The vacation house Le Sextant was built by Le Corbusier in Mathes, France in 1935.

This house was meant to be inhabited only during vacation time, which means during the summers, which are very hot in the South of France. It is therefore thought to be inhabited in a sunny and warm environnement.

The facade are facing West and East to protect the bedrooms from the exceeding sunlight at noon. They are partially bay windows, and each side has open terraces: those on the west side are protected from the sun in the morning and those on the east side of the house are protected in the evening. Every room in the house communicates with one of those terraces and with the external corridor on the first floor.

Aeration was also an important problematic for Le Corbusier. The bedrooms are cooled down using transversal aeration: each wall that is across from a bay window has a small dormer-shaped hole in it to allow air to circulate. What’s more, the roof has a butterfly shape to let the warm air escape from the first floor thanks to small windows on the façade.

Bibliography: Oeuvres Complètes, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, 1934-1938

Plans: Claudia Misseri, Giorgina de Rebisus, Aycan Kizilkaya

Authors: Martyna Czub, Aycan Kizilkaya, Mordjann Souilamas