the builder

so, frank lloyd wright was truly amazing. he is definitely america's architect for good reason. that said, le corbusier is the rest of the world's architect and is directly or indirectly responsible for the majority of the built world we live in. in terms of his influence, he is the beatles and dylan combined in the architecture world.

anyway, i am a big fan. i did a week long precedent study of one of his buildings called maisons jaoul. seemingly very simple and unassuming but absolutely beautiful. it is a small lot with two houses on it (such a small lot that one house had to back into an existing wall) that really makes amazing use of public and private spaces. it also has a green roof and can more or less completely open up the exterior walls in some places. two different sized vaults on the inside are reflected on the outside, parking underground, built-in furniture galore, beautiful use of wood, some great double-height spaces and everything is built exactly to the human porportion system le corbusier invented based on the golden rectangle and the human body. they were built in the early '50's for an art collector couple (in 1) and their son and his wife and kids (in 2). if you get a chance, check out some pictures of this thing. here is just one picture i could find and a couple of my model i built while studying it.