VILLA SAVOYE

Named "Les Heures Claires" in reference to the brightness of the site, and built between 1928 and 1931 for Pierre and Eugénie Savoye, the Villa Savoye is the work of Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, known as Le Corbusier, assisted by his cousin Pierre Jeanneret. This country house, designed by the couple as a place to spend their weekends, enabled the artist to renew his conception of architecture by considering it as a function of social life. The architect and avant-garde theorist built a white, light-filled residence of great purity of composition and rare symmetry, set in 7 hectares of verdant parkland. For this "architectural promenade", all materials were cast or fabricated on site, allowing the artist to employ new construction techniques. Placed on stilts to avoid load-bearing walls and nicknamed "la boîte en l'air" for its appearance, the house features an independent framework, a free plan and facades, a flat roof with garden and solarium, and a "fenêtre bandeau" - a bay window that goes around the house and offers an exceptional panorama - the 5 points of Le Corbusier's new modern architecture, the culmination of his 10 years of research. The architect also used the Savoye family car as a reference point for the dimensions of the peristyle and the shape of the Villa's entrance hall. Last but not least, at the entrance to the park, we discover an unusual construction: the gardener's lodge, a 45^m2 mini-villa and the only prototype of the minimalist habitat imagined by the architect in the late 1920s.

Inhabited by the Savoye couple until 1940, often on sunny days as it is not easy to heat, the Villa was then severely damaged during the war. The property was bought by the city in 1958, which planned to build a high school on part of the park. Ceded to the State in 1962 to prevent its destruction, it was subsequently listed as a Monument Historique in 1965. Since 2016, it has also been listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site, adding to the list of Le Corbusier's 16 architectural works inscribed in the World Heritage registers, which are spread across 7 different countries.

During the school vacations, the Poissy Tourist Office offers workshops for children (investigation, tree house building...), while parents enjoy a self-guided tour (with or without audioguide) or a guided tour. A place not to be missed, and one of the city's treasures.