LOCATION: Rue de la Font du Loup, 42700 Firminy France
ARCHITECT: Le Corbusier (with completion by André Wogenscky upon Le Corbusier’s death in 1965)
DATES: 1964-1967
NOTES: Designated as a “Monument Historique” in 1993
Site Visit: Weds July 16 2014
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The last of the five Unité’s to be constructed and completed after Le Corbusier’s death, the Firminy Unité D’Habitation is distinct in many ways from its global brethren. While largely conceptually and spatially the same, visually the Firminy building is somewhat unique.
Along the facade Corbusier’s iconic primary color palette (yellow, red, blue & green) are limited to red and a darker aquamarine.
Pilotis remain a key feature of the Firminy Unité but lack the sculptural quality of those made famous at Marseilles. These read more as a series of fins–accentuating the dimensional rhythm of the Unité’s structure–rather than the more graphic field of “elephant feet” as in Marseilles.
Satellite dishes and rugs hung out to dry pepper the facade’s balconies.
RELEVANT LINKS
Site Le Corbusier – Firminy Official Site
http://www.sitelecorbusier.com/fr/unite.php
Foundation Le Corbusier Site – Firminy Unité D’Habitation
Monument Historique Database Entry – Firminy Unité d’Habitation – Ref No. PA00125742