Villa de Mandrot (l’Artaude)

The villa is located on a hilltop in Le Pradet, offering a privileged, quiet location just 5 minutes by car from beaches, activities, and amenities. It is 6 minutes by car from La Garde train station and 20 minutes from Toulon.

The villa is named after Hélène de Mandrot, a patron and friend of Le Corbusier. A woman of refined taste, she frequented the artistic circles of the Parisian avant-garde and had a particular interest in architecture. In 1928, she organized the first International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM) at her Château de la Sarraz in Switzerland. The following year, she commissioned Le Corbusier to design a project marked by simplicity : a small holiday home with “two bedrooms, four extra beds, and a garden.”

Enthusiastic about applying his concepts of standardized housing in a Mediterranean context, Le Corbusier accepted.

The Villa de Mandrot stands at the confluence of two currents of architectural modernity :

It perpetuates, on the one hand, the purist and standardized language of industrial aesthetics (“machine for living”), embodied at the time by Le Corbusier, particularly in the Villa Savoye (1928-1931), and by other modern architects such as Eileen Gray with Villa E-1027 (1926-1929).

On the other hand, the Villa de Mandrot represents the meeting of the International Style with Provençal culture: the project explores forms of local integration, affirming the connection to the landscape and traditional construction techniques.

The originality of this work lies in its commitment to anchoring the house in its context : Le Corbusier highlights the surrounding nature as a frame for the house; he creates effects of surprise or staging, such as the grand staircase leading to the back of the garden. The use of Provençal materials, such as rubble stone or Var stone, roots this creation in vernacular culture. Similarly, the terrace framed by the house, the windbreak wall, and the cabin evoke the aesthetic of the patio, characteristic of Mediterranean architecture. In 1931, Le Corbusier wrote : “The house is stunning, new, strong, solid, splendidly incorporated into the landscape.”

Born in Switzerland in 1887 and passing away in 1965, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier, was an architect and urban planner known for his ability to make architecture a total art. He designed buildings, interior layouts, both in terms of furniture and comfort, and considered the urban dimension of all his projects. He remains one of the most emblematic figures of the Modern Movement.

Throughout his career, Le Corbusier shared his visions and theories through participation in international exhibitions, such as the one in 1925, where he presented the Pavillon de l’Esprit Nouveau, and in 1937, with his Pavillon des Temps Nouveaux.

A defender of modernism and rejecting decorative arts, Le Corbusier embodied his architectural thinking in his villas, particularly in the Villa Savoye in 1928, where he theorized the “five points of modern architecture” (pilotis, flat roof, ribbon windows, free façade, and open floor plan).

Although he was one of the most prolific architects of his time, many of his projects never came to fruition, such as the Plan Voisin or the Contemporary City for Three Million Inhabitants. Sometimes too polemical or radical for the general public, Le Corbusier’s work nevertheless achieved international resonance. His last major project was offered by the city of Chandigarh, India, where he was tasked with overseeing all urban planning for the creation of the new capital of Punjab, blending raw concrete with lush vegetation.