La Cellule Le Corbusier

The work provides graphic insights and previously unpublished analyses of the prototype unit in one of Le Corbusier’s most important buildings: the Unité d'habitation de Marseille. A graphic reconstruction detailing spatial, technical, and aesthetic aspects (including polychromy) is presented for two units: the standard east–west cross-through apartment and the south-facing single-aspect dwelling of Lilette Ripert, the first director of the nursery school and a “messenger” of Le Corbusier’s work.

Four articles form a kind of “critical apparatus” accompanying these drawings. They address the building’s place within Le Corbusier’s body of work; the individual/collective relationship within this concrete communal utopia; how the housing unit encapsulates Le Corbusier’s social thinking and formal research; the restoration of Lilette Ripert’s listed apartment; and Le Corbusier’s relationship with her.

Articles by: Jean-Lucien Bonillo; Jean-Marc Drut; Arthur Rüegg; and Ruggero Tropeano.