Villa Savoye

I went out to the suburb of Poissy today to visit Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, THE icon of Modernist architecture.

I can confirm that everything they say about it is true---and to a surprising extent.

The central axes are indeed almost always occupied by structure, a wall, a railing, even a window frame, forcing you "around" the centre and encouraging you to move.

You do clearly understand that Le Corbusier is revealing to you all sides of the architecture, as it were; you're diligently shown all sides and inside of every volume.

The views of the sky and surrounding grounds are indeed tightly-cropped and controlled. This is eloquent when it came to the sky, but I found it a restrictive way for a summer house to treat the landscape.

Yes, the house betrays a curious obsession with hygiene. I've never seen so many bidets before. But that's fine, because the master bathroom is marvellous.

Finally: As you can probably tell, I liked the staircase.