SOLAR ENERGY: HARVESTING THE SUN  (1)

AN ARCHITECTURAL APPROACH THROUGH LE CORBUSIER’S GROUNDINGS.

By Dominique Fretin

Paper presented at
URBENVIRON 2010  
Niteroi, RJ, Brazil

 “Wouldn’t it be nice to die while swimming in the Sun?” is presumed to have asked once Le Corbusier alluding to his peaceful holidays at Cap Martin as he enjoyed  the magnificent view over the Mediterranean sea from his summer hideaway: “Le Cabanon”.  Whether this sentence is true or not, it underscores a certain premonition or betrays a staggering coincidence as the architect died on august 27, 1965, of a raging heart attack while he was lying on the beach after swimming, right in front of his cozy little shelter. Premonitions and chronicles aside, this thought also expresses brilliantly Le Corbusier’s concerns and penchant for Phoebus’ light and heat he knew so well to deal with in almost all his designs. In other words, he had mastered the sun  and knew how to take advantage of its energy in architecture by achieving astounding solutions to lighten, heat or protect internal surroundings and arrange wisely, properly and magnificently, as he says, volumes and shapes under the sun light. (LE CORBUSIER, 1927) [1].

Figure 1 - My castle on the French Riviera - Le Corbusier at window in his Cabanon in Cap Martin (Alpes Maritimes – France). Font: Fondation Le Corbusier at:

http://www.architecture.com/WhatsOn/Exhibitions/At66PortlandPlace/2009/Spring/CorbCabanon.aspx

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[1] Le Corbusier – Vers une Architecture, 1927.