L’Ecole Maternelle de l’Unité, Firminy-Vert (1967)*

Artist/Designer: Charles-Édouard Corbusier (Jeanneret-Gris)

Project Location: France

Figure 1: L'école maternelle de l'unité. Source: Rapa, Le Corbusier. 2011, Digital Image. Available from RAPAAN. ( Source | Accessed : November 11, 2013 )

Figure 2: L'école maternelle de l'unité. 2009, Digital Image. Available from house 42 [friends]. ( Source | Accessed : November 11, 2013 )

Figure 3: L'école maternelle de l'unité. 2009, Digital Image. Available from house 42 [friends]. ( Source | Accessed : November 11, 2013 )

Figure 4: L'école maternelle de l'unité. 2009. Digital Image. Available from house 42 [friends]. ( Source | Accessed : November 11, 2013 )

Figure 5: L'école maternelle de l'unité. Source: French Disko, United d'Habitation at Firminy Vert. 2009, Digital Image. Available from Flickriver. ( Source | Accessed : November 11, 2013 )

Figure 6: L'école maternelle de l'unité. Source: French Disko, United d'Habitation at Firminy Vert. 2009, Digital Image. Available from Flickriver. ( Source | Accessed : November 11, 2013 )

Figure 7: L'école maternelle de l'unité. Source: Duncan Standridge, Kinder Mobil. 2009, Digital Image. Available from Flickr. ( Source | Accessed : November 11, 2013 )

Figure 8: L'école maternelle de l'unité. Source: Henk Heijnen, Unite d'Habitation Firminy, Le Corbusier. 2013, Digital Image. ( Source | Accessed : November 11, 2013 )

Figure 9: L'école maternelle de l'unité. Digital Image. Available from utopies realisees. ( Source | Accessed : November 11, 2013 )

Figure 10: L'école maternelle de l'unité. Source: regionurbainedelyon, Utopies Realisees-Site LeCorbusier Firminy 12. Available from Flickr.
( Source | Accessed : November 11, 2013 )

Style/Period(s):
Modern

Primary Material(s):
Concrete

Function(s):
Classroom, Residential Structure

Related Website(s):

Official Tourism Website | Accessed : January 18, 2018

Article | Accessed : January 18, 2018

Significant Date(s):
20th Century, 1967

Additional Information:
Project description:
L'école maternelle de l'unité was built in 1967 by Le Corbusier. The space was once a kindergarten and elementary school located on the top two floors of a 19-story housing block planned as a utopian community in the working-class town of Firminy, near Lyon. The classrooms are organized along a long hallway, all oriented in one direction. The walls of the hallway, opposite the classrooms, are pierced with multi-colored windows scaled for children's height, a touch that adds a great deal of color and play of light to the interiors. Classrooms feature specific activity zones, delineated by the built-in furniture, including reading circles. Throughout, the architecture, fixtures, and all furnishings are scaled for the young students. The interiors are extremely well-suited for interactive, activity-based learning that fosters community.

Publications/Texts in Print-

Graves, Ben E. School Ways: The Planning and Design of America’s Schools. New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1993.

Grosvenor, Ian, and Catherine Burke. School. London: Reaktion Books, Ltd., 2008.

Hille, Thomas R. Modern Schools: A Century of Design for Education. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2011.

Building Address:
Bd Périphérique du Stade – 42700 Firminy.
France

Supporting Staff/designers:
André Wogenscky- oversaw construction after Le Corbusier's death.

Significant Dates:
1959- commissioned by Eugène Claudius-Petit.
1965- construction began.
1967- construction completed under André Wogenscky's supervision, in accordance with Le Corbusier's plans.
1993- building becomes classified as a historic monument.
2012- school was renovated and Erasmus Master Program Mundus MaCLands moves in.

Tags:
Le Corbusier, modern, concrete, utopia, urban design, housing, education design, modernism, brutalist, garden city, social housing

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