in. I really love the concept putting nature as priority and keep it as it supposed to be. After walking passed the tree you can go to the so called backyard (the other part is occupied by architect college with no access). I like the first floor the most as they have a big space with a lot of information on the wall, and you can go out to the balcony to see the tree and the park. The second floor is more to office like with many cupboards. 

It's really worth …

I saw Villa Savoye in June of 2018. The villa is considered a prime example of Le Corbusier's architectural manifesto with all five principles on display: pilotis, free façade design, horizontal window, roof gardens, and free floor design. There are only a couple of random pieces of furniture in the house and no other household objects. Villa Savoye looks too barren; makes it hard to imagine the place as livable, which in turn leaves nothing but the Concept on display - and that rather diminishes the impression of architectural innovation.

Poissy is but 5 minutes off Autoroute de Normandie, easily reached from Paris. Once you park on a nearby street, under an hour is entirely sufficient to see Villa Savoye.

I visited in January 2017.

Of all the buildings which are part of this serial site, which is located on three different continents, I think the Maison Guiete in Antwerp might be the least exciting to visit.

As of the time of my visit, it was not open to the public, nor was there even any signage indicating that the building was a world heritage site. My taxi driver had no clue the building had any significance.

I'm looking forward to photographing more of the buildings in this serial site in the future.

View more information about The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier on my website.

On a trip to Japan a few years ago I made the effort to go and see the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo – mainly because I knew it would one day be considered for inclusion. It was a grey day, which didn’t contrast very nicely with the concrete building, but I still took some photos and saved them for this moment.

When it comes to sites that have multiple locations, I normally say that I have visited the site if I go to one of the locations. But in the past, most of these situations have been where the locations are all in the same (or neighbouring) countries and are all quite similar. This Le Corbusier one is a little different.

So, what I’ve decided to do is mark this off the list. But, at the same time, I’m going to be taking note of where some of the other buildings in this listing are, and visiting them when I get a chance.

Somewhat by coincidence I ended up going to La Plata. My flight from Buenos Aires was the next day and I found Buenos Aires itself not that interesting on my previous day’s exploration to warrant one more day of sightseeing. Given I had a spare day left I figured I might as well take a look at another building of Le Corbusier’s oeuvre, Casa Curutchet.

I had been to two inscribed sites before: his buildings in the Weißenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart and the National Museum of Western Art in Ueno, Tokyo. Both failed to impress. I would not want to live in either of his buildings in Stuttgart, the hallways narrow, grey a predominant color and the furniture off putting. The museum, meanwhile, makes art look bad, grew quickly too small for its collection and fails at simple things such as providing adequate restrooms for visitors or a proper entry and ticket area.

Don’t call me a Le Corbusier fan. Indeed, you can go to the forum and you will find a heated discussion between me and meltwaterfalls on the subject at the time of the inscription. I still stand by most of what I wrote. But I had to revise my opinion upward after seeing the marvelous and breathtaking Casa Curutchet in La Plata.

When I entered the building it quickly came together: Plenty of space, a full grown tree in the middle of the building, nested layers, a huge sun protected terrace/balcony, great furniture as …

I visited this WHS in July 2016. I only saw the newly inscribed site in Tokyo from the outside when I visited Japan 7 years ago and I would never have imagined that it would become a WHS. In July this year, I visited Antwerp and stopped to visit the Maison Guiette (again from outside since it is a private property). Once again, the only thing I could perhaps appreciate is that Le Corbusier was quite forward looking to have designed such buildings so many years ago. In any case, not being a fan of modern architecture I didn't find anything so special for both these sites to deserve inscription. The Bauhaus inscription in Dessau and Weimar, Germany is much more informative and worthy of inscription. That said, I promised myself to visit the other sites in Stuttgart and in France which will give me the chance to view the inscribed properties from inside this time round.

My last visit to Tokyo in May gave me another opportunity to visit the National Museum of Western Art in Ueno Park, one of the components of Le Corbusier sites that finally successfully approved by ICOMOS to be World Heritage Site. This was actually my fifth times to walk pass this museum building, as I love to go to Ueno Park to relax and explore many museums every time I was in Tokyo. Since the idea to buy ticket to see unknown lesser European arts in Japan was totally absurd, but when I knew that there was a special exhibition to celebrate a century of Italy – Japan diplomatic relationship with many masterpieces of Caravaggio that borrowed from many museums around Italy, I decided that this was the most perfect time to visit this museum and see its interior.

The exterior of the museum really reminded me Le Corbusier’s another famous work, Villa Savoye in Poissy, France with box shape building that second floor is bigger than the ground floor. The nicest part is maybe the concrete columns that support the front staircase which in my opinion the most modernism in overall design. Despite having a nice staircase as entrance in the original design, the actual entrance is on the ground floor and has nothing remarkable. The real art of architecture first appeared in the second lobby, with high concrete column with lovely glass roof that cleverly reflect light into the hall. The decoration is very simple with nice …

The nomination in 2016 will be the third attempt to get an inscription for the work of one of the most influential architects in the 20th century. However, the nomination has not changed significantly in the number of sites, there are still 17 locations in seven countries, ten of them in France. In 2015, I visited the Maison La Roche and the Studio-Apartment in the Molitor building, both in Paris.

The double house La Roche et Jeanneret is located in an affluent residential area near the Bois de Bologne (8-10 square du Docteur Blanche, Metro 9 Jasmin stop). You'll find it at the end of a narrow dead-end street. The Maison Jeanneret houses the offices of the Le Corbusier Foundation and is not open to the public, Maison La Roche is regularly open for visitors (8 Euro entrance fee). The complex is an early work of Le Corbusier, but he had already implemented his "five points of a new architecture": pilotis, horizontal windows, open floor plan, open façade, and roof garden. However, I must admit that these principles are much better visible at Villa Poissy. The house was designed for an art collector and consists of a public area that houses the art gallery and the private residential area of the owner. The two domains are separated by the entrance hall which is open up to the second floor. The largest room is the gallery (photo) with the striking curved ramp that links the art gallery with the library …

Together with Frank Lloyd Wright & Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier is without a doubt one of the ‘missing’ modern architects from the WH List. However, the state parties involved have a hard time getting this transboundary serial nomination of Le Corbusier buildings together. After referral in 2009 and deferral in 2011, the revised proposal still is a complex one with 17 sites in 7 countries. The earlier dismissals were mainly about the number and choice of locations, and how they individually show Outstanding Universal Value. The 2016 nomination now also includes Chandigarh (India); they even had President Hollande come over and promote it last month.

After standing in front of closed doors in La Plata (Casa Curutchet), Antwerp (Maison Guiette) and Tokyo (National Museum of Western Art), I longed for a proper visit to one of Le Corbusier’s undeniable masterworks. The Villa Savoye et loge du jardinier in Poissy has been part of all 3 Corbusier nominations and is also among the 3 French sites deemed worthy enough by ICOMOS in 2011 of inscription under their own steam. So that's where I headed!

I left my home at 6.40 in the morning and drove straight to the site in about 4.5 hours. Poissy is a town some 30km northwest of Paris. Villa Savoye is signposted from the town center, though I failed to notice it on my first approach. It lies behind a wall on a main street, next to a school (with lots of children exiting on …

I wasn't going to review this tentative site, because I find modern buildings like this tedious (which doesn't especially make for a worthwhile review), until I read the review by Els. I visited in late November 2015, and Japanese authorities clearly haven't lost hope yet, given a new banner proclaiming 'Aiming for the World Heritage of 2016: The National Museum of Western Art designed by Le Corbusier' was flown all across Ueno Park. This enthusiasm for World Heritage was much more interesting than the building itself, which for me has little merit at best.

The Le Corbusier nomination is a difficult case, it is pending since 2009 and even fans of modern architecture would admit that the list of proposed sites is too long and that the individual buildings are highly different in their quality and importance. The recent dossier, deferred in 2011, comprises 19 sites in six countries, 12 from France. I agree with Ian, that the four sites he listed in his review below are Corbusier’s most important and influential works. And ICOMOS obviously shares this view, as they recommended Villa Savoye, Notre-Dame-du-Haute de Ronchamp and Unité d'Habitation in Marseille for future inscription (Chandigarh was not included in the 2011 nomination).

So far, I have visited five of the French sites. My visits of the Villa Savoye and in Ronchamp were more than ten years ago. Both are exceptional buildings and an inscription would be justified even as individual sites. The Villa Savoye is described in detail in Ian’s review below, there is nothing I could add. Thus my review will focus on my recent visits (in June 2013) of Sainte Marie de La Tourette in Éveux, Firminy-Vert, and the Unité d'Habitation in Marseille, and a short report on Notre-Dame-du-Haut de Ronchamp.

Ronchamp is a small village, about 60 kilometers east of Mulhouse, Notre-Dame-du-Haut is just outside the village on a steep hill. The pilgrimage chapel has an asymmetrical floor plan and the outer walls are different in shape and design. From every perspective it looks different. The most striking component is …

During the quest to visit our unvisited 8 German T List sites we gave the Weißenhofsiedlung 2hours as we passed through Stuttgart. We should have had longer but unfortunately it wasn’t well signposted to someone arriving by car and possessing only limited maps of the city!

The current T List entry covers solely the 2 houses (or rather one “semi”) designed by Le Corbusier and his cousin and ignores the remaining buildings of the estate designed by such luminaries as Mies van der Rohe. The transnational Le Corbusier Nomination of which these 2 houses are a part has had a chequered life with Referral in 2009 and Deferral of a reduced set in 2011 – although the actual ICOMOS recommendation on the second occasion was actually “Do not inscribe” on the basis that the entire concept of a serial nomination of Le Corbusier’s work across his career was fundamentally flawed and should be replaced by a nomination of just 3 outstanding buildings in France (Unite d’Habitation, Ronchamp and Villa Savoye).

At the moment it appears that the parties are still considering what to do next and the buildings remain on the various T Lists but there has been talk that, perhaps in Germany’s case, separate nomination of the entire estate might be a “better bet” representing as it does a multi-architect statement (albeit overseen by v d Rohe) of the International Movement’s ideas as of 1927. In any case we split our time between visiting the interior of Le Corbusier …

This tentative WHS is not worthy of its title. It is an interesting site to visit when in Antwerp as much as the different churches or old houses present all over Belgium but surely not of universal value.

On my way to the National Museum in Tokyo, I had a quick look at the National Museum of Western Art, which is also located in Ueno Park. I was surprised to see banners displaying "**** for the world heritage!". The **** was in Japanese only, but must be 'National Museum of Western Art', as an image of that building is depicted on the banner also.

So the Japanese are still hoping that a Le Corbusier nomination will be accepted at the third attempt. At the last deferral in 2011, ICOMOS strongly advised cutting down the serial nomination from 19 to 3. These final 3 all are located in France. But it left a glimmer of hope also for the Museum in Tokyo, as it "is said to have been hugely inspirational in terms of impact on Japanese post-war architectural development".

The museum was still closed when I walked by in the early morning. I only shot some photos from behind gates, in the pouring rain. Its exterior I did not find very remarkable. This is the third of the Corbusier long list that I saw, after the Casa Curutchet in Argentina and the (very fine) Villa Jeanneret in Switzerland. I quite like the idea of the global spread of the works of one architect, so I hope something will come of it eventually.

When looking at this proposal I said I would only count it once I had visited one of the four major works of le Corbusier, for me these were: Villa Savoye in Poissy-sur-Seine, Unite d'Habitation in Marseille, Chappelle Notre Dame du Haute in Ronchamp (all in France) and the Government Buildings in Chandigarh (India). I finally got to visit one in early 2011 when I made the short hop out from central Paris to the Vila Savoye.

The Villa is one of the most iconic pieces of modernist architecture, and to my eye it is exceedingly beautiful. I was a little worried that visiting may not live up to my high estimation as it is very hard for something that looks so measured and perfect to actually seem so when you poke around. However I am happy to report that it seems to be in a pretty good state of repair, especially in comparison to other modernist sites I have visited such as the Tugendhat Villa.

The Villa Savoye is regarded as one of the master works of modernist architecture, especially because it demonstrates the 5 principles which le Corbusier laid out in his seminal work Vers une architecture, these are:

Pilotis, supporting columns which elevate the bulk of the building allowing a smooth transition from garden to building.

Roof Garden, which again help to marry the internal and external spaces, I really enjoyed this mixture during my visit, the ramp that runs the whole way through the …

The most well-known piece of modern architecture in Argentina is Casa Curutchet in La Plata, about one hour south-east of Buenos Aires. Commissioned by an innovative surgeon, Pedro Curutchet, this is the only residential building erected in the Americas by Le Corbusier; however he never visited the site or met the client. The program included the house and medical practice, with all rooms open to the street taking into account the vistas of nearby parks.

Upon approach, the façade appears as a series of shifting planes, differentiating functions and separating space. Once passing through the framed entry on the open ground floor, the visitor is met with a large vertical open space containing a sweeping ramp. The ramp connects the ground floor to the rear living quarters at the mid-way landing, and then switches back to the medical quarters located at the front of the site. Further defining a visual separation, Le Corbusier stipulated the planting of a poplar tree, now mature, within this void between clinic and house.

The medical practice, supported on pilotis with brise-soleils, bridges the full width of the site. The clinic contains three clearly defined spaces; waiting room, examining room and maid's room. Essentially housed in a cube to the rear of the site, the living quarters contain a kitchen, dining room and double height living room with glazing towards the park, further bringing nature inside. The differentiation of space in the residential areas was to be defined by the placement of furniture and slab …

I reached Maison Guiette using the pre-metro/tram. There is a stop nearby called "Antwerpen Olympiade". Just a small walk away. It's not a site where you spend alot of time. It's a not too big a building and it's a private residence, so all I could do was observe it from the outside. I must admit the building has a certain elegance to it and it's suprising to know it's over 80 years old.

Neither did I expect the wideopen space next to the building. You can sit there on a bench and feed the birds (a lot of gulls where present at the time of my visit) if you like.

The Casa Curutchet (1953) is located in the 'planned' city of La Plata, about an hour north of Buenos Aires. It's one of the works of Le Corbusier that probably will be admitted to the World Heritage List in 2009. I went there on a Monday morning, after having found out that the interior only is open limited hours during weekdays. What I hadn't thought about is that the Americas 'celebrate' Columbus Day on this exact day. I feared the worst, and that proved true when I arrived at the house and nobody answered the bell.

So I've got nothing to tell about the interior then. Fortunately, some of Le Corbusier's principles can be assessed from the outside too. It really is a small house, looking to make the most of its tiny plot between more sturdy neighbours. The front side harbours the medical practice for Dr. Curutchet, who commissioned the building. It has distinctive columns bearing the load, lots of open spaces and large, tall windows.

The family house is at the back, but I couldn't get more than a glimpse of that. What is visible, is the tree in the inner courtyard that was planted when the building was constructed. It now is a large tree that separates the private quarters from the working area.

Before visiting the centre of Antwerp we made just a stop to see the Maison Guiette. It is located at Populieranlaan 32, in the suburbs of the city, 100 metres from the motorway A12. We had some problems because there is not a parking place near the house; also is unpleasant the fact that there is not a board informing you about the house. However it is a really nice building and the only one by Le Corbusier in Belgium, built in 1926-27 and intended as the painter Réné Guiette's house-atelier. Unfortunately it seems that it is the only building of those of the candidature of Le Corbusier's works that is always inaccessible to the visitors. So we could only take a look from outside. It is a simple, long and narrow building of great quality, the facade being composed of a glass wall, windows, the door and a balcony, and the lateral front by windows and an oculus. I had to wait a couple of minutes to take a good picture because a lorry was parked directly in front of it and that is the only reason why our visit took more than 5 minutes.

This is certainly one of the most important architectural masterpieces by Le Corbusier and as such it deserves to get inscribed on the WHL. The absence of his works constitute a big gap in the List but fortunately it is a nomination for 2009 (for the nomination dossier take a look to this site: …