Curutchet House 3.88

The Curutchet House, La Plata, Argentina, is a building by Le Corbusier. It was commissioned by Dr. Pedro Domingo Curutchet, a surgeon, in 1948 and included a small medical office on the ground floor. The house consists of four main levels with a courtyard between the house and the clinic. The building faces the Paseo del Bosque park. The main facade incorporates a brise soleil.HistoryConstruction began in 1949 under the supervision of Amancio Williams and was completed in 1953.Design and constructionThe house exemplifies Le Corbusier's five points of architecture and incorporates a ramp and a spiral staircase. The house represents a landmark in Corbusier own trajectory because it exemplifies how cultural and historical characteristics of architecture (the elements of the traditional Latin American courtyard house) can be rewritten using Corbusier's five points of modern architecture.Dr. Curutchet's house is also one of the very few buildings that Corbusier built attached to pre-existing buildings and perfectly responding to a historical context. With this house Corbusier proved, more than with any of his other projects, that modern architecture could in fact be in a harmonious dialogue with traditional architecture.RestorationThe house was restored from 1986 to 1988 during the centennial of Le Corbusier's birth and declared a national landmark by Argentina's Commission on National Landmarks. It currently houses the Buenos Aires professional association of architects, the Colegio de Arquitectos, and is open to the public for tours.