Tue, April 28, 2026, 7 pm

Lecture “Le Corbusier – The Cité Frugès Housing Estate, 1924–1926”

an event as part of the 22nd French Weeks 2026

In Pessac, right next to Bordeaux, Le Corbusier built an experimental housing estate with 51 houses, one of the world’s first workers’ housing estates in the International Style.

From 1924 to 1927, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret built an experimental housing estate with 51 mostly brightly painted residential units in Pessac, France, located right next to Bordeaux. The client was sugar manufacturer Henry Frugès. The estate was an early testing ground for standardized and cost-effective construction. Based on one uniform module, Le Corbusier created five different types of houses in the Cité Frugès. The project is an ambitious and unique experiment in the history of residential construction in aesthetic, technical and social terms.

Architectural historian Dr. Paola Scaramuzza (ÉNSA Versailles, A-BIME), who has studied the settlement in depth, will present the Cité Frugès in her lecture, focusing in particular on its colorfulness and later history.

Cité Frugès has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2016. It is part of the serial site “The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier: An Exceptional Contribution to Modernism”. This includes 17 building ensembles worldwide, most of them in France. In Germany, the two houses designed by Le Corbusier in the Weissenhof estate in Stuttgart are part of the World Heritage Site. 2026 will mark the 10th anniversary of the UNESCO inscription. This success was achieved through intensive German-French cooperation.

The lecture (45 Min.) will be held in French and summarized verbally in German at regular intervals. Before the lecture, feel free to visit Le Corbusier’s semi-detached house in the Weissenhof Estate, which houses the Weissenhof Museum. The museum is open until 6 pm. The Weissenhof Workshop in the Mies van der Rohe House is just a few steps away.

Speaker
Dr. Paola Scaramuzza
(École Nationale d’architectures de Versailles (ÉNSA Versailles), A-BIME)

Location
Weissenhofwerkstatt in the Mies van der Rohe House
(Am Weissenhof 20, 70191 Stuttgart)

Free admission

Photos:
Dr. Paola Scaramuzza (© Paola Scaramuzza/Weissenhofmuseum im Haus Le Corbusier)
Cité Frugès (© Paola Scaramuzza/Weissenhofmuseum im Haus Le Corbusier)
22. Französische Wochen (© Institut français Stuttgart)