Villa Savoye is a villa built by Le and his cousin Pierre on the outskirts of Paris. The Villa was originally mean to be a weekend home for the Savoye family. And was in a collection of private home white villas that Le designed with him cousin. The clients gave Le few restrictions with this house. The villa is essentially a big square that is lifted off the ground by stilts and covered in windows on every side. The roof is actually a terrace that you can go on and garden. All the living areas are on the upper level while the lower level is for maintenance and service programs. This villa is a key building in the development of the International Style of Modernism. One of my favorite parts of this house is the spiral staircase that comes down with a railing and smooth edges. I like the clean look of all the white and smooth edges. The inside is all white with black metal railings and black decor. I like that this villa is different than the rest that I’ve seen and that it is raised off the ground.

Villa La Roche was a house designed by Le and his cousin Pierre Jeánneret, finished in 1923. The villa was built for a Swiss banker. The whole house follows the idea of an architectural promenade, which was inspired after Le’s trip to the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. An architectural promenade is supposed to feel like an art gallery or an experience as the house leads you with all its soft edges and turns. The villa follows rules of geometry and has a minimalist aesthetic. I like this building a lot, it has a lot of soft curves and points that all flow very nicely together. The inside gives you clear direction of where you should be walking and how you go through it. All the corners and curves are cohesive and run together with purpose.

Cabanon de Vacances is a vacation home that Le Corbusier built for himself in France in 1951. The cabin was made a world heritage site in 2016. The cabin was built using the Modulor system which was invented by Le and builds using a human scale. This cabin is said to be a simplified version of Le’s views on architecture. Cabanon de Vacances is one of Le’s only projects that is done entirely in wood. The cabin also gave Le direct access to a bar next door, where he knew the owner. Windows in the cabin give you a view of the southwest and east bay from all around the building. The cabin has been described as a cube that revolved around the furniture. There is also little furniture except beds and dressers. The cabin looks like what I would typically think of when I imagine a cabin. It kind of looks like lincoln logs. I don’t love or hate this building, I am surprised at how small it is. I would think that Le would want a bigger vacation home, but then again he’s said that he had an estate and that was for his wife.

The Colline Notre Dame du Haut is located in France and was built in 1955. The Colline is still a working religious building today and is under guardianship. The Colline was actually built on remains of a chapel that was destroyed by bombs in a war. The church is mainly composed of stone and cement. Daylight is allowed in the church by small openings covered in either clear or colored glass. Corbusier did not like that gothic style of stained glass, so the colored glass in the church is glazed and is still see through. The chapel was the first to use the technique of having panels of sheet steel be enameled in vivid colors at 760 degrees celsius. Along that same wall, there is an intense red that fades into a violet wall. I like this piece of work because it doesn’t look like any chapel I have ever seen. Usually Catholic churches are all done in the same style and it is easy to see a building and know that it is a church, especially if it is Catholic. I like the smooth lines of and roundness of the Colline. Also, the whole building looks cohesive but at the same time the back of the church is not what I thought it would look like.

http://www.fondationlecorbusier.fr/corbuweb/morpheus.aspx?sysId=13&IrisObjectId=5147&sysLanguage=en-en&itemPos=3&itemCount=5&sysParentName=Home&sysParentId=11

Coors Field in Denver, Colorado home of the Colorado Rockies is, in my opinion, the prettiest major league sports stadium there is. The best part about the stadium is when the sun sets the stadium is facing in the perfect direction so that you can see the beautiful Colorado sunset. Coors is located right in the middle of the downtown Denver area so you can easily walk to restaurants or bars from the park. The stadium has a classic Denver look and fits so well in the city. I also just love this stadium because I’ve been going there for games since I was a little kid and I have such great memories associated with the park.

Casa Batlló in Barcelona, Spain is one of the most unique buildings I have ever seen. One of Antoni Gaudí’s most famous works, Casa Batlló is also called The House of Bones. The House of Bones was given this name because of the skeleton structure that is throughout the inside and outside of the building. The outside is also covered in beautiful colors that, I think, makes it look like a dragon. This is truly one of the most special buildings I have ever seen and was amazed at how smooth the interior and exterior were where they curved. It all flows so nicely and looks smooth and cohesive in every area. I also like that the curves are not only vertical but they have depth to them and the windows curve with the rest of the building.

The Physical Science Center is my least favorite building on OU’s campus. One of the things I love about our campus is that the buildings all cook cohesive and look like they were built with the intention of matching. The Physical Science Center is just so far from matching any of the other buildings on campus. It is dark, gloomy, and looks like it would be a storm shelter or some kind of living space in a post-apocalyptic world. I even dislike the inside of the building, there aren’t enough windows and it seems like it goes just up and down. And honestly I still get lost in the building. Overall, I just think that the Physical Science Center looks gross and doesn’t go with the rest of the campus. It doesn’t make it better that it’s one of the tallest buildings on campus so it stands out more than it already would just being ugly.

I think that La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, Spain is probably my favorite building that I have ever seen in person. Construction started on La Sagrada Familia in 1882 and is set to be finished in 2026. One may think “why does it take so long to finish a building?” but once you see the detail that has gone into this building it is very clear. The building is a Catholic church and around the outside you see Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Jesus’ disciples, and stories of the Bible carved into the building. I love this building so much because so much time and effort has been put into it, and the detail is just breathtaking. I had heard about the church for years and when I finally got the chance to see it in person, it completely lived up to everything I had heard. Right in the middle of the city, this giant church is all you can look at, and you could walk around and look at the detail for hours and not get bored.