Le Corbusier's Maison La Roche

On my independent travel I went for the first time to Paris and while there I visited a somewhat famous project by Le Corbusier. Maison La Roche (or Villa La Roche), or really two attached houses with the other being Maison Jeanerette, was designed for a Purist and Cubist art collector to not only serve as a home but a gallery as well. Like most of Corbu's project the house is somewhat minimal both externally and internally with white stucco walls and a few windows. This project, Corbu's third in Paris, is the first time three major traits of Corbus designs come out. This includes the ramp, the full-length window, and the roof terrace. There are two powerful spaces in the house. This first is upon entering where one immediately finds thereself in a three story tall space with ample sunlight shining in. This space seperates the living spaces from the public spaces. Stairs that climb up on each side provide a variety of heights and angles to look down. The second space is the gallery which is contained in a wing the lies perpindicular to the main house. This wing is is lifted above the ground a story and contains a two story highr gallery space with a ramp that runs from the first level to a second level with a sitting space and library. The ramp, somewhat steep, is curved at that is reflected on the outside by being the non part of the building that is not straight. The project today serves not only as a museum but as the headquarters for the Le Corbusier Foundation with a research library and archives.

Brian E. Williford

Linear Gardens of Palladian Villas

Villa Foscari - Side Pathway

Villa Emo - Front Path

Villa Emo - Rear Farmland

While visiting various Palladian villas in the Veneto region of Italy, I found the well-crafted gardens around the buildings particularly interesting. Just as the villas were designed with a clear orthogonal organization, the landscape and pathways contained on the secluded estate were created in an obvious linear fashion. Palladio’s intent was to develop a connection between the living space both inside and outside his villas, including those found at Villa Foscari and Villa Emo. He attempted to incorporate linear structured landscapes that followed the central axis found in the building on the site. This clear circulation of the land fulfilled functional purposes. Keeping a simplistic and legible path helped the original inhabitants of the villa transport harvested crops. Also, the well-manicured passages aided residents when trying to reach more private areas of the site. Visually, the linear organized landscapes are quite appealing, and they provide exceptional views of the entire area.

Patrick Lee

Palladio's Villa Foscari

Villa Foscari (better known as “La Malcontenta”) was built in 1558 by Andrea Palladio for two brothers, Alvise and Nicolo Foscari. It is located on the Naviglio border, a waterway that connects Venice and Padua, in Mira, a smaller town in the Venice province. Palladio built an architecture that expressed his theoretical thought process and his extraordinary compositional skill. The building consists of a central floor plan on three levels. The main façade faces the canal because people used to arrive by boat along the canal. Palladio used the concept of the temple front on pedestal base with two stairs leading up to the front door. The idea of the temple front comes from religious architecture. The façade is made of brick now but used to be covered by hard stucco. Palladio used the gentle rustication concept in his development of the building materials. Gentle rustication is a more flat and delicate form of rustication. Palladio came up with a sophisticated solution to turning the corner with the columns. He turned only one capital 45 degrees thus allowing the column to continue and go on to the next column. The rear façade “pleases the modern face.” It employs elements from Roman engineering such as the thermal window and relieving arches. The thermal windows are used in thermal bath designs. The relieving arches on the building are purely graphical and made of plaster. Inside, Palladio uses the cross layout, which is usually used in religious architecture. Palladio also employs the use of the terrazzo flooring, which was a Roman technique to cover terraces. The flooring is painted to look like carpet or marble.

Amy Altman