Archnet > Publication > Le Corbusier's Rendition of the Tunisian Vernacular: An alaysis of the "machine for living"

Le Corbusier - <div><p class="p1" style="margin-bottom: 0px; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">This article deals with the first house built by Le Corbusier, on the coastline of Carthage in Tunisia.  "Modem cubist white homes became his "machine for living" as expounded upon in his <span class="s1" style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">seminal book </span>Towards a New Architecture, <span class="s1" style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">first </span>published in 1924. The avant-garde "machine for Iiving" has its roots in the typical Mediterranean, particularly the Tunisian, villa. The house as an efficient tool for living is characterized by open plans and spaces flowing into each other. Strictly defined by simple facades, the all-white rendered concrete structures only have square or rectangular openings for doors and windows. Everything in the home was reduced to its primary form and function and decoration was eliminated."</p></div><div><br></div>About <span style="font-style: italic;">Medina Magazine</span>: <div>"<span style="font-style: italic;">Medina Magazine</span> is a unique and ambitious project in the Middle East by a group of architects, designers and artists to collaborate to present both architecture conceived and created in Egypt, and examples from other contexts that contain elements relevant to architectural designers, students and educators working in Egypt. <br><br>This magazine that has been published in Arabic and English since 1998 is divided into three sections to aid the reader in critiquing their built environment; to see that each component negotiates with the other to form our visual world. Structure, decorative details and interpretations of spaces and how society reacts to them anchor Medina's founders' conception as apparent in the selection of articles presented on Archnet. <br><br>Medina goes even further than presenting architectural, design and art projects; as part of their design revolution in Egypt, Medina also organizes annual design competitions for students and professionals, as well as supporting symposiums and art projects."</div>

Type

magazine article

Year

2001

This article deals with the first house built by Le Corbusier, on the coastline of Carthage in Tunisia. "Modem cubist white homes became his "machine for living" as expounded upon in his seminal book Towards a New Architecture, first published in 1924. The avant-garde "machine for Iiving" has its roots in the typical Mediterranean, particularly the Tunisian, villa. The house as an efficient tool for living is characterized by open plans and spaces flowing into each other. Strictly defined by simple facades, the all-white rendered concrete structures only have square or rectangular openings for doors and windows. Everything in the home was reduced to its primary form and function and decoration was eliminated."

About Medina Magazine:

"Medina Magazine is a unique and ambitious project in the Middle East by a group of architects, designers and artists to collaborate to present both architecture conceived and created in Egypt, and examples from other contexts that contain elements relevant to architectural designers, students and educators working in Egypt.

This magazine that has been published in Arabic and English since 1998 is divided into three sections to aid the reader in critiquing their built environment; to see that each component negotiates with the other to form our visual world. Structure, decorative details and interpretations of spaces and how society reacts to them anchor Medina's founders' conception as apparent in the selection of articles presented on Archnet.

Medina goes even further than presenting architectural, design and art projects; as part of their design revolution in Egypt, Medina also organizes annual design competitions for students and professionals, as well as supporting symposiums and art projects."

Gaber, Tammey. Le Corbusier's Rendition of the Tunisian Vernacular: An alaysis of the "machine for living". In Medina Issue Eighteen: Architecture, Interiors & Fine Arts. British Virgin Islands: Medina Magazine. (March - April 2001): 42 - 47.