Le Corbusier and the history of the house on the water

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France has lost one of its monuments, recognized as a historical monument of Paris in 2008.

On February 10, the concrete barge Louise-Catherine — an unusual floating house whose 100-year history is associated with the famous French-Swiss architect — was at the bottom of the Seine in 20 minutes, just in time for the flood. The city municipality is doing everything to save the ship.

An 80-meter barge weighing about 800 tons was built at the Rouen shipyard in 1915 to transport coal across the Seine from Rouen to Paris.

This is what the ship looked like in the 2010s

With the beginning of the First World War, she came into the possession of the National Shipping Administration of France and became a cargo ship. Then, in 1929, it was purchased by Madeleine Sielhardt, who donated the barge to the Salvation Army, which actively supported and provided aid to those affected during the war. As a sign of gratitude, the management of the organization named the ship in honor of Louise Catherine Breslau, Madeleine's friend, a Swiss artist who painted portraits of the nation's heroes, French soldiers who participated in the First World War. From that moment on, Louise-Catherine completely changed her function. The vehicle, moored in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, was destined to become the much-needed floating house on the water at the time.

The meter of the architecture of the XNUMXth century

To implement the reconstruction project, the organization invited the famous Le Corbusier. The architect designed the structure of post-war seasonal social housing for the capital's homeless, where 160 beds were provided. The craftsman dressed the ship's structures in his favorite material - reinforced concrete, strengthened the supporting columns under the deck, painting them in a rich shade of blue. On the lower level of the barge, divided into 3 compartments, Le Corbusier envisioned spaces for a shared bedroom, dining room, kitchen and a number of bathrooms.

Rooms for the captain of the ship, in case of the need for re-mooring, and the director of the house on the water were also arranged here. The architect did not deprive poor people of his own recreation area - he greened the roof of the ship, creating hanging gardens on it. In this form, the barge served as a floating shelter until 1995. Then the houseboat fell into disrepair and was abandoned.

Archival photos of the barge
Archival photos of the barge
Archival photos of the barge
The beginning of the reconstruction of the ship according to the Le Corbusier project
This is how Le Corbusier created the bedroom space for the homeless
Archival photos of the barge

In 2006, Louise-Catherine became the owners of three friends who wanted to turn the ship into a conceptual night club. But while the comrades were deciding on the redesign of the vessel, the municipality of Paris classified it as a monument of cultural heritage of France and bought the barge from the owners. The City Hall, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of France and the Louise-Catherine Foundation, announced a competition for the project of restoration of the house on the water, leading to the transformation of the object into a museum and cultural center.

The winners were determined back in 2009 — they were the French bureau ACYC and the Japanese architect Shuhei Endo. The studio developed a project to restore the ship's interiors, based on Le Corbusier's drawings, while Endo created the design of the structure in the form of a metal "serpentine" that wraps around the barge. The structure provided not only a decorative function, but also additional strengthening and afloat support of the century-old ship. Completion of the reconstruction was planned for 2019 — in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Louise-Catherine Foundation, but something went wrong...

So far, a buoy has been installed at the vessel's location

According to preliminary forecasts, the integrity of the ship's shell was damaged during the construction works, which caused the sinking. This was announced by the president of the Louisa-Catherine Foundation, Michel Cantal-Dupart, who is also the architect responsible for the restoration of the monument and supervises the author.

The Le Corbusier Foundation confirmed the situation: "Louise-Catherine is currently lying at the bottom of the river." The municipality of Paris is now looking for ways to raise the ship when the level of the Seine returns to normal.