S Unité D Habitation And Steven Holl's Simmons Hall

Introduction

“The house is a machine for living in”. Famous quote from Le Corbusier which generated a lot of criticism and discussion. Should housing be seen as a machine or as an organism itself. With the development of human existence, the aspect of living is also changing trough the eras. This essay is devoted to the examination of the Le Corbusier’s Unité d’habitation and Steven Holl’s Simmons Hall. Regarding the aspects of how social hosing is being developed in the past century and today’s age, as well as the historical intervals they were built in and how it has affected the living.
The Architects and Their Impacts

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret was born in La Chaux-de-Fond, Switzerland, in 1887, was a Swiss-French architect,

Both buildings develop the same sociological theme, creating a living space for the period they were built in. Also, one of the themes they strive to capture is the physiological aspect, where they are similar, if not exactly the same. In Simmons Hall building we can find both similarities, but also some divergences from Le Corbusier’s Unité d’habitation.
The process of the design of Simmons Hall has started from the year 1999 and was finished and built in 2002. It was designed half a century after Le Corbusier’s Unité d’habitation, which represents one of the most famous prototypical block housing assembly, both in Corbusier’s and in the 20th century’s creations. The buildings both represent how to gather great amount of people in singular uniform components. But not just the units and components themselves but also the intention was to use prefabricated and standardized materials in the construction. Both of the buildings are manifested as monolithic blocks embracing numerous of alterations, but still keeping and maintaining their original form of a block. The outer shell, the façade, in both cases is formulated as a web, network, but respecting the aspects such as natural lightning and ventilation. Also, creating a playfulness with adding variety of colors on the façade. But, what we find in both buildings is that they discover themes of idealism: in Unité, Le Corbusier is researching the theme of an idealized modern family, and in Simmons, Holl is developing the theme of students living and studying harmoniously. But, what is not visible at first sight is the manifestation of the celebration of the concrete form. The concrete is used in a very powerful and live sense, with building irregular and sculptural forms the architect’s aim is to give the space a more “organic” and undulating