Location: Climate

Roquebrune-Cap-Martin is located in southeastern France between Monaco and Menton in the Alpes-Maritimes region. It has a moderate, Mediterranean climate- refer to climate graph below. 

Average precipitation and temperature over twelve months in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France. 

Based on this information, we can understand many of the design choices in Petit Cabanon. Firstly, we know that the cabin would not have required very much insulation as the temperature never falls below zero in the region. Also, we understand that Le Corbusier's choice of a flat tin roof as the accumulation of snow would not have been a concern. Finally, few and small windows allow for natural lighting and views of the surrounding scenery without over heating the cabin on hot summer days. 

Posted by: Meghan Robidoux

Introduction to the Narrative

Cabanon was designed by Le Corbusier as a vacation home for the summers as the architect maintained a months vacation every year with religious rigour. Every year after developing his preoccupation with the area, Petit Cabanon became a frequent stop for Le Corbusier.

Immediately before creating Petit Cabanon, Le Corbusier had published Le Modulor in which he developed his own proportional system similar the the golden rectangle. Corbusier previously had presented the idea that buildings and homes were living machines, which is to say that they are a mechanical apparatus in which we live. Rationality was integral to Corbusier's design in the pre-war years which produced his most prolific building, Villa Savoye. However, upon arriving on the Mediterranean coast, Corbusier began to collect flotsam and shells that washed up on the shore. Although they are not his only inspiration, the shells he collected were an important part of le modulor and they represent a distinct shift in Corbusier's approach to design. While rationality had first dominated his design, no natural forms not only influenced proportions but also instinct became the focus of design and rationality became the result of instinct.

Le Modulor appears in his projects around the same time such as the Unite d'Habitation in Marseilles. Cabanon, however, is pure modulor from the size of the floor plan to the ceiling height. Petit Cabanon is expresses a new style of living that is not evident in his earlier works. Up until the point of Petit Cabanon's conception he had his only residence on the top floor of a paris apartment building where he had both his painting studio and also his living quarters.

Far from rustic on the interior, cabanon still provides a compacted form of monastic living that was generally absent from his famous villas before World War 2. 

Petit Cabanon was built in as part of a transition in Le Corbusier's work. It was one stage in his perfection of single room living. Corbusier created with his public housing projects a modular layout where the rooms, or cells, facilitated a monastic lifestyle, where inhabitants had private space to meditate and write. His cells also provided views of nature and the communal areas, much like a monastery.

His design of Petit Cabanon was a way of perfecting his design of a cell, which he made to the minimum size that was considered by modernists to be acceptable living space. In twelve square metres, Corbusier was able to provide himself with a comfortable living space and also exercise his newly developed modular system, which reflected in this design the spiral pattern of a seashell.

Posted by: Jason McMillan

Edited by: Meghan Robidoux

Brief History

It all started in 1924 when Eileen Gray, an Irish architect, along with her lover Jean Badovici, who was also an architect, built a vocational home called the E-1027 house in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. Le Corbusier was a friend of Badoivci and visited the house very often, admiring it’s every aspect. He admired it to the extent that he desired to add his own touches to the home. He began painting murals on the walls that had some sexual essence. He painted eight murals between 1937 and 1939. He was often caught painting these murals naked. Eileen Gray found these paintings offensive, considering them to be obscene and an act of vandalism. He became preoccupied with the house and tried to purchase it himself, but Eileen Gray refused to sell. Le Corbusier went on to purchase a piece of land just east of E-1027 and built for himself and his wife a cabin. He called it ‘Le Petit Cabanon’.

Le Corbusier's artwork in E-1027

Posted by: Amal Dirie

Le Corbusier's Early Life

Le Corbusier was born in Switzerland on 6th October 1887 in La Chaux-de-Fonds. His given name was Charles Edouard Jeanneret. La Chaux-de-Fonds is a relatively small town with an artistic flare and a valued place for craftsmanship due to its economic and cultural ties. Le Corbusier grew up in a middle class family. His father was in the watch business and his mother was a pianist and music teacher. One of Le Corbusier’s major inspirations was his mother who conveyed to her children the values of discipline. Le Corbusier would often quote his mother in later life, “Whatever you set out to do, be sure that you actually do it.”

Le Corbusier was exposed to design from his childhood. He would often follow his father in trekking and mountain climbing and was always encouraged to look hard at nature. He had conventional education till the age of fourteen after which he was enrolled in ‘Ecole d’ Art’, a program that led to an apprenticeship in watch engraving. By 1905, it was clear that Corbusier’s eyesight was too fragile for watch engraving, thus he switched to drafting under the same instructor. His teacher and family were determined to make him an architect and after some persuasion, Le Corbusier agreed.

Between 1905 and 1907, while still a student, Le Corbusier worked on some of his very first designs; music rooms for the Union Chretienne de Jeunes Gens and Matthey-Doret and then redecorating the interior of a chapel at nearby Fontainemelon.

Le Corbusier's architectural education:

1908: Vienna with Joseph Hoffmann

1908-1909: Paris with Auguste Perret

1910-1911: Berlin with Peter Behrens

1911: Travelled to Balkans, Greece, Asia minor and italy. Inspired majorly by the Acropolis in Athens, sculpture of the 5th century B.C. by Phidias on the Parthenon, St. Peter’s in Rome by Michelangelo

Posted by: Nadia Shahed

Mini Timeline

 1927- Eileen Gray’s house E-1027 is constructed and Le Corbusier becomes a frequent visitor, as he often met with Jean Badovici, the publisher ofl’Architecture Vivante




1945- World War II ends and the reconstruction of Europe begins.




1946- Construction of the Unite d'Habitation Marseilles begins. 

1949 - Le Corbusier is asked by Thomas Rebutato, who was a plumber that Le Corbusier had worked with previously, to design mini holiday homes to be constructed beside Rebutato’s cafe, ‘Etoile de mer’.

1951 - Due to Rebutato’s persisting financial difficulties, the holiday homes are never constructed and Le Corbusier convinces to let him construct le Cabanon next to the cafe instead.

1952- Le Cabanon is completed. The simple construction of the cabin allows it to be finished from conception to construction in only six months.

1955- For the first time, Corbusier meets with members of Science et vie at le Cabanon, which he uses to re-brand himself to the public.

Posted by: Jason McMillan 

Construction

Le Cabanon's exterior walls are constructed of rough pine timbers hewn in half. Inside, the walls are covered with plywood panels which are smooth in contrast to the rough exterior. The small windows are framed in pine and are single pane glass which can be covered with interior shutters. The roof is corrugated metal and the entire structure is elevated a few inches above grade on concrete blocks.


Le Cabanon is in fact a prefabricated structure. Corbusier's favourite Corsican carpenter Charles Barberis fabricated all the parts of the house in Ajaccio and shipped them to Roquebrune where Corbusier assembled them into his Cabanon.


The studio that Corbusier erected next to le Cabanon was a simple prefabricated builders shed.

Drawn and posted by: Jason McMillan
Edited by: Nadia Shahed