did not feature on the exhibition tour. The systematic and to-the-point presentation of
exhibition sheets must have made an impression on Aalto. The hotel rooms that were
also presented at the Frankfurt am Main conference were inspiring for the designers,
who strived to utilise space to maximum capacity.^370
Pierre Jeanneret delivered Le Corbusier’s paper “Analyse des elements fondamentaux
du problème de la maison minimum” (Analysis of the Basic Elements of the Design Prob-
lem of the Minimum Dwelling), as the latter was on a lecturing tour in South America.^371
Le Corbusier’s paper was published unabridged in the conference publication in French
alongside an English summary.^372 A longer English-language version was published only
in 1964 in the English edition of La Ville Radieuse, The Radiant City.^373 Le Corbusier’s
paper has been discussed quite thoroughly in the present thesis, as it was considered a
particularly influential impulse to Aalto’s thinking. Similarly attention has been devoted
to Gropius’ paper, as it was elemental in awakening Aalto’s social conscience.
Le Corbusier’s point of departure was the observation that living was a biological
phenomenon, while the circumstance, such as structure, site and space, were essentially
static. In his view, living in and building a house ought to be seen as separate pursuits
for the problem to be solved. Living, or using a dwelling, was in Le Corbusier’s think-
ing based on the regular actions of a human being, which when placed in a sequence
required movement within the home. These actions demanded various spaces, the min-
imum requirements for which could be determined in great detail. These economised
measurements were what he called standards. According to Le Corbusier, the sequence
of actions was based on biological needs and could be presented in a linear fashion. In
this way, the functions of the home could be placed in their assigned places in the floor
plan. In addition to the standardised and optimised living space, the home also needed
ample natural daylight, which was received through external walls. Partitions delimiting
spaces were in his thinking simply thin membranes.^374
In Le Corbusier’s system, the floor plan emerged independent of the elevation, and it
was the architect’s task to operate within the boundaries set by the open floor and ceiling
space and the practical requirements of movement as well as daylight. Le Corbusier found
reinforced concrete suitable for large-scale houses and steel for houses assembled in situ. If
the industrial method proved more expensive than the traditional method, the industrial
method needed reorganisation. Le Corbusier maintained that in the case of the minimum
apartment, the architectural problem was to do with the equipment of the home: “According
to the data (space available), the social standing and the quality of the occupier (style of life),
the equipment architect will be able to invent biological groupings within a static frame.”^375
370 Standertskjöld has analysed the floor plans featured in the publication, edited by Giedion. Giedion 1930a, p. 56
and p. 207; Standertskjöld 1992a, p. 86.
371 Mumford 2002, p. 39.
372 See Le Corbusier and Jeanneret 1930a, pp. 2–5 and Le Corbusier and Jeanneret 1930b, pp. 20–29.
373 I have used the English version as reference material in translating the original text. Le Corbusier 1964a [1933], pp. 29–34.
374 See Le Corbusier and Jeanneret 1930a, pp. 2–5; Le Corbusier and Jeanneret 1930b, pp. 20–29.
375 Ibidem.