La Maison blanche

This summer hubby and I made a homeexchange with La Chaux-de-Fonds (French part of Switzerland. On this occasion we visited "La Maison blanche" (the White House) which was the first independent project by the Swiss architect Charles Jeanneret who is very well known as "Le Corbusier". He designed the house 1912 for his parents.

Approaching La Maison blanche

The entry was painted in blue - very modern for 1912!

The door handle - a lovely detail!

I adored the kitchen with those blue tiles!

Painting by Le Corbusier hanging in the kitchen

Living room

View from living room towards La Chaux-de-Fonds

Coffee table designed by Le Corbu

Window in the staircase

Second floor

Top of standard lamp - shabby chic!

Hubby studying architectures' books in Le Corbu's airy atelier...

The garden - full of white roses!

A look back before we left

Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier on Swiss bank note (10 CHF)

We had two very interesting hours in La Maison blanche. A volunteer explained us everything about the house and it's history.  If you are interested to read more - look here.

Wishing you a relaxing weekend. Here it is pouring down with rain. 
The first weekend in this autumn we will spend with warm tea, a blanket and good books!

♥ Emilie's daughter ♥
pics 9 & 30 by http://apuntesdearquitecturadigital.blogspot.ch
pic 33 by Wikipedia
rest of the pics by me

Eisenbahnerquartier in Berne

The other Sunday I was strolling through a quarter in Berne I practically never go to. 

I walked along paths I have never walked along before and I discovered a world which I had not seen before: 

I came across the manor Weissensteingut... surprise... surprise... 

never seen before, never heard of before...

The Manor was built in the 18th century

That's how it once looked:

Between 1919 and 1925 the Eisenbahnerquartier (railway employees'  quarter) came to life. 

You guessed it: 

The houses were merely built for the railway employees (SBB) 

offering them favorable housing. 

Up to this day the people who live here work for the SBB and the homes are very popular.

It's a bit like smurf village

The houses are rather small but they all have gardens, plenty of space for children to play in

and traffic is low. The houses are being modernized step by step.

When I was a child many quarters looked like this. 

Not many have remained as untouched though.

 In one of my next posts I'll show you some impressions 

of a complete different quarter which is situated nearby.

♥ Emilie's daughter ♥

pics via me and Burgergemeinde Berne

Houses in Barcelona

During our holidays we visited Barcelona for one day. We went on a city tour and I decided to take pictures of houses. Here you see a selection of them.  I very much liked what I saw and definitely want to go back and dive into that beautiful, vibrant city!

I hope my post makes you smile today...

Emilie's daughter