My Villa Savoye Adventure

On Tuesday aftneroon I fought a battle, against math, and lost. I was very discouraged and jumped at the opportunity to join Stella and her friend on an outing. I didn't even care/know where they were going. Apparently, neither did Stella.

We met up with Toni at the Charles De Gualle metro stop to catch the RER (commuter train). Apparently we were going to Poissy ( a bit outside Paris) to see one of the only French national monuments added to the conservation while the artist was still alive. Was it a sculpture? I asked. I learned that it was a house.

Toni, a fabulous Canadian from Toronto living in Paris and also teaching English, was an art history major and learned about la Villa Savoye in a specialty architecture class. After a metro, RER, and bus ride we arrived at the site of the Villa. We emerged from a brief stint in the woods and there it was:

Although I am not a huge modern art/architecture enthusiast, this was still pretty cool. It was built in the early 1930's and broke traditional architecture standards. It's rightfully called "les Heures Claires" (box in the air). It was occupied by the Germans and then the Allies during war and suffered extensive damage. In 1958, Poissy bought the property before giving it back to the state in 1962. It was then restored from 1963-1997. It's especially famous because it was listed as a historic monument during the lifetime of the designer, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret.

It's design instigated five new points of architecture : stilts, roof gardens, an open-plan, free-floating facade and horizontal windows.

I was pretty impressed with Toni's knowledge of the architect and this building's innovative architectural techniques. The house was Jeanneret's weekend home and pretty insane. I would never want to live in a house like this, but walking through it was very striking. The clean, stark lines were very impressive and were made to be photographed. I really liked the utilization of bright colors randomly on some of the walls, such as azure blue, peach and red. The bathroom was a work of art as well.

After our tour we lounged on the original furniture, basking in the sun in the brightly window lit living room. For someone who does not know much about architecture, or modern art, I was quite taken with the space. It was a great cultural adventure, and something I would have never known about  had it not been for Toni. Not to mention it was a gorgeous fall day, which I could not help but capture.