I visited Curutchet House four years ago in 2009. This was one of the very first buildings by Le Corbusier that I have got to know. I had to redraw it in fact in one of my exams at the School of Architecture of Venice in 1993.
What fascinated me then (20 odd years ago), was this magnificent complexity of indoor and outdoor spaces, and the splendid relationship that exists between private and public spaces. For me this house has always been like a microcosm, a re-interpretation of a medieval workshop wherein the craftsman lives and works. The house with the medical office was commissioned by Dr. Pedro Domingo Curutchet in 1948, in is located in La Plata a city about an hour south of Buenos Aires. I arranged the visit through the Colegio de Arquitectos at this website: http://www.capba.org.ar/curutchet/casa-curutchet-presentacion.htm. It was a beautiful Autumn day, the light was soft and the trees were bare the house appeared as a fragile skeleton from outside. I was surprised to realize how small and delicate this building is, how all the spaces are so modest and yet so grand because of the multiple visual connections that are created between them. Entering the house was the beginning of that famous architectural promenade that is at the base of the work of Le Corbusier.
A ramp softly takes you to the first level to the medical office and then continues towards the private part. In this journey the house spins around like a kaleidoscope, it is a beautiful experience. Once inside the private house this space keeps on fluctuating generating a great diversity of conditions.
I could not stop taking pictures. It made me happy.
Many of those early modern buildings often have a quality that is lacking in the later ones. I enjoyed reading your text, Massimo, which nicely complements the photos.
Thank you Dennis! I totally agree with you. All the details have been forgotten in trying to minimise the costs and what many times we are left with is uneventful, boring constructions.