The 5 points of modern architecture:

In the year 1926, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known as Le Corbusier, would formulate the “five points for a new architecture,” a series of theoretical concepts synthetically expounded and condensed into five key items that would revolutionize architecture and become the foundations of design for the modern period. In 1929, Le Corbusier would materialize his theoretical postulates in the emblematic project for the Villa Savoye. There, the pilotis, the free plan, the free façade, the longitudinal window and the garden terrace would appear on display almost as a manifesto, marking the beginning of a spatial and technological exploration that would characterize the subsequent production of Le Corbusier and many other modern architects. Today, these notions are still present and can be glimpsed in the most varied contemporary architectural projects.

 

The five points became a design tool for the “new architecture” as Le Corbusier had announced. Over the decades, technologies, materials and the needs of society mutated and evolved and those architectural solutions formulated almost a century ago, far from becoming obsolete, were updated and reinterpreted.

 

In many designs of the last decades, it is possible to notice the presence of at least one of the five points. When more than one of them -or in certain cases all five- are applied in the same project, the interrelation that these points have with each other is resumed and, to a certain extent, the modernist heritage is reaffirmed in contemporary architectural production.

 

To illustrate some contemporary examples that reinterpret and adapt the five points of modernist architecture to their own configurations and contexts, we present 20 projects recently published in ArchDaily:

Pilotis

The separation of the building from the ground that supports it, enabled by the existence of pilotis, frees up the first floor for the circulation of people and cars. This essentially modern solution is still used today as a tool to generate and promote a greater connection between the public space of the street and the private space of the building.

 

MAR – Rio Art Museum / Bernardes + Jacobsen Arquitetura

AGC Glass Europe / SAMYN and PARTNERS Head Office

ABW Office Building / RB Architects + Lang Benedek Associeted Architects

Unisociesc University / Metroquadrado

Free floor plan

The independence between the structure and the envelope in modern projects has allowed the development of the so-called free floor plan, a notion where the configuration of the building’s internal space is more flexible thanks to the autonomy it has with respect to the structural arrangement. This characteristic brings advantages in the future, allowing changes in the building. Such as extensions, elimination or displacement of room dividers, among others.

 

Lilla Rågholmen House / Arrhov Frick Arkitektkontor

Green House In Between / J.R. Architects

Agora Technology Park / Estúdio Módulo

MGV Building / +arquitectos, Gubbins Arquitectos

Free facade

The autonomy of the enclosure with respect to the structure allows for a free floor plan and facades with greater design freedom. Thus, the fronts, since they do not have a structural function, can adopt multiple materials.

 

Badari House / Cadence Architects

Paju Book City / Stan Allen Architect

Qujiang Arts Center / gad

Gongshu Intelligence Valley’s Eye Exhibition Center / E+LAB

Longitudinal window

Longitudinal windows are generous openings that occupy a large portion of the building façade and adopt horizontal proportions, bringing more light into interior spaces and enhancing panoramic views. The variation of window types and positions is infinite, as are their uses.

 

Villa Oreveien / Lie Øyen Arkitekter

512 West 22nd Street Office Building / COOKFOX Architects

Tales CBD Kindergarten Renovation / Spacework Architects

MicroCity Het Platform Building / VenhoevenCS

Garden terrace

The garden terrace or green roof is a notion that makes it possible to recover the “fifth facade” of the building, an innovation that brings many advantages compared to traditional roofs. In recent decades, garden terraces have become very popular and advances in materials and waterproofing systems have allowed greater design freedom for this architectural solution.

 

Punggol Clinic and Community Center / Architects + Multiply Architects Series

Villas La Escondida / Francisco Pardo Arquitecto

Torreão House / Bloco Arquitetos

Garden House / Hayhurst and Co.