[Le Corbusier's third project for the French Salvation Army in Paris]. Even as built, the hostel (1929-1933), called the Cité de Refuge, constitutes a complete urban fragment, incorporating overnight accommodation for 680 people and a long-stay hostel for unmarried mothers, with a crèche, refectory, clubs and reading rooms. Le Corbusier's innovative but flawed system of environmental control by means of murs neutralisants (hermetically sealed, double-glazed walls with a shallow cavity into which hot or cold air could be pumped) was ultimately abandoned, but despite technical inadequacies the Cité de Refuge is a fascinating and rich building, full of fantasy and vision and yet surprisingly practical. The difficult site is exploited to the full with a circulation route through a monumental reception porch into a circular drum, which acts as a 'social condenser'. With its philosophy of strict discipline within an enclosed and protected working environment, the building expresses the bracing morality of William B
work_description_source
[Le Corbusier's third project for the French Salvation Army in Paris]. Even as built, the hostel (1929-1933), called the Cité de Refuge, constitutes a complete urban fragment, incorporating overnight accommodation for 680 people and a long-stay hostel for unmarried mothers, with a crèche, refectory, clubs and reading rooms. Le Corbusier's innovative but flawed system of environmental control by means of murs neutralisants (hermetically sealed, double-glazed walls with a shallow cavity into which hot or cold air could be pumped) was ultimately abandoned, but despite technical inadequacies the Cité de Refuge is a fascinating and rich building, full of fantasy and vision and yet surprisingly practical. The difficult site is exploited to the full with a circulation route through a monumental reception porch into a circular drum, which acts as a 'social condenser'. With its philosophy of strict discipline within an enclosed and protected working environment, the building expresses the bracing morality of William B
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