4 unités LC - Architecture Insights

98. Pingusson’s plans for the
new village of Briey-en-Forêt,
1955.
As for the ‘Unité’ itself, Le Corbusier had to abandon the roof top
maternal school 9 , bar-restaurant and hotel he had originally
planned. The only resulting service provided in the ‘Unité’ (which
didn’t last long) was a small newspaper /tabacconist near the
entry. 10 Plans for the installation of a commercial centre were in fact
formed in 1965, but further difficulties with the local government
limited the financing of the project, and it was abandoned at the
end of that year. 11 Even the sporting and recreational facilities of
the other ‘Unités’ are completely neglected in the case of Briey-en-
Forêt, presumably due to the fact that Pingusson’s orginal scheme
intended to provide these facilities. As a result, the idea of the
‘Unité’ here was truly ‘amputated’ in its comparatively severe lack
of communal services.
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Just a few years after construction of the ‘Unité’, the OPHLM
(Office Public Habitation à Loyer Modéré / Public Social
Housing Office) that managed the building began to experience
serious difficulties 12 – a response, perhaps, to the fact that the
residents had only been given a small and much too
insubstantial part of the dream.
People with in the building were knocking down walls, altering
apartment layouts and using unrented space for squats or
rubbish dumps. 13 But although this state might have been
considered by some to be “no better, in fact, than any French
immigrant’s ghetto”, 14 it would seem that many of the inhabitants
at the time, although they acknowledged a certain state of
anarchy, actually reminisced about these times with fondness
and nostalgia for the openness and friendliness that they had
shared with other residents – the doors of the apartments often
left wide open for neighbouring apartments to communicate with
each other, the atmosphere convivial, and even for one New
Year’s Eve celebration, long tables were set out along the length
of the internal ‘streets’ for the whole building community to sit
along. 15
In reaction to this apparent disorder, management of the ‘Unité’
changed over to another Social Housing Office in 1967, 16 and
this new managing body took it upon themselves to reinterpret
the building in a more conventional manner, with the hope of reestablishing
order. The raw concrete finishes and vibrant
multicoloured doors and loggias, characteristic of Le Corbusier’s
‘Unité’ design, were all painted over. The exterior of the building
was made a uniform white, and the internal ‘streets’ were
repainted in a pastel shade, with apartment doors all in the one
colour. The entry foyer was also later redone, and repair work
was carried out on just four of the apartments. 17