Le Corbusier Roof-Spaces

[EN] From technical solution, the roof-garden became a key spatial theme within Le Corbusier’s work and creativity, evolving to become a fundamental component of his vision for the contemporary city. The roof garden is an open space in which to cultivate both the mind and body, and to experience a direct relationship with nature; through plants, the sky, and the sun, the urban and the natural world are combined together in the surroundings. This article follows the principal steps of Le Corbusier’s research, starting with his initial experimentation in his own apartment studio in rue Nungesser-et-Coli, through to the complex development at the Unité. It follows how the roof garden becomes an optical device toward the horizon and a strong evocative instrument. The relationship with the nature and the horizon are the key of readings of several selected design projects which demonstrate at the same time the continuity of the research and the richness of the variations on the theme itself. The roof garden is one of the most fertile topics of Le Corbusier’s legacy, evident in contemporary architectural developments.[ES] A partir de una solución técnica, el roof-garden se convierte en el tema central del trabajo y de la poética de Le Corbusier, evolucionando para convertirse en un componente fundamental de su visión de la ciudad contemporánea. El roofgarden es un espacio abierto en el que el hombre puede cultivar la mente y el cuerpo, donde se puede experimentar una relación directa con la naturaleza -la vegetación, a través de las plantas, el cielo, el sol, el urbano -y el mundo natural se combinan juntos en los alrededores. Este texto sigue los pasos principales de la investigación de Le Corbusier , partiendo de las experimentaciones iniciales -en su apartamento-estudio en la rue Nungesser-et-Coli- hasta el complejo desarrollado en la Unité. El texto sigue como el roof garden se convierte en un dispositivo óptico hacia el horizonte y en un gran instrumento evocativo. La relación con la naturaleza y el horizonte son las claves de lectura de varios proyectos seleccionados que muestran a la vez la continuidad de la investigación y la riqueza de las variaciones sobre el tema. El roof garden es uno de los temas más vivos del legado de Le Corbusier, también de gran importancia hoy en la arquitectura contemporánea.Como, A.; Smeragliuolo Perrotta, L.; Forni, I. (2016). Le Corbusier Roof-Spaces. En LE CORBUSIER. 50 AÑOS DESPUÉS. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 441-460. https://doi.org/10.4995/LC2015.2015.960OCS44146

Intervista a Ernest Engeler: Il cantiere

Intervista all'architetto che ha lavorato con Dolf Schnebli e seguito la realizzazione del cantiere della Scuola Svizzera di Napol

Descrizione

Descrizione del progetto della Scuola Svizzera a Napoli di Dolf Schnebli con nuovi disegni di pianta e sezion

“Food for thought”. Il viaggio lento da Venezia all’India di Dolf Schnebli (1928-2009)

Dolf Schnebli was an important Swiss architect and professor of ETH Zurich. In 1955 he won the Arthur W. Wheelwright travelling fellowship organised by the Harvard School of Design and this allowed him to travel for a year outside the United States. The following year he set off with his wife Clarissa for a slow and long journey to the East that deeply affected his professional life and his future teaching experience. The journey started in Venice, then they travelled eastwards through Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India. The last city visited before coming back to Europe was Chandigarh, built by Le Corbusier, still under construction. During the journey, he used to take photos of places and people. Some years later he called his photographs photoschetches to emphasise their synthetic nature in framing places and special conditions of spaces. The memories of his journey have remained unknown for fifty years. It was only in 2009 that he reorganised the photoschetches to publish them. The book, One Year from Venice to India by the Land Route, is a collection of photos with short texts. In the postscript Schnebli wrote that their slow journey to India still provides, after more than fifty years, "food for thought", underlining the value of travel as nourishment. The ideas and suggestions about places and different spaces visited in that year became important references for his architecture. The Wheelwright gave him the opportunity to travel to another world and discover very different cultures. The experience also contributed to build a personal imaginary world that the architect used continuously and creatively in his works

Un año de Venecia a la India aprendiendo del paisaje: el “viaje lento” de Dolf Schnebli

En 1956, el arquitecto suizo Dolf Schnebli ganó la prestigiosa beca Wheelwright, gracias a la cual viajó a Oriente durante un año. Las notas de su viaje, junto con las numerosas fotos, quedaron pendientes durante 40 años antes de ser publicadas en 2009. La publicación se organiza mediante un diálogo entre imágenes y breves notas. Las fotos se centran en los paisajes, así como en detalles de la arquitectura y la gente en su vida cotidiana. Este artículo comenta los acontecimientos del viaje y la publicación del libro, desarrolla el hilo narrativo de la experiencia y extrae algunos temas de la interpretación del paisaje del arquitecto a través de la fotografía, que tendrán una profunda influencia en su futuro enfoque del diseño arquitectónico. Para Schnebli, el viaje supuso un largo ejercicio de lectura del paisaje y la arquitectura, que marcó profundamente su pensamiento y su enfoque como profesor y arquitecto.In 1956, Swiss architect Dolf Schnebli won the prestigious Wheelwright fellowship, thanks to which he travelled to the East for one year. His journey notes, together with the many photos, remained pending for 40 years before being published in 2009. The publication is organised through a dialogue among images and short notes describing the experience. The photos focus on the landscapes he visited as well as on details of architecture and on people in their everyday lives. This article comments on the events of the journey and on the book publication, it develops the narrative thread of the experience and it extracts some essential themes of the architect's landscape interpretation through photography which will have a profound influence on his future architectural design approach. For Schnebli, the journey was an opportunity for a long exercise in reading landscape and architecture which profoundly marked his thinking and approach as a teacher and architect

One year from Venice to India learning from the landscape: the “slow journey” of Dolf Schnebli

In 1956, Swiss architect Dolf Schnebli won the prestigious Wheelwright fellowship, thanks to which he travelled to the East for one year. His journey notes, together with the many photos, remained pending for 40 years before being published in 2009. The publication is organised through a dialogue among images and short notes describing the experience. The photos focus on the landscapes he visited as well as on details of architecture and on people in their everyday lives. This article comments on the events of the journey and on the book publication, it develops the narrative thread of the experience and it extracts some essential themes of the architect's landscape interpretation through photography which will have a profound influence on his future architectural design approach. For Schnebli, the journey was an opportunity for a long exercise in reading landscape and architecture which profoundly marked his thinking and approach as a teacher and architect

LA SCUOLA SVIZZERA DI NAPOLI DI DOLF SCHNEBLI: LETTURA DEI CARATTERI PER LA TUTELA DEL MODERNO

Dolf Schnebli began his career as an architect by winning important design competitions of schools in Switzerland in the 1960s. In those years, educational architecture was at the center of the architectural debate. Influential doctors and pedagogues supported the idea that the quality and specific features of the school environment can affect the children’s health, their learning skills, and the development of their creativity. These theoretical considerations triggered extensive concrete experimentation in coeval Swiss architecture and in Dolf Schnebli architectural production. The Swiss School in Naples designed by Schnebli between 1964 and 1967 testifies to this research, presenting spatial and constructive qualities linked to the architect's training and cultural background and to the particular context of the place. Set on a hilly site overlooking the Gulf of Naples, the school is organized in several buildings and terraces that follow the slope and gradually opens towards the landscape. Despite the changes that occurred over time which partially erased important architectural features, the school still retains its original qualities. On the one hand, the current use coinciding with its original function has guaranteed its conservation over time, on the other hand, regulatory and functional modifications – which are constantly realized – risk to permanently compromise the quality of this architecture if conducted without an overview and careful respect of the architecture specific characters. The School of Naples becomes representative of the fragility of the Modern architecture heritage. The analysis of the physical body of the existing architecture and of the project documentation with reference to pedagogical intentions, to spatiality and landscape, and to the materiality, leads to read the architectural qualities and features and therefore to recognize those elements, spatial relationships, and materials which, identifying the work, require to be preserved for the purposes of conservation and contemporary uses