Sarabhai Villa

Le Corbusier – Villa Sarabhai in Ahamedabad, India, 1955

Villa Sarabhai or Villa de Madame Manorama Sarabhai is a modernist villa located in Ahmedabad, India. Designed by Swiss architect Le Corbusier, it was built between 1951 and 1955 in a 20-acre green park owned by the Sarabhai family. 
It was designed for the widow Manorama Sarabhai and her son Anand. The house has two floors and has a continuous floor, through which Le Corbusier tried to create a great freedom of spaces and uses, so there is a great absence of partition walls.

“The country is tropical. The monsoon rages for two months in the year and is an alternating combination of showers and sunshine. A Western architect has spent his life learning his profession; to be sure that he must apply his profession in India, but he must adapt it to conflicting needs: comfort is coolness, it is the draft, it is shade. Yet the sun must penetrate at the right time, in the favorable seasons.
Mosquitoes are everywhere and windows cannot be left open without special provisions. Whether it is a home, office or a building, the conditions of the problem are dictated by a frequently merciless sun with conditions of temperature, humidity and dryness that vary from month to month, contradictory factors.
Playing the role of a modern architect in these conditions is very simple.

The Sarabhai house is situated according to the prevailing winds (to be crossed by air currents), and its facades are furnished with brise-soleil. Another element of Le Corbusier's design research: re-establishing contact with the noble and fundamental materials of architecture: brick, a friend of man; raw concrete, also a friend; white coverings, friends of man; the presence of intense colors that provoke joy, etc ...
There is a lot of design research for this house. One of the most brilliant solutions is that of the roof. The semi-cylinders of the vaults, once the waterproofing is ensured, are covered with earth and the upper part of the house becomes a magnificent garden of lawns and charming flowers ... that the architect-author of the project would prefer to see not excessive”.

Excerpt from: Le Corbusier, Oeuvre complète, volume 6, 1952-1957