7.16.09 Paris.

inspiring to say the least.

every angle of this building is perfect.

i dressed up to impress villa savoye. yes i got ready, wore a dress, and did my hair up all nice so i would look good for a building. that is how much i love it.

This was the day I have been waiting for since January when our Lego project led me to fall in love with Villa Savoye even more. I had to build an abstraction of the house in CAD and ever since, I have wanted to actual go there since I have the floor plans pretty much memorized as well as the structure of the building. It took us about an hour or so to get there but from the moment we stepped on to the large property, I was in bliss. First of all, the lot is perfect. It is completely secluded with trees and house sits flatly in the middle of the property. The house itself makes such a statement and has an incredible presence. It was designed by Le Corbusier and built between 1928 and 1931 using Corbusier’s 5 points of architecture, which are the basic elements of architecture according to Corbusier. They are stilts, roof gardens, open-plan, free-floating façade, and horizontal windows. To Corbusier, Villa Savoye is the perfect house because it combines all of these elements. I’d say that I totally agree with him in every way and want to design my house with all of these elements as well. It was so peaceful looking at the villa and was another case in point how much architecture can affect your mood. I was one happy camper being there. I couldn’t quite take in the reality that I was actually standing in front of Villa Savoye. Going inside made me even more giddy and we walked through as Corbusier would have liked us to, following his mapped out plan of the house. The roof gardens were incredible and so simple. That was the best part of the whole experience was how simple and to the point everything was. There was no fuss, no unnecessary grandeur just that basics, yet those basics are the most beautiful. Sitting in a petit chair designed by Corbusier in his iconic house was more than I could take and I’m still so excited about what I got to see today. I love that modern design has been around for so much longer than people realize and that Villa Savoye is a wonderful example of that design. We were able to sketch for bit sitting out in front of the masterpiece itself and I couldn’t have been happier. I never wanted to leave that place and would love to return someday.

sweet staircase going from top to bottom.

rooftop gardens. the use of ramps is ingenious.

loving that blue color.

iconic master bath. i would lounge on that curved wall all day.

petit comfort chaise lounge

petit chair.

SO comfortable. it just molds right to your body.

this month's edition of architectural digest: at home with designers brady mathews and ali tanner in their suburban home.

we are artsy and my legs are shiny.

We made our way back into Paris and were scheduled to go to the Musee d’Orsay but instead, we took a little detour to a restaurant designed by Phillippe Starck. We were told it was a must see and I was game to go because it was an entire store filled with ghost chairs…my favorite. Even with the outrageous food prices, it was an amazing experience and to think that I just ate my dinner in a ghost chair is so cool! The whole design of the place was so cool and the food was amazing as well. The restaurant is on the top floor of a super modern building and has a cool view of Paris since almost all the walls are windows. It was well worth the visit and the drain on my wallet. It’s back to peasantry life in eating.

kong restaurant...look at all those beautiful ghost chairs. sheer beauty.

i couldn't capture how incredible the room was but you get the jist of it.

our hamburger. i think it was worth the 17 euro we paid since it was the first piece of meat i've had since leaving america pretty much.

After our awesome detour, some of us went to the Musee d’Orsay. We weren’t really sure what we would find but were pleasantly surprised to see many famous Monet, Van Gohe and Degras paintings there. I have always been a huge fan of impressionism and love the technique they use to paint. It seems so simple yet it creates such a difficult piece of art. I think my favorite part of impressionistic painting are the colors. Impressionism was a time when artists wanted to break out of the mold of what colors objects and people really were in reality and change them to what they wanted. People could be purple and the sky could be green, but it was okay because there weren’t boundaries anymore of what was reality and what was your imagination. I find each painting to be so colorful and light-hearted.

van gohe painting.

Besides the impressionistic paintings, we were able to see some original art nouveau furniture from Guimard to Velde. I love the art nouveau style and how organic the lines are. Paris is dripping in the organic lines and to me, is an iconic art nouveau city so it was really cool to see some original pieces. I was way glad we went to this museum since it isn’t very well known but I loved everything that we saw. Now my feet are throbbing from walking all day everyday but I am loving everything I see and can’t believe how fast this week has gone. I am enjoying every minute though!

art nouveau desk by velde