Combining Ideas into the Model

Although each of the ideas explained have been treated separately they can be linked together. The idea of vertical movement representing a shift in human state adds meaning to the program of public and private spaces as well as the shifting relationship between the indoor and the outdoor. As one moves up through the levels of the building the spaces become more open to the outside world and public tending to encourage more social interaction. The lowest spaces of cellar and the servants spaces tend to be closed off and less open. Moving up to level one half of the floor is devoted to sleeping quarters and other private spaces while the other half is devoted to more open and public spaces that encourage social interaction. Then the roof is reached where the entire focus is on a public function. If you accept that the building does represent the journey from darkness to light then it seems logical that Corb is suggesting an ideal way of life, the increased symbolic importance of each successive level alignes with the incrementally larger spaces being devoted to public and semi out door living. Importance is placed on interaction with other people in open spaces and is valued above a more closeted and private existence. In the model I represented the changing nature of the spaces using perspex of varying opacities.

Relationship between the Inside and the Out

"The House Looked as if it hated the ground, with vast vanity trying to rise superior to it regardless of nature." This Frank Loyd Wright quote is used by Unwin to describe how the Villa Savoye sits in its surroundings, a stark white box floating in the natural world. Despite the fact that the house appears to be so distinct from its surroundings the occupants experience a range of levels of interaction with the outside world. While the building seems to sit in defiance of nature from external view points, inside it is clear that the natural world has been allowed to permeate into the building.

On the ground floor the weakest connection between the inside and out is felt, the servants quarters have the smallest windows and the large overhang on the first floor reduces the amount of light entering the windows. On the first floor the large ribbon windows allow a greater permeation of the the outside world into the building. The lack of a roof over the courtyard allows for still greater feeling of being outside while the large glass door which separates if from the main living area gives a smilar feeling to that room. As one moves up to the roof terrace a feeling of being completely outdoors is attained as there is no cover and only one wall to act as a boundary.

I explored ways of representing this varying relationship between inside and out using a range of drawn studies. Starting with simple silhouettes of the building showing the way it floats with in its environment moving onto more detailed sectional studies experimenting with hatching, colour and rendering as means of communicating different levels of enclosure.

Public and Private Spaces

The Villa Savoye is comprised of spaces of varying degrees or privacy. An emphasis is however placed on more public spaces. The ground floor is, apart from the entrance area comprised of primarily private areas (servants quarters and the garage). Level one is made up of the main living areas and is what Corb described as the habitation. This level is divided in two, one half devoted to private areas (bedrooms, bathrooms and office) the other half is made up of the more pubic kitchen, living room and courtyard. Dominance is placed on these public areas on the South East side of the building by the vertical circulation of the ramp which delivers the inhabitants to the open living area and courtyard, to access private areas one must do a one-hundred-and-eighty degree turn and walk down the horizontal circulation zone. The entirety of the roof terrace or solarium as Corb refers to it, is an open and public area. Each successive level has a higher proportion of the floor area devoted to public zones. Initially I used rough sketches to map out the public and private spaces.



Following that I used 3DS Max to create a range of 3D renders which initially used colour and mass to represent the public and private spaces. I then progressed to using varying opacities and mass to represent the different spaces. The solid and deepest masses represent public zones where the transparent and thinest masses represent public areas.


Below are the renders using materials with different opacities.

Vertical Circulation: A Journey from Darkness to Light

The Villa Savoye is comprised of four levels the cellar, the ground floor and the roof, Corb called these the cave, pilotis, habitation and solarium respectively. According to Simon Unwin each of these levels represents a state of being, where the lowest (the cave) represents a primitive existence each successive level above represents an incrementally higher state of existence until one reaches the solarium where a god like or enlightened state is attained. In essence "the house may be interpreted as a representation of the ascent of human beings from darkness to light, from the primitive to sophisticate society" (Unwin 2010, p.142). Unwin's sketches, shown above illustrate this architecture of levels where he draws comparisons between the Villa Savoye and a Greek Temple and in a copy of Corb's original sectional sketch. It is the vertical circulation of the Villa Savoye, the ramp and stair which facilitates this journey and it is this journey which I have tried to abstract from the actual built form into a drawn and modeled studies.

Reference:
Unwin, S 2010, Twenty Buildings Every Architect Should Understand, Routledge, New York.