comparison analytical essay

1. Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier
(FAÇADE)
By
Joshua Lee Yee Kai (0315820)

2. The two modern masters, Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier gave rise to
revolutionary ideas in the way we shape our buildings, the derivation of the international
style, fundamental principles when thinking about architecture and great influences that
are still being carried on till today. Two of this modern masters shared almost similar
philosophies in terms of shaping the façade of our modern homes. German architect,
Walter Gropius (n.d.) the founder of the Bauhaus school once said, “Architecture
begins where engineering ends.” Walter Gropius had in mind to unite the two different
faculties which is architecture and engineering together. Both disciplines showed a clear
separation, however unification came about when Walter Gropius suggested and
implemented the usage of industrial materials into architecture. Besides that, Swiss-
born architect Le Corbusier, famous for his Five Points of Architecture stated “The
house is a machine for living.”(Corbusier, 1923) He was very much inspired by the
mechanization emerging in the industrial technology of the time. The statement “The
house is a machine for living” by Le Corbusier (1923) is pointing towards the
mechanization and mass production of that time that made life more efficient. Le
Corbusier believed that mechanization and mass production of industrial materials will
help buildings to be erected quicker and more cost-effective. All in all, both modern
masters, Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier saw the potential in mass producing
industrial materials that would not only allow houses to be built at an inexpensive price
but at the same time more efficiently. In their work, industrial materials are widely
implemented on the external façade of their buildings, both Walter Gropius and Le
Corbusier strife to change the way how the modern building is built and looks.

3. The façade of the Gropius House implemented having a free façade. A free
façade is enabled by having structural steel or timber to support the weight of the
building instead of using a load bearing wall. Basically, the loads of the building are
transferred down to the earth foundation by using a structural support system. Due to
the diminish usage of having the walls as a support system, the walls can be replaced
with almost anything on the face of the building and are free to establish to an almost
endless variety of design (Gropius, 1965). Taking the Gropius House as an example,
almost every side of the façade consists of horizontal ribbon windows. At the same time,
the most obvious example of a free façade would be the screened porch of the Gropius
House. The screened porch is made out of mainly glass walls and steel structure as a
support. Nonetheless, although the Gropius
House is a well-known modernist teachings of
the Bauhaus, it is actually also a hybrid between
the traditional New England architecture style.
As an example, the free façade of the Gropius
House consists of common bricks and local
ScreenedPorch
GropiusHouse VillaStein

4. clapboard material (Kroll, 2011). This is because, Walter Gropius had in mind to blend
in with the surrounding New England farmhouse neighborhoods aesthetics. All in all,
free façade enabled flexibility in terms of the design of façade on the Gropius House to
implement to almost any kind of style (Kroll, 2011). Likewise, free façade being one of
the key architecture concept from Le Corbusier’s famous Five Points of Architecture is
also implemented in his work, the Villa Stein. By changing the roles of the wall, a free
façade enabled Le Corbusier to express his building with a different window
arrangement style. For instance, the façade of Villa Stein consists of vertical and
horizontally arranged windows to express a play of light into the interior space. At the
same time, a free façade allowed Le Corbusier’s Villa Stein to be composed of hand-
laid brick and concrete block that was cemented, plastered, and painted to give the
modern industrial look (Gartman, 2012). Moreover, a free façade also enabled the
building Villa Stein to convey a strong sense of unity by the usage of white plaster on
the façade. The different components of the building like the terraces, balconies and et
cetera are like one main ingredient that speaks about modernism, harmony and
simplicity (Gartman, 2012).
Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier exhibit similarity in both of their works. In this
case, both of their buildings, the Gropius House and Villa Stein implemented a stark
white on the external façade. White was the preferred colour of many modernists, for it
symbolized the pristine purity they were seeking and also made their forms stand out in
the sunlight (Gartman, 2012).
On the other hand, the horizontal ribbon windows on the façade of the building of
the Gropius House is unique as it would allow more lights to come in when compared to

5. the traditional New England style windows of most of the houses in the area at that
point of time. Due to the structure of the traditional New England architecture, windows
are rigid and small in terms of size, which ultimately limits the potential for lights to
illuminate the interior. The window placement on the façade of Gropius House also
speaks about a public versus private concept from the size of the windows. For
example, the more public area like the living room and dining room has a larger window
on the façade when compared to the façade of the more private places, the bedrooms
and the toilets. In this case, we can also say that the size of windows indicates the
hierarchy of the space itself. For example, the exterior façade of the living room and
dining room spaces which have a larger window, can be said to be of a higher hierarchy
when compared to the bedroom and toilet spaces which have a smaller window.
Similarly, Le Corbusier also implemented horizontal ribbon windows on the façade of his
work, Villa Stein. The horizontal ribbon window on the façade of the building Villa Stein,
gives a sense of unity with the exterior by helping to frame the surrounding landscape of
the house. For instance, it provides a consistent framing of the surrounding landscape
regardless of whether one is inside or outside the building. Therefore, the concept of the
building Villa Stein can be regarded as one that is open and transparent. All of which
are the integral part and parcel of Le Corbusier’s desire to establish an open and
transparent building that is inviting like an art gallery for his client, the stein couple which
have a hobby of collecting artworks.

6. Based from the front and back elevation of the Gropius House, we can see that it
is designed to be symmetrical in its façade composition. The same thing goes for the
left and right elevation of the building, although not similar as a whole but the general
idea of the composition can be made. The Gropius House also shows having a
combination of vertically and horizontally placed transparency composition on the
façade. For instance, the screened porch glass walls are shown arranged in a vertical
manner. On the contrary, the horizontal ribbon windows are arranged in a horizontally
stretched manner. Furthermore, based from the front and back elevation of the Villa
Stein, a rectilinear form is observed. The Villa Stein shows both vertical and horizontal
symmetry in its façade composition. Similar like the Gropius House, the horizontal
ribbon windows stretched from end to end on the façade to show a horizontal
composition. On the other hand, it also shows a vertical display of rhythm composition
on the façade. Moreover, from the left and right elevation, we can see different elements
arranged in a proportional manner on the façade to form a symmetrical façade. For
example, the windows and balcony formed a straight vertical line and thus becomes a
symmetrical element which then forms to be a symmetrical façade.
GropiusHouse VillaStein
Front andBack Elevations
Leftand RightElevations

7. In conclusion, the Gropius House by Walter Gropius and Villa Stein by Le
Corbusier both showed various similarities in terms of their material choices, philosophy
and way of designing. Walter Gropius had to adapt to the New England vernacular
architecture style of that time to blend in with the local houses so that his building would
not appear too foreign but at the same time, showing the concept of modernism. The
usage of prefabricated horizontal ribbon windows was already the step ahead in
showcasing his philosophy of “Architecture begins where engineering ends.”
(Gropius, n.d.) The Gropius House is the perfect example by the founder of Bauhaus,
Walter Gropius, the school of art and architecture in Germany in showcasing his
intentions to unite art with technology as he pushed on for modernism. Furthermore, Le
Corbusier states that the running of a home consists of precise functions in a regular
order. (Corbusier, Jeanneret, 1929) That statement ties back to his famous quote “The
house is a machine for living.” (Corbusier, 1923) Based from Corbusier’s Villa Stein,
we can conclude that it was designed with the intention of showcasing the efficiency by
the usage of industrial materials. The design of Villa Stein was built with the philosophy
of a machine that works exactly the right way for the client. All in all, Walter Gropius with
his philosophy to unite art with engineering and Le Corbusier’s philosophy of making a
home as efficient as a machine made a great impact on the building industries in the
current generation today. Both of their works in which, shared almost similar
philosophies in utilizing technology and pushing towards a new era called modernism
has made them be regarded as the modern masters of architecture.
(1529 words)

8. References
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