Villa Curutchet

But of course we arrived in la plata just fine. After the tall grass and broken down cars- buildings appeared and we rolled into the train station. The last on the line. We had come to La Plata to see a Le Corbusier building- the only one in Argentina. There are not many in the US either and he along with a few other people- Eames, Atelier Bow Wow- Hisako and i constantly refer to because we like the way they work. They strive, they invent, they look like they have a good time. I keep trying to get Hisako to wear that crazy skirt Ray would wear...

So Villa Curutchet was made for a doctor with a pseudo-detached clinic from which he worked. Its got the 5 points.

I got very excited seeing the house. I mean the guy really gets it. He planted the tree back in 1935 when the house was built. The tree and the brise soleils do much in blocking the northern sun. The ramp and stair both give the house and clinic a dignified entry and the sequences of spaces plotted by the circulation are very cinematic. Its very interesting how conscience he is of programming.

-The first floor with the bulk of the massing and house hovering above is very open consisting of mostly ramps, stairs, car park, and entry. While all of that may seem busy its not since the inner courtyard with the tree opens to the sky and a gravel sculpture garden at grade is very peaceful.
-The second floor is dedicated to the living spaces, kitchen, dining, and roof garden which projects out as an extension to the living space. This plan on this level is very open and rectilinear allowing the sun to filtering through the roof garden full access into the living spaces.
-The third floor is solely for sleeping and a private reading area and is interesting because he floats oval shaped bathrooms and large cherry cabinetry blocks in a free plan to divide the spaces. The effect is very organic and fluid feeling, something that perhaps he thought soothes the soul where you sleep and relax.

Taken floor by floor each level has a very specific programmatic function and has a very definite plan diagram attached to it. Ramp-Rectilinear-Organic. No one has more books written about him than Corb, but they all say the same thing- to see his buildings really is something. He is even better than the hype but not for the reasons you think. Its funny- the same thing happened to me at the Barcelona Pavilion.

(for the non architects- the five points- very influential in formalizing modern architecture)
- Pilotis (columns) elevating the mass off the ground
- A free plan, achieved through the separation of the load-bearing columns from the walls subdividing the space
- A free facade, the result of the free plan in the vertical plane,
- A long horizontal sliding window and finally
- A roof garden, restoring, supposedly, the area of ground covered by the house