Villa Le Sextant (Les Mathes)

Le Corbusier – Villa “Le Sextant”, Les Mathes, Paris, France, 1935

Located a few steps from the Gironde estuary, in the city of Mathes, the villa "Le Sextant" is one of the four projects led by Le Corbusier in Poitou-Charentes. The house was built in 1935 according to the plans and instructions of the famous architect. It was one of the first villas in La Palmyre.
The client of the villa, Albin Peyron, a friend of Le Corbusier who has just completed it in Paris, the refuge city of the Salvation Army, of which Peyron was the owner. Also in this project, Le Corbusier received the assistance of his cousin and collaborator Pierre Jeanneret.
Peyron wanted to build a vacation home near Royan for his daughter. It appears that Le Corbusier never made it to the scene because of the severe budget constraints on the project. Working on the photographs provided by Peyron, he would have limited himself to sending his plans and instructions to the contractors, chosen from local craftsmen.

According to the "free floor" principle, the facades are designed to illuminate the rooms as much as possible, in particular those facing west and towards the sea, they are glazed and free from any structural constraints.
The rooms are grouped on the west and north sides of the building. The east side is largely occupied by a terrace-balcony.
The villa is divided into two levels, at each level, the rooms, of which Le Corbusier has largely designed the furniture, do not communicate with each other but open onto the balcony-terrace.