The Villa Savoye was built by Le Corbusier in 1929, at a location few kilo metres outside of Paris called Poissy. The owners of the house were Emilie and Pierre Savoye and their son. This was to be a weekend house for the wealthy Jewish family. They wanted a weekend retreat for relxation and enjoyment of the countryside scenery. Le Corbusier at that time was driven by his ideas about making a house purely functional, mechanical and minimalistic. He wanted to make the ultimate modern villa which would serve its purpose as a holiday retreat, as well as embrace technology into its structural build up. It was to be the early 20th century's "Machine for Living".
This house which fell into the clasps of urban decay was restored from 1965 onwards. It was severely damaged during WWII. Even before the war started the owners eventually abandoned the house in the late 1930's as structural faults started appearing. They declared it uninhabitable due to multiple leakages around the building and threatened to sue Le Corbusier.
However inspite of the technical faults, this villa's design was way ahead of its time.
Image: Villa Savoye before restoration.
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