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Villa Savoye Vs Villa Dall'Ava

Research · November 2020

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Carmen Boudargham
Lebanese American University
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Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier

"The house is a box in the air…"

After cubism movement ended a new movement was created called the Purism movement,
Purism started in 1918 and 1925. This movement was led by several painters and architects. Le
Corbusier a well-known painter and architect.
Le Corbusier was the person who led this Purism movement and was known by his Purity of
form.
Purist paintings by Le Corbusier such as the painting called “Still Life Filled with Space” , reflected
into architecture.
Purism in contrast to cubism found its way into architecture by
reducing the space into its essential exponents.
The difference between cubism and purism is that, purism shows
order while cubism is more violent, it shows the volume in
different ways, it’s the clashing of pieces together.
Not only this orderly organization of forms what determines the work of Le Corbusier, there
was another element that he saw as being a manifestation of hygienic architecture, of an
approach to rid architecture of its any attachment to historic form but also to make it an
example of a pure architecture is the use of white. As white paint that covers concrete
materials and make this building as pristine form, almost like a temple in its purity.
This purity of form found its circuity in a project that is well known by “Villa Savoye”
Villa Savoye is located in the suburb of Paris, and was built in 1929, and this was a
manifestation.
If we look at some of the floor plans, we can get the feeling that this is almost like a purist
composition.

Le Corbusier used the same approach he was working with his paintings, found itself translated
in the way he composed his architectural works, especially as combination of different
elements coming together In orderly way on canvas or a platform.
In this building Le Corbusier realized the 5 points of architecture. The principles by which he
basically started what was called modern architecture which are: the pilotis that elevated the
building above the ground, the horizontal ribbon windows, the roof garden, the free façade,
and the free plan. Once we isolate the structures which is the columns from the walls, the plans
become free.
And again, this hygienic approach of his white concrete building. He used the ramp as a main
tool of circulating and moving in the building, this promenade architecture that he was
interested in.
As we can see elements like, the sink in the entrance of the ground floor level, as an indication
of this approach to project a new person in a new society that is built on this ideas of hygiene,
sunshine, health and cleanliness.
Villa Dall'Ava by Rem Koolhaas

Rem Koolhaas was known by his love to Dutch architecture. Dutch architecture was a creation
of real post modernity. He took the postmodernity in the 80s and the presented it in a new way
in the 90s.
Rem Koolhaas is the catalyst of the second modernity or called the hypermodernity of
architecture. He was able to assume the mentality of modernism of the 20s and 30s but also to
contextualize it within the popular discourse of 70s and 80s.
This was a result of the multiple skills that Rem Koolhaas had. Rem Koolhaas came from
journalism and film into architecture, so the idea of scripting and scenarios was rooted in his
architecture to create more meaningful and symbolic sense.
Rem Koolhaas was inspired by the surrealist movement, by surrealist it’s what goes beyond
reality, it’s the strange dreamlike atmosphere.
Villa Dall’Ava Is located on a hill that slopes toward the city of Paris, it was built in 1985-1991.
This building was commissioned by a bourgeois Parisian family, they wanted to build a
masterpiece. The wife wanted a swimming pool on the roof, and the husband wanted a glass
house. In addition to that, the family needed two separate apartments one for them and the
author to the daughter.
The building’s main body was divided into3 strips as he created a new interpretation of villa
savoye.

We have this horizontal window but it’s not white and purist architecture its more of a collage
architecture that puts different ideas into play. It’s obvious that both surrealism and purism
influenced this building. So, the villa is lifted above the ground as a floating element in air over
a forest of pilotis, the pilotis take form of an irregular elements of an irregular grid.

The main floor that Is the ground floor of the villa have the main functions; thought it we access
the different living functions. The two different stairways take us to the upper levels where the
2 elements at either ends of the house. One part is for parents and the other is for children that
are partially separated by a block of the swimming pool that is located at the upper level at the
roof terrace of the house.
As we can see that Rem Koolhaas made the house as a surrealist sort of reversal regular way of
a house. For example, the pool that should be situated in the garden of the house, in Villa Dall’
Ava the pool is located at the roof terrace that created a sort of attraction of this villa.

Villa Savoye Vs Villa Dall’Ava

When seeing Villa Dall'Ava, your early assumptions will probably be that there is a similarity
among it and Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye. The most evident elements between the two villas’ of
Koolhaas and Le Corbusier are the 5 points of Modern Architecture. Koolhaas tried to apply
these points of architecture which are the pilotis, the roof terrace, the ribbon windows, Free
plan and the free facade but he presented them in his own way and with his own twist to
portrait his own concept.
While comparing the 5 points of architecture we can see that the pilotis and the structural grid
in Villa Savoye was lifted on pilotis as if it was floating, taking into consideration the
proportionality between there height and width, also these pilotis were played in a way to
acquire the special layout. While Rem Koolhaas in Villa Dall’Ava, the only part that was lifted on
pilotis is the daughters apartment, these slim piloties were not straight they were tilted with an
angled, which looked like a forest, not taking proportionality into consideration. The grid was
laid out to fit in with the topography.

Going to the Free Facade and Horizontal Windows, Le Corbusier was able to separate the
structure from the façade which created what he called the free façade, and by adding this long
opening he created the horizontal ribbon window that allowed light to enter the villa equally.
While in Villa Dall’Ava, the free façade was found in the most part of the building, the façade
was entirely glass with the alternation with different kinds of glass according to the function,
private/public. Also, in this villa the ribbon windows were used in a way to differentiate
between the parents and the daughter’s apartment where he used the long horizontal for the
parents and rectangular screen for the daughter.

An important feature that made Villa Dall’Ava a center of attraction was the rooftop. The roof
top of this villa had a glass pool facing the Eiffel Tower, this pool replaced the roof garden that
Villa Savoye had.
Finally, the materials were very different in both villas, As Le Corbusier was known for the use
of white color and concrete which gave Villa Savoye the purity of form. Rem Koolhaas in Villa
Dall’Ava reversed his direction and went to the opposite where he used rough and unfinished
materials that gave a sense on unfinished.

Although these villas had many differences, yet both villas had some similarities too. For
example, Both Villa Savoye and Villa Dall’Ava used the free plan technique, which is column slab
instead of using thick bearing walls, this technique allowed them to create free spaces in the
internal usage and to create an inviting space in a small footprint in the case of Villa Dall’Ava.
Using this free plan also helped Villa Dall’Ava to create this glass pool on the roof.

The Ramp and Spiral Stairs in both Villas play an important role in circulating from level to
another. For example, in Villa Savoye a central ramp helps u move from the door and rises to
the upward spaces. And in villa Dall’Ava the ramp tracks the slope of the site and takes u to the
glass pavilion. This horizontal movement create moments of contraction and expansion like the
opening and closing of the view in Savoye's ramp.

To end with, In both the entrance is not articulated but remain indirect and further stress on
the importance of the composed masses inside each building.
 To conclude, Villa Dall’Ava was as a result of conceptual response and a new interpretation of
Villa Savoye after 62 years of its Construction. Rem Koolhaas used the 5 points of modern
architecture and twisted them into what postmodernity would, turning Villa Dall’Ava into a
commentary project. Although there were many differences in these buildings yet the Rem
Koolhaas was using Le Corbusier Free plan, entrance and the circulation techniques used in Villa
Savoye.

References:
Boehm, F. (2012). Die Zukunft der Vergangenheit: Rem Koolhaas/OMA und die Geschichte.
(German). Werk, Bauen + Wohnen, 12, 20–25.

Parra, G. (2016, December 13). Villa dall'ava (1) (1). Retrieved from
https://www.slideshare.net/gonzaloparra20/villa-dallava-1-1
Rivas, A. (n.d.). Villa Dall'ava y Villa Savoye. Retrieved from https://pt.slideshare.net/arianarivas90/villa-
dallava-y-villa-savoye
VILLA DALL'AVA. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://prezi.com/afuxadegagi3/villa-dallava/
Villa Dall'ava. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://en.calameo.com/books/005762372a25a5143100f
Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier (article). (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/later-europe-and-americas/modernity-
ap/a/corbusier-savoye
Villa Savoye and Villa Dall'Ava. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/villa-savoye-
and-villa-dallava

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