4 unités LC - Architecture Insights

were located independently, on a nearby site, incorporated into the whole
urban design scheme of which this ‘Unité’ was a part). The school in Rezé
presently consists of around 40 students divided into two classes. The children
are between the ages of 2 – 6 years old and must either live in the building or
have a relative as an inhabitant to be admitted (as ruled by the local
governing authorities). When the school first opened in 1955, it consisted of
around 100 students, but with the reduction of the average number of children
per family in France, the school population as since declined.
24 This view was expressed in an interview with one of the teachers of the
school, Isabelle Termeau, who demonstrated the ill functioning of much of
the school equipment, especially of the toilet and wash facilities that had not
been changed since the building’s construction. Many of the built in facilities
typical of Le Corbusier’s designs were also deteriorating, with cast concrete
tables and children’s seats cracked, chipped and with pealing paint.
25 Children’s play equipment on the roof terrace is limited due to the above
air flight traffic, as anything considered distracting for the pilots flying
overhead is strictly prohibited. Balls, for example, are not allowed, nor the
playing of any games such as hopscotch, that would involve the painting of
the terrace surface (also considered distracting to the overhead air traffic).
The wind provides additional limitations to types of play equipment that may
be used as much of it could easily be blown off.
These problems regarding the playing area on the roof terrace were raised by
the school’s teacher Isabelle Termeau.
26 Another concern expressed by Mlle Termeau.
27 Le Corbusier’s original theoretical studies for Rezé, as with the first designs
for Marseilles, envisaged the school to be situated at the base of the building,
set in the natural surroundings of the park. It was to be accessible to all
children in local area, to prevent the social isolation of the children living in
the building. Unfortunately, due to the proximity of the nearby school of
Rezé-Bourg, the municipal council would permit only the inclusion of a small
pre-school of three classes, situated on the roof of the building, in the design.
28 This quote was Le Corbusier’s reaction to the transformations inhabitants
had made to his designs in the case of the Quartier Moderne Frugès in Pessac.
See Boudon, Phillipe Lived-in Architecture: Le Corbusier’s Pessac Revisited,
The MIT Press, Cambridge Massachusetts, 1979, p. 2.
159 160
29 The restrictions placed on the school were equally mentioned in the
interview with Mlle Termeau, who expressed frustration and exasperation
regarding the conditions of the school and the demands of the building’s
association.
30 Le Corbusier painted murals on many building walls, the most notable of
which are in the Pavillon Suisse (1930-32), The Chapel of Ronchamp
(1953), the Studio at 35, rue de Sèvres, Paris (where his practice was
originally based), and later in the House at Cap-Martin (in fact designed by
Eileen Gray, 1926-29). Such works feature in the book Boesiger, W.,
Girsberger, H., text by Le Corbusier, Le Corbusier 1910-65, Thames and
Hudson, London, 1967, pp. 299, 305-06 + 312, in a section dedicated to Le
Corbusier’s paintings, sculptures and tapestries that so often feature in his
designs.