Le Corbusier’s “Appartement-Atelier” was a project carried out by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret to test Le Corbusier’s Five Principles of Modern Architecture. It is located on two upper floors of the building 24, rue Nungesser et Coli. Let us describe how these principles were applied in this appartement.

To respect the Principle of Free Design of the Façade, the flat is supported by five poles by floor, so that the entire façade is made with glass. To do so, they used different types of glass, mainly reinforced glass and glass brick. I allows them to respect the Principle of Horizontal Window as well, because that way the windows stretch along the entire walls, which makes the rooms more luminous, and the light more homogeneous.

Thanks to those poles, there is no need for supporting walls, and the Principle of the Free Plan can be respected as well. Therefore, the space can be freely organized. The number of flats and their repartition per floor can be variable. For example, Le Corbusier used this flat as his housing and his workshop as well. The workshop can be separated from the flat with adjustable and moving wooden doors.

There is a Garden-Roof as well, which is the fourth Principle. It is located in a space remoted from the streets’ noise and air pollution, is aluminous and can therefore be used for relaxation.

The other ground-breaking idea of Le Corbusier for this flat concerns domestic housing. The domestics’ houses are on the ground floor, in a space that is not thought for their subordination, unlike the flats under the roofs they live in in traditional housing. What’s more the ground floor is specifically used for service tasks, whereas the top floors are used for living and relaxing purposes.

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Author: Aycan Kizilkaya, Martyna Czub, Mordjann Souilamas

Plans: Marina Boniperti, Silvia Roncoroni, Aykan Kizilkaya