Curator, Barry Bergdoll: This is a model of the Villa De Mandrot, built in 1931 at Le Pradet, on the French Mediterranean coast. It was a holiday home for the wealthy sponsor of the International Congress for Modern Architecture, Helene de Mandrot.
Architect, Jean-Louis Cohen:One of the main features of Villa de Mandrot is the open courtyard, which allows for the inhabitants to be at home in the outdoors—his idea that there should be a continuity between the house and its garden, the house and its courtyard. One of Le Corbusier’s favorite slogans [is] the outdoors is also an indoors.
This holiday house is a remarkable break in Le Corbusier’s dealings not only with building materials, but also with landscape. It is a response to critics who are blaming Le Corbusier for not being sensitive enough to the landscape. Le Corbusier rediscovers with Villa de Mandrot the value of local stone, of what he would call the beautiful stone of Provence. And he also sites the house on a plane in which he entertains a dialogue with the surrounding elements of the Provencal landscape.