Analysis of Villa Curutchet by Le Corbusier

The Villa Curutchet designed by Le Corbusier is one of the row houses in the place where it was built and it was designed for a surgeon for using the house also as an office so the house is one of the good examples for differentiating the spaces according to the user of the spaces. In other words, the households public and private use in itself and those different kinds of uses of the house are divided by the voids created in the house. This paper examines how the voids organize the composition of the house and also with the existence of the void the paper mentions the layer in the places where the voids begin and end. As a result, the house is compared with the painting of Le Corbusier called “Still Life” in reference to the analysis of Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky.

In order to define the house as a composition organized by the voids, it is important to mention about the nearby environment of the house. The house locates itself between two houses so If the existence of the house is ignored, the site of the house is able to be read as a defined void between two masses. It can be assumed that the architect designed the house considering the site as a defined void and he created the spaces and organization of them by adding enclosed volumes into a defined void. The first step is the division of the void by gridal organization of the vertical element called columns. On the ground floor, the ramp and the enclosed spaces are the initial additions as volumes into the defined void in accordance with the gridal division of the vertical elements. In reference to the initial addition, at further steps, the enclosed volumes, defined as circulation, living and office spaces, are added into the defined void. Although the house can be read as an addition of the enclosed volumes into the defined void, also the house can be read as the subtraction of the voids from the whole enclosed volumes in order to divide the different purpose of use such as division of living and office.

The way of combining the vertical elements of the house highlights the existence of the voids in the details. There is a sequential combination of the void and the vertical elements which means that the vertical elements such as the columns, tree or the facade elements are ordered in between the voids. This situation of the combination of the elements and the voids indicates the various sequential sections so it can be assumed that the house is composed of sequential vertical layers. Also reading the house as sequential layers can be analyzed on the horizontal axis since the facade elements and the gaps on the side walls of the house created a layer on the horizontal sections. These layers and the sequential combination of them defines the publicness and privacy of the spaces of the house. In other words, If the road next in front of the house and the ground level are taken as a base, the level of the superimposition of the layers defines the level of privacy of the house. Because of that the living zone of the house which means that the most private spaces of the house are on the upper floor of the house and the furthest place of the house from the road.

Considering the reading the house as a sequence of horizontal and vertical layers, the painting of Le Corbusier called “Still Life of 1920” can be compared with the house in reference to the analysis of Rowe and Slutzky. They analyzed the painting while they mention about “[Stratifications], devices by means of which space becomes constructed, substantial, and articulate, are the essence of…phenomenal transparency” (Rowe & Slutzky, 1982) by exploding it in order to assert that the painting is composed of different layers and overlapping of the layer creates the end product. The layering method as a design method is seen in both Le Corbusier’s paintings and his built works like The Villa Curutchet. Like it occurs in the painting of him, the frontal elevation of the Villa Curutchet gives the sense of overlapping of the various sequential layers. In contrast to the painting, from the front elevation of the house, while the overlapping of the layers is observed, also the void between the layers can be read. Actually reading the void between the layers empower the sense of composition the layers.

Briefly, while reading the house as a precedent, the voids and how they are combined are the main concern for the analysis of the house. The occurrence of the voids in between the vertical and the horizontal elements of the house gives the sense of the sequential layers both in vertical and horizontal planes so the house can be as a composition of a sequential layer.

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“House in Reference”

Architectural project representation by combining scientific data

The climate change and the effect of it on the architecture is a popular subject in today for that reason in that semester in ARCH 401 course the theme of the project and name of it is “change climate change”. So the main issue of this term is dealing with the “change” with architecture. In a general point of view, the meaning of the word “change” is “undergoing transformation, transition, or substitution”. (Change. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/change)  which means that there have to be a shift from one to another in a period of time in order to talk about “change”. The image that I produced highlights the alteration of the horizontal movement with the sections produced by the strips of the monthly precipitation chart of Ankara.

In order to explain the image, the ARCH 401 project is had to be mentioned before briefly. The site of the project is in Akköprü region of Ankara where is very close the route of the Ankara stream, actually the stream defines a part of the border of the site so the condition of the water in a period of the time and the changes in its levels throughout a year are the main concern of the project because in my proposal, the stream turns into a pool which is called “eco pool” in order to maximize the potential of the water storage in the site since the projects aims to collect used water, water coming from the rain and prevent the flood of the Ankara Stream. Also within the eco pool, there is some kind of islands in different levels that are in -3m and -6 m and these provide different activities and different circulation potentials throughout the year since the water level becomes on the -7 m in the summer and it is on ground level in the winter. Briefly, creating islands, in other word platforms, on a different level in the pool is the main approach of the project to the “change”.

The image includes the monthly precipitation chart of Ankara in white color and the numbers next to the white lines are the representation of twelve months. That chart is added in the image since the eco pool transforms itself for the different activities and proposes different horizontal movement for the users and water in relation to changes of the time. In other words, time is emphasized by the addition of the chart. There is also a plan drawing of the eco pool and when the lines of the chart that holds the information of average rainfall of Ankara meet the plan drawing of the eco pool, the lines turn into the sections of the eco-pool in order to show the horizontal movement in the eco pool so the sections, in other words, proposed movements, are ordered in a sequential way. It is also said that the image shows the order of experience created by an eco pool. Briefly, the image is created by an informative chart, plan drawing of a part of the project and the sections framed in relation to the time and framed with the informative strips coming from the chart in order to read the project in an expressive way.

The sequential expressive image created by Bernard Tschumi called as “The Tower” (The Fall) is one of the references for the final diagrammatic image. The image is made by using ink on a tracing paper and depicts a vertiginous fall from a Manhattan skyscraper. (The Manhattan Transcripts Project, New York, New York, Episode 3: The Tower (The Fall), https://www.moma.org/collection/works/45 ) The image includes four columns, two of them can be given as a reference for my final image.  One of them is created by the illustrations of a series of the scenes of a falling man and the other one is the continuous line depicting the movement of the falling man. The continuous line is divided by the frames that are created with intervals highlighted with a different texture in relation to the falling time of the man in a sequential way.

In the text of the Manhattan Transcript, how the ideas of Bernard Tschumi is illustrated and the which tools are used for that are explained. It mentions the notations and the articulation using in the diagrammatic images in order to explain the thought of him in an expressive way. In the part that explains the notation, he says that the purpose of the notation is introducing the order of the experience, the order of the time – moments, intervals, sequences-  by explaining the meaning of the word “notation”. The thing that he writes about is the line depicting the movement of the falling man. He expresses the spatial effect of a body movement in the space. The text also mentions the articulation by asserting that there is a conscious organization while constructing the images or diagrams. As a tool for that, the frames are described by saying that each frame actually shows each sequence and those represent the changes of the movement in space. Usually, the frames in the images of Bernard Tschumi is created by two-dimensional geometric forms such as rectangle and square.

In order to compare The Tower created by Bernard Tschumi and my final image depicting the main theme of my ARCH 401 project, it can be said that there is the end product considering the time sequence. Both are organized by ordering the representation of the movement. In Tschumi’s case, the vertical movement of the falling man is depicted with a continuous line framed in the rectangles. In my final image, the horizontal movement of the users and the water is shown with strips of the chart. The strips of the chart turn into the section of each segment in order to show the movement. About the sequences of the time issue, the image of Bernard Tschumi frames the line showing the movement for a very short period of time as seconds. In my case, the time is represented by each strips visualizing the time as months.

The other reference is the work of Eadweard  Muybridge called “Horse in Motion”. It composed of a series of photographs, framing a horse rider in the foreground and the lines and the number showing representing the time in the background. The way he represents the photographs is a significant reference for my image since he ordered the photographs by considering the information of time included in the background of each image. In my image, the information coming from the chart and the sections of the eco pool is ordered by the information of time getting from the chart so both images are produced in the sequences of time.

Briefly, the image that I produced for ARCH 471 course is composed of a chart including time and scientific data, sections and the plans of the ARCH401 project. In terms of the way of representing the movement and organizing them by considering the time, in other words by considering the sequences of time, The Tower image of Bernard Tschumi explained in the text of The Manhattan Transcripts  and the photograph series of Eadweard Muybridge called “Horse in Motion” can be given as references for my final image.

References

Tschumi, B. (1994). The Manhattan transcripts:. Willey.

Lawrence, A. (2003-2004). The Animated Films of Eadweard Muybridge. University of California Press, 57, 15-25

Tschumi, B. The manhattan transcript. Retrieved from http://www.tschumi.com/projects/18/#

Tschumi, B. The Manhattan Transcripts Project, New York, New York, Episode 3: The Tower (The Fall). Retrieved from https://www.moma.org/collection/works/45

 

Case Study: Ozeaneum, National Oceanography Museum, House on the Cliff, Peréz Art Museum

The cases that are written as a title are combined in a purpose. Each of them and the particular factors affecting the design decision of each of them are gathered in order to analyze as precedents for the project of the semester. Ozeaneum and National Oceanography museum in Spain were analyzed for the understanding the program of the project of this semester. The house on the cliff is for being familiar with the context and, lastly, Peréz Art Museum is for comprehending the design decision for the hot-humid climate.

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Conceptual Proposal for The site in Akköprü, Ankara/Turkey

The site is in the Akköprü region where it is the neighbor of Ankamall, AOÇ and the part of Ankara stream.

First I worked with a group and as a group, we analyzed the stream path on a larger scale. The stream locates itself the voids of Ankara and significant part of the stram passes through the AOÇ site so the voids that continue with the streams’ route acts as an element that divides the density of the urban pattern and also as a group we proposed a program. For that reason, we focused on the closeness of the site of AOÇ to our site and today’s condition of AOÇ attracts our attention. Actually, the main purpose of the occurrence of AOÇ is sustaining agricultural activities first, so we came up with a supportive proposal for the site. We think that we proposed “storage” for the products program for the site.  After the group work I thought on the “storage” idea then I thought that there has to be a kind of storage that houses the water coming from the flood season of the stream so I proposed ecological storage for the program by considering the natural land type of the Ankara stream which is called “swamp” For the storing the water coming from the stream, the site is acting as an “eco-pool” with the nature of swamp. Also in order to empower the storage programs, I proposed commercial, production, leisure and dwelling activities for the site.

For the analysis of the site, the water element acts as a piece of the border of the site. As it is mentioned before, the void dividing the dense pattern so I assume that the water can act as void dividing the site. First I distorted the border, the linearity of the water, and enlarged it in order to hold more water in itself and also for providing some activities, in the places of eco-pool since the water level always changes throughout the year and I raised the islands kind of platforms in different levels in the eco pool. For creating a typographical effect in order to provide a smooth moving of the site, I locate strips in the 10-meter width which is the minimum of the urban circulation element.  After that I locate the enclosures holding the program in themselves and adopt the enclosures to the strips of the site elements. With the inclination of the roofs of the masses created out of the strips, the building itself collects the water coming from the rain.