Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Swiss Foundation, also known as the Swiss Pavilion, is a building in the Cité internationale universitaire de Paris (CIUP), designed between 1931 and 1933 by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret. Sponsored in 1930 by the Council of Swiss Universities on the proposal of mathematician Rudolf Fueter, this project replaces an abandoned initial competition. The program provided 42 student rooms, a dining room, a lobby, and accommodation for management. The Corbusier is experimenting with its architectural theories, including the five points of modern architecture: stilts, roof terrace, free plan, free façade and long windows. Charlotte Perriand collaborates in interior design, creating standardized furniture adapted to the needs of students.

The building consists of three distinct volumes: a bar of rooms on stilts, a glazed ground floor housing common spaces (including the Curved Lounge, adorned with a photographic fresco and then a wall painting in 1948), and a vertical traffic block illuminated by a glass paved facade. Innovative materials for the period (crude reinforced concrete, curtain walls, hidden metal frame) and polychromy of the rooms reflect the corbusian aesthetic. The south facade, fully glazed, was modified in 1953 to limit excessive sunlight, with the addition of blinds and double glazing.

Ranked a historic monument in 1986, the Swiss Foundation is subject to major restorations between 1991 and 2010, supervised by the Historic Monuments. Today, it welcomes 46 students and researchers in rooms of 16 m2 equipped with individual sanitary facilities, while remaining a place open to the public for architectural visits and cultural events. The building attracts nearly 10,000 visitors annually, celebrating its modern heritage and its role in multicultural dialogue.

Le Corbusier has personally enriched the pavilion over the decades, adding plastic works such as painting silence (1948) and enamel benches (1957). The collaboration with Charlotte Perriand, especially for furniture and chromatic research, marked the identity of the place. The Swiss Foundation thus embodies a synthesis between student functionality, architectural innovation and artistic heritage, while serving as a springboard for Swiss and international contemporary creation.

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