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

Site

Site map of Petit Cabanon showing it's relation to the topography and significant surrounding buildings. 

Site Plan: 1- Unite de camping 2- Etoile de Mer, 3- Petit Cabanon, 4- Studio, 5- E-1027

Photograph of site.

Drawn and posted by: Meghan Robidoux 

Axonometric

1:50 Axonometric Study of Petit Cabanon

Drawn and posted by: Amal Dirie

Drawing Analysis

Not only did Le Corbusier design his Cabanon according to the strict regiment of Le Modulor, he also designed the floor plan with a very clear linear ordinance. The diagram below illustrates the way in which all elements of the plan line up with each other accordingly. 

The horizontal trim around the perimeter of the interior acts as a datum line within the caban. As illustrated in the diagrams below, many window and cabinet heights start or end on either side of this line. 

Posted by: Meghan Robidoux

Application of Le Modulor

The drawings below demonstrate the use of Le Corbusier's Le Modulor in the design of Petit Cabanon. 

Le Corbusier's preliminary sketches demonstrating his use of Le Modulor.

Preliminary sketches. 

Posted by: Meghan Robidoux

Photo Timeline

The photo timeline below demonstrates a progression in Le Corbusier's work from a clean, rectilinear ascetic to a more rustic, organic feel over the course of his career. The plans included also reflect these changes. 

 

Citrohan House 1920-1927, Struttgart Germany

Villa Bensnus 1923, Vaucresson near Paris, France

Villa Stein/de Monzie 1927, Vaucresson near Paris France 

Villa Savoye 1929-1931, Poissy near Paris France

Petit Cabanon constructed, 1952

Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut 1950-1954, Ronchamp France

Millowners' Association Building, 1951-1954, Ahmedabad India 

Villa Shodan, 1951-1956, Ahmedabad India 

Parliament Building, 1952-1963, Chandigarh India 

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