Unité d'habitation

is the name of a modernist housing solution developed by Le Corbusier, with the collaboration of the painter-architect Nadir Afonso. the concept was to create a 'universal' building, which could be built everywhere with the same design principles: the 'free' ground floor on columns, duplex apartments, corridors 'streets', service floors for the inhabitants and a 'living roof'. the planning and the design followed the 'Modulor'- Le Corbusier's idea of a perfect ratio of scale. these principals formed the basis of several housing developments designed by Le Corbusier throughout Europe (between 1947 - 1965). one of them in Berlin (1957).
in 1953 the Senate of Berlin organized an international building exhibition - 'Interbau'. well known architects as Oscar Neimeyer, Arne Jacobson, Alvar Aalto, Pierre Vogo, Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier were invited to participate in the event. because of the huge size of the building, Le Corbusier built his Unité d'habitation in an area close to the Olympic stadium and not in the district of the exhibition - Hansa. the building contains a total of 530 apartments, mostly one bed-room apartments. the regulations of social housing at that time forced Le Corbusier (who tried to oppose) to change some of the basic design features; the use of the roof as a communal space (famous in the Unité d'habitation in Marseilles) was not allowed and the the 'Modulor' ratio was stretched (Germans are taller...).