Maison Dom-ISO

Few images are more powerful in the architectural discourse as Le Corbusier’s perspective drawing of his Maison Dom-ino. The drawing summed up the promise and aesthetic implications of contemporary building materials and technology: no more did architects have to rely on load bearing walls; a simple frame gave the architect freedom craft plans and facades as they wished. Fast forward to today and a similar aesthetic revolution has taken place, but this time without much notice. Contemporary energy codes almost universally require buildings to be sheathed in a layer of continuous insulation. The aesthetic effect is profound (and the subject of Pigeon Studio research projects). Perhaps it is the case that the freedom Corbusier saw in the architectural frame has been transformed into the freedom to pick which finish materials to clip onto a pink plastic box.