Centre des monuments nationaux

Come and visit the Savoye villa 33 kilometres north-east of Paris, a modernist manifesto built by Le Corbusier, one of the leading architects of the 20th century.

Visiting the Savoye villa in Poissy 

• A jewel of 20th-century architecture. The villa was completed in 1931 but still remains avant-garde today. In the provocative words of its architect, it is a ‘machine for living' and a ‘machine for moving people emotionally'. It is a functionalist masterpiece and full of surprises. Inside, the walls play with different tones of white and dense colour with overhead windows, whilst outside an ‘architectural promenade' creates different views of the surrounding landscape.

• The five points of new architecture. These were put forward by Le Corbusier in 1927 to provide the theoretical principles underpinning the Modern movement, and were made possible by reinforced concrete. They are the use of pilotis (stilts), a roof-garden, an open floor plan, long strips of windows, and a free facade, and all five are incorporated in the villa.

Understanding Le Corbusier and the Savoye villa in Poissy 

• The architect. The Swiss-born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (1887-1965), known as Le Corbusier, was part of the Parisian avant-garde. He was the founding member of the International Congress on Modern Architecture (or CIAM) launched in 1928.

• A major building. This weekend retreat is the last in Le Corbusier's white villa cycle and a perfect summary of the modern architectural vocabulary. It was abandoned and then from 1964 to 1997 restored by the French State. It was listed as a historic monument in 1964 when Le Corbusier was still alive, an extraordinary rare occurrence.