Friday, May 6, 2011

ARCH 1201 PROJECT 2: ANALYTICAL STUDIES OF VILLA SAVOYE (Proposition)






In villa savoye, the theme is concerned to explore the relationship between the ‘floating’ slab and its surroundings. The slab becomes both a viewing container and a receptacle for sunlight. The terrace is a kind of space which can be divided into different spatial catalogue. Columnar organization is one of the most significant points in the design which sufficiently flexible responds to particular requirements of the plan. In terms of the detail furnishing, diagonal floor tiles suggest a radial sense of contact between inside and out.

I combined all of points I mentioned above to create my own proposition. I placed the floating box underground and the dominate element in my design is columnar organization. The box on the left is a space just like the terrace. When people stand in -2nd floor, they couldn’t see through the room which can be the private space, while people stand in the -1st floor, they can totally go around and look into the room which can also be the public space. I also make the stairs which covered with structural skin as a sculpture in the whole design. The tiles by using the golden section to design can suggest radial sense of contact between inside and out. The terrace in the middle of the right box can be the connection between the nature and the architecture.

ARCH 1201 PROJECT 2: ANALYTICAL STUDIES OF VILLA SAVOYE (Spatial Analysis)






From the images above, we can clearly see that the red volume, blue volume and white volume demonstrate the circulation, wet private space and dry private space seperately. The semi-transparent volume and the transparent volume show the semi open and open space respectively.

Firstly, I am going to talk about a terminology which I'm going to refer in the rest of my interpretation --- Piano Nobile

Piano Nobile (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piano_nobile)

The piano nobile (Italian, "noble floor" or "noble level") is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of classical renaissance architecture. This floor contains the principal reception and bedrooms of the house.

The piano nobile is often the first (European terminology, 2nd floor in US terms) or sometimes the second story, located above an (often rusticated) ground floor containing minor rooms and service rooms. The reasons for this were so the rooms would have finer views, and more practically to avoid the dampness and odors of the street level. This is especially true in Venice where the piano nobile of the many palazzi is especially obvious from the exterior by virtue of its larger windows and balconies and open loggias. Examples of this are Ca' Foscari, Ca' d'Oro, Ca' Vendramin Calergi, and Palazzo Barbarigo.

Larger windows than those on other floors are usually the most obvious feature of the piano nobile. Often in England and Italy the piano nobile is reached by an ornate outer staircase, which negated the need for the inhabitants of this floor to enter the house by the servant's floor below. Kedleston Hall is an example of this in England, as is Villa Capra in Italy.

Most houses contained a secondary floor above the piano nobile which contained more intimate withdrawing and bedrooms for private use by the family of the house when no honoured guests were present. Above this floor would often be an attic floor containing staff bedrooms.


The living zone, expressed as a piano nobile, has an orthogonal deployment within the rectilinear slab, while being divided on a diagonal into public and private areas separated by the ramp. In the public area the part-glazed box of the salon merges into the open and yet part-closed terrace.

Le Corbusier controls this spatial interpenetration by his handling of solids and opaque and transparent planes, permitting views through in different ways. The ribbon windows are left out of the long side of the terrace giving a narrow frame for the vista and horizontal glazing to the ramp gives views within and without.

Here, I especially want to talk about the large terrace in the second floor, which i reckon can not only be part of the public space but also can be a part of the private space. For the visitors of the villa, in order to access the terrace in the piano nobile, they must go through the door nearby the ramp. Therefore, the terrace can be interpreted as a public space. While for the family members, compared with the bedroom space simultaneously, this terrace can be considered as public space.

As the vehicle for the promenade architectural, the central location of the ramp provides contrasting experiences as one moves from confined enclosure to the sense of spatial expansion of the terrace. The continuity of the ramp is a reminder of the interrelationship between the three levels of the villa.

ARCH 1201 PROJECT 2: ANALYTICAL STUDIES OF VILLA SAVOYE (Structure and Geometry)






The basic geometrical system is a non-directional orthogonal grid within which Le Corbusier establishes the rectilinear living zone. This regular cubic form provides an ordering baseline which states the major theme of the design, that of the relationship between an elevated cubic volume and its surroundings.

The roof screen and access volume explore the fundamental tension between curves and the orthogonal system, each having directional components which respond to functional and symbolic requirements within the design.

Within the orthogonal grid the structural system, a columnar organization sufficiently flexible responds to particular requirements of the plan.

I extended the end of the volume grid to show the infinite of the modular space grid.

ARCH 1201 PROJECT 2: ANALYTICAL STUDIES OF VILLA SAVOYE (Circulation and Movements)






As in all Le Corbusier’s work, the circulation and movement route which are the kind of means of connecting the successive experiences provided by Villa Savoye have special significance. The sequence of these movements becomes a kind of thread to hold the design together, and Le Corbusier references the various relationships of elements with the way these are perceived along the movement route.

In threading experiences together, the route is a linear element with a dynamism and sense of continuity which contrasts with the static symmetry of the raised box which is the dominant perceptual image of the villa. Unlike the arrangement of the villa, the route has a time dimension and a potency which is increased by the form taken by the movement sequence.

As we can see from the first image, the route is a linear element with a dynamism and sense of continuity which contrasts with the static symmetry of the raised box which is the dominant perceptual image of the villa. Unlike the arrangement of the villa, the route has a time dimension which is increased by the form taken by the movement sequence. I use the difference of the interval between two little model people or cars to show the time dimension.

From the second and third images, the sense of dynamism is encouraged by the way the route curves around the access volume and by the dramatic exploitation of the ramp. This important symbolic element does more than reinforce the main axis, cutting through the layers and becoming like an escalator on which the observer is conveyed through the very heart of the design.

In last image, following the initial impact of the form, successive experiences take in the external transitional zone where the route first moves under the box; ceremonial entry is followed by the internal transitional zone of the entry volume, in which contact is preserved with the exterior, in which there is no sense of rest, and in which the ramp exerts a strong directional pull. Stable rectilinear spaces create a holding zone and movement concludes with the enclosed spaces of the roof deck. Continuity is maintained by the opening enframing the distant view.