Angella Valpolini (International Student)

30155
ARCH 24B
Due Date: 05/02/2016
Casa Mila / Villa Savoye
The 19th century was a time of revival for previous styles such as the Gothic, Greek, Islamic,
Egyptian, Byzantine, and Early Christian, which could be seen in different movements from the century.
Beyond the revival of these previous movements, the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century brought
different innovations that changed how architecture was developed. Architects like Augustus Pugin, who
based his designs on the concept of the Middle Ages and the Gothic, and John Ruskin, who based his
designs on the concept of Arts and Crafts, would both avoid the industrialization and maintain their artistic
styles. However, the materials from the Industrial Revolution such as the iron and steel would be seen on
the Art Nouveau movement.
The Art Nouveau, which is also known as the Stile Liberty, Stile Floreale, and Jugendstil in other
countries of Europe, was a new decorative movement that emerged during the 1890 and 1910. As it
found its roots on the Gothic Revival, the ideas of William Morris and the arts of China and Japan, the Art
Nouveau became a stylistic method to humanize the structure of the buildings through a decorative,
natural and animal design. Representative architects from this movement such as Victor Horta, Hector
Guimard, Antonio Gaudi, and Charles Mackintosh, would create buildings recognized by their
asymmetrical shapes, mosaics, carved and stained glass, arches, Japanese motifs, and flowing and
organic lines. Moreover, unlike the Arts and Crafts movement, the Art Nouveau would use iron as an
expressive and structural element of the building.
Whatever its name is, its designers set out to produce something excitingly new. In their
hands, linear, sinuous lines like those found in the late Baroque and Rococo work
became free-flowing compositions based loosely on plant and animal forms. 1 (pg. 426)
Later on, after the World War, I came to its end, a new movement appeared. In light of the disruption
on the Western Culture and the side effects of the war just like the need of housing, the architects of this
time looked for a new method to analyze architecture and create a modern work that could be rational,
functional, economic and machine-made. For this reason, the modern movement also called International
Modern or International Style, sought to create an innovating structure based on the function of the
building and the materials. The architects of this movement, such as Adolf Loos, Frank Lloyd Wright, H.P.
Berlage, the Deutscher Werkbund, Peter Behrens, Le Corbusier, and Walter Gropius, created different
buildings which could be recognized by their use of reinforced concrete, cylindrical and cubic shapes,
metal and glass frameworks, flat roofs, and their absence of ornamentation. In addition, in the majority,
the buildings would be developed in an open plan in which there would be a relationship between the
flowing interior spaces and the landscape, and there would be a combination of sun and shading given by
large windows and the use of glass.
In chaotic economies desperately in need of housing, they chose as their principal
concerns utility and efficiency and a related mechanization of the building process, but
leavened their pragmatism with advanced spatial conceptions then current in the visual
arts. 1 (pg. 512)
Both movements were important on the history of architecture. In fact, each architect from each period
of time contributed to the development of architecture. However, Antonio Gaudi, from the Art Nouveau,
and Le Corbusier, from the International Modern, not only made a contribution to architecture but also
created a new, yet different style. Antonio Gaudi (1852 - 1926), who was an architect from Barcelona,
Spain, was known because of his exotic, extravagant and complex building designs.At the beginning, he
was influenced by the ideas of Ruskin and the Gothic Revival. He had an interest in the medieval style,
with which he was able to build La Sagrada Familia, Episcopal Palace, and the Casa de Los Botines. In

addition, he built the Casa Calvet in which he showed his interest in the Baroque style. Nonetheless, his
unique style was developed on housing and landscape such as the Park Guell, Casa Batllo, and the Casa
Mila. In spite of having more than one commission that showed his style, Casa Mila, was one of the
buildings in which he created an organic and floral structure in a plastic flowing plan. Beyond Gaudis
unique style, Le Corbusier established the system of the Dom-ino structure and the five points of the
architectural language. Le Corbusier (1887 - 1965) was a Swiss architect who started to build after he
moved to France. On his early years, he gained his knowledge from the classes he took at the Chaux-deFonds school, the experience in the Perret and Behrens offices, and the trips to Europe and the
Mediterranean, where he found the architectural discoveries that he would use on his further books and
journals. Between the main works of Le Corbusier there was Villa Jeanneret & Villa La Roche, Palace of
Justice and the Palace of Assembly in Chandigarh, the Cit Radieuse and Notre Dame du Haut.
Nonetheless, it was on his third commission, the Villa Savoye, where he showed his modern style and
applied his 5 points of the architectural language.
The Villa Savoye (1929 - 1931) in Poissy, France, is a family weekend house that reflects the
International Style and the concept of the house as a machinery. As Le Corbusier presented his five
points of Architecture, which were the use of pilotis, roof garden, free plan, ribbon windows and free
facade for the design of a building, he included them in the design of the Villa Savoye. His three floors,
made out of concrete and glass house, at first sight, showed the free facade, free plan, use of ribbon
windows, pilotis and roof garden, which were all the points that he established before. On the first floor, he
presented an open floor plan and a free facade by only using pilotis to support the structure. The absence
of the walls on this floor allowed him to create a sense of suspension and a connection with the
landscape, as its curving green walls get dissolved with the greenery of the landscape, the pilotis get
dissolved with the tree lines as well. On its upper level, the long ribbon windows on the walls, allow a
complete view of the exterior, meanwhile, the big sliding glass doors allow the entry of light, as a
characteristic of the modern movement. Finally, on the last floor, which is also the roof, he presented a
roof garden with windscreen walls that followed the concept of the ocean liner as the top deck of a ship.
Unlike the geometric, pure and abstract modern exterior of the Villa Savoye, the Casa Mila (1905 - 1910)
made by Antonio Gaudi in Barcelona, Spain, displayed another concept and style of architecture. This
monumental nine floors building has an organic, plastic, vegetative and curved facade because of its
limestone material. The facade has a curved design which includes organic lines as the representation of
waves, and the use of iron as vegetative forms on the balconies, proper of the Art Nouveau movement.
Likewise, the interior facade has an oval shape with several glass windows throughout the walls and it
has vegetative iron forms on the balconies. Also, it has a massive leaf made out of iron on the lower level
joined by plants, which works as a representation of the concept of nature on his style. In contrast with the
Villa Savoyes garden roof, Casa Mila has a sculpture terrace made out of organic, plastic and curved
sculptures, similar to his style on the Park Guell, which also is decorated with chopped glass mosaics,
characteristic of Gaudis style.
When it comes to the interior design, Antonio Gaudi on his Casa Mila keeps the vegetative and organic
forms. From the design of the doors, stairs and walls, it keeps a curvaceous movement. In addition to its
curvilinear plans, Gaudi uses parabolic brick arches for the structure of the building and curved and
stained glass mosaics, proper of the Art Nouveau movement, for the windows, doors, and walls inside of
the building. Furthermore, as the flowing spaces present an organic movement, the roofs as well has an
organic shape with a spiral ceiling light. Not only Gaudi did work with the monumental design of the
exterior and interior of the building, but also, as the architects of the Arts and Crafts used to do, he
created his own furniture and accessories for the decoration that followed the same style of the building.
Different from Gaudi's organic and colorful walls, Le Corbusier on his Villa Savoye mainly used white
walls. Because of the free plan and the use of ramps that he learned from the Turkish culture, he created
a sense of freedom and continuity, as a machine movement, throughout the spaces in the interior of the
house. As the ramps create a fluid movement that connects each floor with the previous one, the long
ribbon windows allow an exchange between the interior and exterior of the house and the big sliding glass
doors allow an open connection between the private/indoor space and the outdoor space of its terrace.
Moreover, just like Antonio Gaudi created his own furniture, Le Corbusier as well included his own
furniture for the Villa Savoye.

Antonio Gaudi and Le Corbusier were both prominent architects from the late 19th Century and the
20th Century. They both changed architecture and contributed to its definition. On one hand, Antonio
Gaudi with the complex and unique style in the Casa Mila was able to represent many characteristics of
the Art Nouveau. The monumental, organic, and vegetative building design, which no other architect has
been able to copy, showed on its facade an asymmetrical shape based on flowing and organic lines,
characteristic of the Art Nouveau. Not only these characteristics from the Art Nouveau were presented,
but also, Gaudi used the iron as an expressive material of vegetative forms that contributed to the unique
style of the building. Meanwhile, on the interior design, Gaudi kept the concept of an organic movement
and joined it with curved, stained and colorful made-out-of-glass mosaics on doors, walls, and windows.
In addition, he used arches as part of the structure of the building. On the other hand, Le Corbusier
created a modern architecture based on his analysis of other styles. Because of the knowledge he gained
from all his experiences, he was able to create the five points of the language of architecture, which in his
belief were the main points of the design process of a building. The Villa Savoye, beyond representing the
characteristics of the International Style, followed his five points of architecture. On its geometric exterior,
he used an open plan and free facade with pilotis, which allowed a relationship between the building and
the landscape, proper of the modern movement and his five points. In addition, he used large ribbon
windows and big sliding glass windows which both bring light to the house and made an exchange
between indoors and outdoors. The Villa Savoye had a proportioned structure made out of concrete and
with a lack of ornamentation inside and outside of the building, which is considered one of the
characteristics of the International Style. Overall, the villa was a rational and functional building which was
supposed to act as a machine in where people could live.

Antonio Gaudi, Casa Mila, Barcelona, Spain, Art Nouveau, 1905 - 1910

Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, Poissy,France, Modern, 1929 -1931

Work Cited
1. Michael Fazio, Marian Moffet, Lawrence Wodehouse. Buildings Across Time - An Introduction to World
Architecture/ Fourth Edition. New York: McGraw Hill, 2014.
2. Craven, Jackie. Art Nouveau Architecture and Design: A Turn of the Century Style Against the Machine
about.com. About.com, 26 August 2015. Web. 30 April 2016.
3. What is modern: characteristics of modern architecture. a2modern.org. Art Binaire, 9 April 2011. Web.
30 April 2016.