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10 m
6.7 Section across Penthouse, 24 Rue Nungesser et Coli (1933).
Sensitising Vestibule
Like the Maison La Roche, the apartment is entered at the hinge of two very different zones, each celebrated with a vault, one devoted to Le Corbusier’s own studio, the other to living and dining
(Figs. 6.7 and 6.8).
Each is
hidden by a vast pivoting door. The side facing into the living room is black, the other side cream, as befits the spaces to which they are dedicated. The odd skewed wall in a deep blue that greets the reader upon entry encourages movement towards the living rooms as do the attractive qualities of the bright red fireplace beyond
(Fig. 6.9).
When open, the pivoting door into Le Corbusier’s studio contributes to this funnelling of
space which is further reinforced by the sweep of the side of the spiral staircase and transition zone created by the doorway of the living room. Questioning – savoir habiter
Here the third stage of Le Corbusier’s narrative arc, a space for questioning, is taken to new extremes. In chapter 4 I mentioned Le Corbusier’s fondness for the split screen format used by the Renaissance painter Piero della Francesca ( Fig. 4.5). This split screen is used in several of the photos of the penthouse in the Œuvre Complète, but the one that is particularly significant is a carefully choreographed view of the fireplace in the
main living room which would be encountered immediately on entry into the apartment ( Fig. 6.10). In this case two thirds of the image is devoted to the fireplace, whilst the final third is of Le Corbusier and Yvonne standing on the balcony beyond in a dialogue of then and now. The foreground of the living room photo is occupied by a rectangular niche containing three very anthropomorphic “primitive” objects. They are on the same level as the figures of Yvonne and Le Corbusier and seem to be of the same stature. To the left of the niche, lit by the sun is a rotund pot, highly reminiscent of an ancient fertility goddess. She is in distinct contrast with the dark figure of Le Corbusier to the left of the balcony, yet she seems in some way connected to him, perhaps as an expression of his other side. The shady priapic statuette on the right appears to have a similar correspondence with the figure of Yvonne. The sunlight falling on the feminine pot evokes the Apollonian light of reason, while the darkness that falls on the little phallus is distinctly chthonic and feminine. Each object forms a tiny marriage of opposites by itself. Between them sits a block of black basalt, a play on the theme of the philosopher’s stone. It seems no accident that they are surrounded in red, used by Le Corbusier as the colour of fusion in Le Poème de l’angle droit. 132