Week-end House on the Coast By Le Corbusier

dezignhome.blogspot.com Week-end House on the Coast By Le Corbusier

Spatial Planning

a) Site: The week-end house is situated about 31 miles south of La Rochelle in the Department of Saintonge on the west coast of France. It lies at the mouth of the Gironde estuary. The house Is about one third of a mile from the sea. Between house and sea there Is a magni. ficent stretch of sand. The plot on which the house stands is sandy and lies on the edge of a sparse fir wood. The nearest village is Lea Mathes about 2,5 mIles away to the north-east. The long axis of the building is placed north-south and the rooms face east so as to be protected from the strong midday sun. The area of the plot of land is approxImately 1,436 square yards.

b) Programme: The climatic conditions have been taken Into account in the general planning of the house. The rooms are arranged so that they stay as cool as possible and there are covered spaces on the east and west sides which are in shade during the afternoon and morning respectively. All the rooms and covered spaces are cross ventilated. Ground floor [21: covered terrace (5) with way down to small cellar (4), open access way, kitchen-living room (3), combined bathroom and laundry (2), maids’ room with two beds and guest room with two beds (1). First floor [3]: covered terrace (9), open access way, parents’ bedroom and living room (8), bathroom with shower and W.C. (7), daughters’ bedroom with two beds (6), son’s room with one bed (6). The house Is occupied only during the holidays.

The house was designed so that it could be built entirely by local labour with materials from the district — wood and natural stone. The methods of construction selected conform to the structural demands of these two materials: external weight-carrying walls and an internal framework of timber. The returning of the masonry walls gives resistance to wind pressure. The timber frame was erected after the completion of the walls. The rest of the construction is of wood, plywood, asbestos sheeting and glass. Cross ventilation is arranged as follows. Ground floor: each room has a small window in the wall opposite the large glazed surfaces. First floor: the rooms have a continuous narrow band of window at ceiling height In the west wall. These windows are centre-hung. The covered terraces on the ground and first floors are also cross ventilated.

The inward pitch of the roof helps the warm air to escape easily from the first floor rooms [12]. The temperature in the rooms Is kept down by the 1’—6” thik masonry walls and by the setting back of the glazed surfaces so that they are in the shade. Fenestration:

The panels below the windows and the lower parts of doors to the covered access ways are of asbestos sheeting. The doors are divided horizontally Into two parts so that the top half can be opened for ventilation while the lower half remains closed [10). On the west elevation there are the centrehung windows at ceiling height and the large fixed windows of the kitchen and parents’ room looking out over the view. 

The majority of the windows are fixed. It was necessary to provide roller type sunblinds to the large windows on the west side. When the house is unoccupied the wIndows are protected by wooden shutters. These are kept In the cellar when not in use. Floors: ground floor — slabs of porphyry set on concrete: first floor — deal parquet. Internal finish of walls: all masonry wails neatly worked to natural finish without plaster. The Internal partition walls are timber framed and faced with plywood left natural finish. The roof Is insulated with granulated cork placed on top of the ceiling boards. The undutations of the corrugated sheeting of the roof allow sufficient air movement round the roof timbers. Roof: sheets of corrugated asbestos with undulations of wide pitch laid to fall toward the middle of the house. The down pipes are internal and the gutter Is provided with an external overflow at either end. 

The house has electric light. The drinking water Is pumped from below ground by an electric pump placed In the ground floor laundry. The pump supplies a 45 gallon tank in the bathroom above. There is also a hand pump for emergency use. The sewage Is disposed of in a cessplt placed about 16 feet from the house.

________________________________________________