Photos: ©FLC/IVARO, 2012
Maisons Jaoul, Paris In principle, I normally only write about buildings that I have visited: there is no substitute for spending time in a building to experience and judge its qualities such as its scale, volume, fluidity and changing light conditions and to gain a sense of how the building is used and has weathered. However, the only buildings included here which I have visited are the Maisons Jaoul by Le Corbusier, in the outskirts of Paris.
(above and below) the combination of traditional and modern evident in the Catalan vaulted ceilings, thin load-bearing walls and sculptural stairs; (top) the uninsulated walls and primitive double glazing make the building difficult to keep warm
The two Jaoul family houses are far removed from Le Corbusier’s earlier and well known designs such as Villa Savoye or Maison La Roche. The Jaoul houses were designed in the early 1950’s, in Le Corbusier’s more mature years, and it shows: the use of primitive techniques combined with modern technologies such as thin Catalan vaults on thin load-bearing and rough brick walls with exposed rough concrete, bright colours and plenty use of timber and sod roofs. In fact, there are no external super-smooth white finishes in sight at all. The vaults act as central hearths and refer to primitive human habitations and shelters and were regularly used by Le Corbusier in his later dwelling designs. The placement of the two houses on the constrained and overshadowed site were generated by Le Corbusier’s
search for the greatest amount of exposure to sunlight and daylight penetration. Typically, the windows sit in window sections (‘pans de verre’), with glazed sections for day-and sunlight and opaque timber sections to provide ventilation openings and built-in furniture. Internal timber wall panels also act as ‘aerateurs’ to provide fresh air, located between spaces to allow for cross ventilation, while retaining privacy. Moving timber shutters keep the heat in on cold winter nights and make the house light or dark and all stages in between. One of the houses has beautiful rainwater spouts and some innovative L-shaped windows were developed in response to strict bylaws. A tile is cast in the original tiled floors with instructions to occupants for how to maintain it, a front-runner to occupant user-manuals, if you like. Unfortunately the early double glazing failed and the current occupants say it is difficult to keep warm in a cold winter as it was built before insulation, thermal bridging or high thermal comfort standards mattered. Yet the Maisons Jaoul signify an important shift from Le Corbusier’s much earlier work and are a departure from the generic, standardised international modernism to a more regional and contextual approach that most do not remember the iconic architect by. This maturation was inspired by his interest in the local vernacular but also by learning and responding to building feedback and mistakes, something all designers should be doing.