Monday, December 10, 2012

Information of the Area


Roquebrune-Cap-Martin:

·            Geographical coordinates                    Latitude: 43.7572, Longitude: 7.47417
                                                               43° 45
26 North, 7° 28 27 East
·            Area                                                     9.33 km²
·            Altitude                                                67m
·            Climate                                                Mediterranean

Site and Weather:

Eileen Gray and Jean Badovici carefully chose the site to correspond to what they believed would provide a peaceful vacation house. Badovici had specified the South of France. This area includes the French Riviera coastline, part of the Alpes-Maritimes, with cliffs that overlooks the sea. It was the mild climates, peaceful winds, and bright sunshine that attracted Eileen to this area. She also loved a challenge, and the changing levels of the site of E.1027 posed a tough one.

The Alpes-Maritimes département are sheltered by the Alps. This area of France has its own micro-climate. The Alps usually shields this area from the Mistral, which are strong, harsh winds that blow throughout france. Like Monaco, the Alpes-Maritimes and French Riviera areas have calm winds that blow from the sea to the land. Sometimes, in the summer, the Sirocco brings high temperatures and reddish desert sand from Africa, though this is rare. The winters are mild with very little wind. 

The Alpes-Maritimes receives around 2600 hours of sun, nearly sunny on 300 days a year, meaning that it gets more than enough sunshine to provide a nice vacation home, as Eileen Gray intended for E.1027 to be. 

Rain can be torrential, particularly in the autumn, when storms and rain are caused by the difference between the colder air inland and the warm Mediterranean water temperature. It is infrequent, but abundant, and occurs usually in February, and also October - November. The rainiest months are September, October, November, and December.

Snow is rare, falling once every ten years. 1956 was exceptional, when 20 centimeters blanketed the coast. In January 1985 the coast between Cannes and Menton received 30 to 40 centimeters. In the mountains, snow is present from November to May.



Month
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
June
July
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
Average temperature in ˚C
12.2
11.9
14.2
18.5
20.8
26.6
28.1
28.4
25.2
22.2
16.8
14.1


Average Temperature and Rainfall for Alpes-Maritimes


Source: http://www.frenchconnections.co.uk/en/guide/georegion/506-south-of-france-and-the-riviera/156-provence---cote-d-azur/243-alpes-maritimes

Eileen has always intended for E.1027 to incorporate itself into the landscape, to become one with the context it was in. In the site of E.1027, the things that were the most important when she was building it was the wind, the sun, and the sea. She orientated the building so that the sun and the wind could travel freely through the house at certain times. (Click Here for more on movement of sun). She designed the house so that the cooling wind would be able to spill in from the winding staircase.

A lot of thought was put into considering the wind and the sun. As usual, Eileen put a lot of attention into the details of the context.

Relating history:
·            First resort area – for British upper class at end of 18th century
o   Climate therapy – cure for diseases
·            mid 19th century (railroad) vacation spot for British, Russians and other aristocrats.
·            First half of 20th century frequented by artists and writers  (Picasso, Matisse, Wharton, Maugham, Huxley) and wealthy Europeans & Americans
·            After WWI – popular tourist destination and convention site
·            WWII – many none-locals left
·            After WWII – tourists and none-locals come back, big on conventions

Period of:
·            Bauhaus – Walter Gropius
·            Villa Savoye – Le Corbusier
·            Barcelona Pavilion – Mies van der Rohe 


Added to by Emmeily Zhang

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