4 unités LC - Architecture Insights

Preface
Observations and Visitations
The subject of this thesis came about from an external study and
research year in France, which took place from March 2000 to
March 2001. Upon my arrival in the country, I began my search for
a topic, which I had already decided would relate to the issue of
social housing in France. The importance of this issue had become
apparent to me during previous visits to the country, as well as
through the many years that I had spent studying the language
and culture. Not only have issues of Social Housing (known as
HLM or HBM in France) 1 long been points of discussion for the
national media due to the ‘ghetto-like’ situations many of them
were found to be in, 2 but the mere impressive physical presence of
these developments suggests a certain significance in itself.
One of the oldest, and definitely the most famous HLM
construction in France, was the ‘Unité d’habitation’ in Marseille,
and although this later became privately owned, it’s origins of an
HLM classification drew my interest. Knowing its age, I began to
wonder what the situation and state this building was today, and
whether or not it had suffered from the same problems as other
more generic HLM developments in France. Through readings in
various periodicals and books in search of related information and
history, it came to my attention, that although a great deal had been
written on the ‘Unité’ of Marseille, little had in fact been written
regarding the other three constructed ‘Unités’ of Le Corbusier in
France. And so began the long journey of researching, tracing,
locating and visiting each of these four ‘Unités d’habitation’, filling
in the missing gaps that books and journals had failed to provide.
For each of the ‘Unités’ visited, at least a day was spent
documenting the buildings in words, sketches and photographs,
and whenever possible, the project was revisited at a different time
of the year. The projects were generally visited on a weekday, when
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businesses and schools were in activity, and if revisited, on a
weekend, to note the possible differences in use by the residents.
The buildings were considered not only in relation to their sites,
whose states were equally studied and recorded, but also in
relation to the whole surrounding area and district. Public transport
was taken to each of the sites, so as to gain an understanding of
the connections between each project with its surrounding district
and services.
The interaction between residents of the buildings with each other,
as well as with residents of the surrounding area, were observed,
and interviews were conducted with a variety of people. Those
interviewed were of a range of professions, backgrounds, age and
socio-economic standings, depending on the ‘Unité’ and its
present demographic. 3 Interviews were conducted in person, on an
informal basis, with each of the interviewees being addressed in
their living (or working) environments. Notes from the interviews
were recorded by hand.
Other housing and housing related projects of Le Corbusier in
France and the surrounding region were also visited with the hope
of gaining a greater personal understanding for the progressive
development of Le Corbusier’s ideas that eventually culminated in
the ‘Unité d’habitation’ designs. The other Le Corbusier projects
visited were: the Couvent Sainte-Marie-de-la-Tourette, Éveux-surl’Arbresle
(near Lyon), Rhône; the Pavillon Suisse and the
Pavillon du Brésil, both in the Cité Universitaire, Paris; the Cité de
Refuge for the Salvation Army, Paris; Immeuble Locatif à la
Molitor, Paris; and Immeuble Clarté, Geneva, Switzerland.
Additional projects were unfortunately unable to be visited due to
time and financial constraints. 4
Information gained in these visits was equally supplemented by
research carried out in various libraries around France, as well as