Description
A “Zig-zag” house restored to its former glory
This “Zig-zag” house is located in the famous “Quartiers Modernes Frugès” garden city in Pessac, built by Le Corbusier in 1926-1927 and now a UNESCO World Heritage site. This exceptional site was one of the first workers’ housing estates built entirely in accordance with the principles of modern architecture.
The house has been completely restored in keeping with the original spirit.It offers 85 m² of living space over three levels. On the ground floor, there is a lovely living area opening onto the garden, with a dining room and fitted kitchen. Upstairs are two bedrooms, one with a terrace, and a bathroom.
Furniture can also be purchased.
The house has a lovely 360 m² garden with trees, a shed and a parking space.
It is located in Pessac, around 20 minutes from the centre of Bordeaux and 2 hours from Paris by train.
A unique architectural ensemble
This iconic house is one of fifty-three built in the district using six different models: “Zig-zag”, “Quinconce”, “Jumelle”, “Gratte-ciel”, “Arcade”, “Vrinat” and “Isolée”. The “Zig-zag” type blocks are made up of three dwellings set perpendicular to each other and wide open on their long sides.
Each dwelling features several of the five points defined by Le Corbusier for “a new architecture”: the free plan made possible by the use of reinforced concrete beams that allow spaces to be organised without any constructive constraints; the banded window that runs the length of the façade and allows a continuous relationship with the landscape; and the roof terrace that frees up extra space and allows a hanging garden to be created.
The “Quartiers modernes Frugès”
Commissioned by Bordeaux sugar industrialist Henri Frugès from Le Corbusier, this architectural complex adopts functional principles and simple, uncluttered geometric forms. Fifty-three pavilions were built between 1926 and 1927, the first part of a vast project of 250 villas in which Le Corbusier put into practice his ideas on urbanism, industrialisation and large-scale standardisation.
The worksite provided an opportunity to experiment with new construction techniques, such as the cement cannon, and to incorporate into the houses amenities that were at the cutting edge of comfort at the time: hanging gardens, integrated garages, shower rooms and showers, indoor toilets, cookers, boilers supplying hot and running water, calorifiers for the hot air… The houses were resolutely modern living spaces for their time.
Le Corbusier also built the workers’ housing estate at Lège-Cap-Ferret (1923-1924) at the request of Henry Frugès. Sketched out in Lège, the “Quartiers Modernes Frugès” programme in Pessac appears to be the first experiment in a global theory of modern housing. It is of major historical importance, and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since July 2016.
Le Corbusier
Born in Switzerland in 1887 and died in 1965, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier, was an architect and town planner renowned for his ability to turn architecture into a total art. He thought about buildings and interior design in terms of both furnishings and comfort, and took the urban planning dimension into account in all his creations. He remains undeniably one of the most emblematic figures of the Modern Movement.
Throughout his career, Le Corbusier shared his visions and theories through his participation in international exhibitions such as that of 1925, where he presented the Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau, and that of 1937, with his Pavillon des Temps Nouveaux.
A defender of modernism and rejecting the decorative arts, Le Corbusier inscribed his architectural thinking in his villas, most notably in the villa Savoye in 1928, where he theorised the “five points of modern architecture” (pilotis, the flat roof, banded windows, the free facade and the free plan).
Le Corbusier’s housing unit, one of the most important inventions of the 20th century in terms of architecture and town planning, is based on the desire to adapt a type of housing to modern society. This particular and original model, based on the architectural concept of the “Modulor”, is particularly well suited to the construction of social housing. It was developed after the Second World War in five housing units. The best known, and the first completed, is the Cité Radieuse in Marseille (1952), now a Unesco World Heritage Site along with sixteen other major Corbusier sites.
Although he was one of the most prolific architects of his time, many of his projects never saw the light of day, such as the Neighbour Plan or the Contemporary city of three million inhabitants. Although sometimes too polemical or radical in the eyes of the general public, Le Corbusier’s work nevertheless had an international impact. His last major project was offered to him by the city of Chandigarh, India. He was commissioned to direct the entire urban planning work for the creation of the new capital of Punjab, where he blended raw concrete with lush vegetation.