Villa Savoye, The Modern Altes Museum
In this paper, The comparison of The Altes Museum by Karl Shinckel and Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier will be offered and analyzed by its ideas, design, form, and its style
The Altes Museum and Villa Savoye unquestionably have become a benchmark and a masterpiece in the architectural world. Countless architectural books, lecturers, and journals have mentioned them. These two landmarks are considered major works in the architectural world, which different architects from different eras with different styles built. Even though The Altes Museum has completed hundreds of years before Villa Savoye, there are still resemblances of ideas, design, form, and arguably the style itself.
The Altes Museum completed In 1830, was a masterpiece of Karl Friedrich Shinckel and Is considered one of the most important architectural landmarks of the neoclassical era. Different from classical architecture, the neoclassical style partially brings parts of the classical architecture–not reusing or copy-pasting the elements. Taking back Greek columns–mostly Doric or Ionic type, the usage of Roman details, empty walls, grander scale, and basic geometry shapes (Figure 1) are the characteristics of this so-called revival of classical architecture. This unique modernized classical architecture was a response to the Rococo style with its colorful and full of ornament. Neoclassic architecture is born with its simplicity yet still grasping its classical roots. This simplicity can be seen in neoclassical buildings with plenty of empty walls and how doric and ionic columns are used compared to the other style
(Figure 2). There is progress in modernism in this era–even if it’s not that prominent– which removes some of the unessential parts of the building that do not have a function.
Figure 2 Figure 1
In the new architecture world, where Le Corbusier was one of the pioneers of modern architecture, Villa Savoye was born. The construction was completed in 1931 and is also considered a masterpiece. In terms of ideas, this era has advanced a lot. The concept of modernism has become much more detailed. It is more complex in functionality–It expands functionality. With Le Corbusier’s books and manifesto, modern architecture has become a rule. His five-point architecture of pilotis, roof garden, open floor plan, long windows, and open façade have become standards equation for him and the modern architectural world.
This is what it means to expand functionality. It is not only thinking about the function of a window but which type of window and its added functions. Yes, a window, as we all know, is used to give an opening to the room. Still, in Le Corbusier’s case, he
insists that it should be an extended window to ensure a panoramic view and enhance the spatial experience of the person inside it. So now, a window does not only function as an opening but also contributes to spatial experience----—
expanding functionality. In short, this era has become more detailed oriented while also maintaining the functionality of the building.
When compared to each other, The Altes Museum and Villa Savoye have quite a resemblance to the modernist idea. Both of them mainly focus on simplicity and try to leave the essential part of the building where empty walls, basic geometry, and less ornamentation are the realization of the idea (Figure 3). There are still ornamentations in The Altes Museum, such as statues and painting on the roofs (Figure 4).
Those ornaments would be necessary to maintain their classical roots, and considering the 18th century, these kinds of decorations can be called simple.
In contrast, Villa Savoye is clean without any ornamentation. This shows some similarities between modern architectural ideas and the different advancements of the idea itself.
In terms of design, The Altes Museum takes its form out of classical architecture, simplifies it, and makes it more grand—neoclassic style. The Ionic pillar in the façade is exaggerated. It would have been around five to six pillars in classical
Figure 3
Figure 4
architecture, yet Shinckel puts up eighteen posts to make it grander than other classical buildings. He used repetition of vertical structures and designed the museum symmetrically to create an order and a rhythm which saw throughout The façade and the interior (Figure 5).
“…the site required a very monumental building.
Therefore I preferred one giant order rather than two individual expressions for the two main stories….The building surrounded on all sides by the Ionic entablature or the Ionic columnar hall, with Ionic pilasters at the four corners, forms a simple yet grand main structure into which the two floors are inserted in a subordinate manner.”
- Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Villa Savoye was built with Corbusier’s ideals of five points in architecture. These points of architecture can be seen clearly in this villa. Compared to The Altes Museum, the similarities come from using pilotis/pillars and basic geometric shapes. Throughout the estate, the pilotis, made from metal
beams, go through the second floor as a structure. It not only functions as a
foothold for the first horizontal plane but also for the roofs and as well the whole building. In contrast, the pillar in the Altes Museum only supports its overhanging roofs in the façade, while the entire building is supported by thick walls surrounding it. “In considering the effect of buildings in relation to a site, I shall show that here too, the exterior is always an interior” (Corbusier, 1992). As Corbusier said, the relationship between the exterior and interior of both buildings is achieved because of their similarities to the open facade. Even though the museum only has an open facade on the front while Villa Savoye surrounds it.
Later on, Corbusier ideas of the open facade were inspired by Roman and Greek architecture, which he later wrote in his book Towards A New Architecture.
Figure 5
Another thick characteristic shared between these buildings is their form. Both Le Corbusier and Karl Schinkel are only using basic geometric shapes. When breaking down The Altes Museum into its basic form, most of it consists of a rectangular structure with the slight exception of the column, which is also a basic form of a cylinder. It is also the same with Villa Savoye, where the base of the buildings is all rectangular except for some parts of the ceiling. This proves that Both buildings share the same characteristic of basic geometric shape.
Despite the different eras they were built, similarities can be found between Villa Savoye and The Altes Museum. In terms of ideas, Schinkel thought of simplicity and functionality. He discarded the overly decorative ornaments from the Rococo style and made the Altes Museum with essential parts–empty walls and fewer ornaments. This idea is sort of in line with the modernist notion that Le Corbusier proposed in his era. Only Le Corbusier has expanded the concept of modern architecture into a more specific one.
Second, in regard to design, similarities can be found when both repeated vertical structures where the usage of columns created a pattern in the facade. Both are symmetrical–arguably, the villa seems symmetrical. The only difference is that Villa Savoye uses long horizontal windows, a garden rooftop, and a free floor plan, advancing modern architecture. Third, its form. The form is almost identical since both architects used simple geometric shapes, which are rectangular. There are curves, such as in the garden rooftop of the Villa Savoye, but it only takes a small part of the house, the same as the small ornaments in the Altes Museum—lastly, the style, neoclassic style vs. modern style architecture. There is a lot of difference between them. From the usage of materials and techniques to how they viewed architecture. But arguably, their likeliness comes from the ideas themselves. Neoclassic style is a century older than the modern architectural style, but it still has the belief or at least started the shifting views to simplicity. The idea is to use less ornamentation, to use basic shapes, and to have a function. Plausibly, neoclassicism can be said to be an ancestor to modern architecture. Over time the grand and massive buildings Neoclassic believes in are simplified to compact and functional by modern architecture. Suppose structures can evolve, as Darwin’s evolution theory said about living things. In that case, perhaps, Villa Savoye is the evolution of The Altes Museum through its similarities despite a hundred years of gaps. The differences between those two are the result of evaluation and a new understanding of architecture. As classical architecture changed into neoclassical architecture, this time, The Altes Museum changed into The Villa Savoye.
Reference
Corbusier, L. (1992). Towards a new architecture. Butterworth Architecture.
Kevin D. Murphy. (2002). The Villa Savoye and the Modernist Historic Monument. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 61(1), 68–89. https://doi.org/10.2307/991812
Oechslin, W., & Wang, W. (1987). Les Cinq Points d’une Architecture Nouvelle. Assemblage, 4, 83–93.
https://doi.org/10.2307/3171037
Adamk. (2023, March 2). Corbusier manifesto: Five Points of New Architecture. 3D Rendering + Animation for Architects + Designers. Retrieved April 3, 2023, from https://www.studio2a.co/corbusier- manifesto-five-points-of-new-architecture/
Team, A. E. (2023, March 19). Altes Museum by Karl Friedrich Schinkel: A masterpiece of neoclassical architecture. ArchEyes. Retrieved April 3, 2023, from https://archeyes.com/altes-museum-karl-friedrich- schinkel/
Ching, F. D. K. (1996). Architecture: Form, space, & order. Van Nostrand Reinhold.
