Le Corbusier's 5 points of architecture, explained with examples

Le Corbusier's 5 points of architecture are a short set of design principles for a new kind of house: one raised on slender columns, with a flat roof garden, open interior plan, long horizontal windows and a facade freed from structural duty. Formulated in the mid-1920s, they turned the possibilities of the reinforced concrete frame into a design manifesto, and they remain among the most influential ideas in modern architecture.

This guide explains each point, the technology behind it, the best buildings to see it in, and what designers can still learn from it a century later.

Where the five points came from

Le Corbusier was the professional name of Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, a Swiss-born architect who worked mainly in France. In 1914 he developed the Dom-Ino system: a structural skeleton of concrete floor slabs carried on a small number of columns, with a staircase linking the floors. Because the slabs and columns did all the structural work, walls could be placed anywhere, or nowhere.

The five points, set out around 1926 and 1927, are the architectural consequences of that idea. They were showcased in the houses Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret designed for the 1927 Weissenhof Estate exhibition in Stuttgart, and most fully in Villa Savoye.

The five points of architecture, one by one

Point	Original term	What it means	What it replaced
1. Pilotis	Pilotis	The building is lifted on slender columns, freeing the ground below	Heavy walls and damp ground floors
2. Roof garden	Toit-jardin	A flat roof becomes a usable garden and terrace	Pitched roofs and unused attics
3. Free plan	Plan libre	Interior walls are placed for use, not structure	Rooms dictated by load-bearing walls
4. Ribbon window	Fenêtre en longueur	Long horizontal windows run across the facade	Tall, narrow windows punched into walls
5. Free facade	Façade libre	The exterior is a thin skin, designed independently of the structure	Facades that had to carry the building

1. Pilotis

By raising the main living spaces on columns, Le Corbusier aimed to free the ground for circulation, gardens or, in an urban setting, traffic. At Villa Savoye, the car could sweep under the house to the entrance, and the curved ground floor is set back behind the columns so the upper floor appears to float.

2. Roof garden

A flat concrete roof could hold a garden, recovering the land the building occupies. It was also a statement about health, light and fresh air, preoccupations of the era.

3. Free plan

With no load-bearing walls inside, each floor could be laid out independently. Partitions, curved walls and open spaces could follow the needs of daily life. This idea underpins almost every open-plan home and office today.

4. Ribbon window

Because the facade no longer carried weight, windows could run uninterrupted from one side of a building to the other, bringing even light deep into rooms and framing wide views of the landscape.

5. Free facade

The exterior became a composition of solid and glass, free to express whatever the architect wanted, because columns set back behind it carried the loads.

Where to see the five points

• Villa Savoye, Poissy (1928–1931): all five points in one building, often treated as the definitive example.
• Weissenhof Estate houses, Stuttgart (1927): built for the Deutscher Werkbund exhibition, with the points used in compact housing.
• Villa Stein-de Monzie, Garches (1926–1928): a refined study in the free facade and ribbon windows.

In 2016, UNESCO inscribed 17 sites across seven countries as The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding Contribution to the Modern Movement, including Villa Savoye and the Weissenhof houses.

Criticism and limits

The five points were a manifesto, and like any manifesto they simplified. Flat roofs of the period were difficult to waterproof, and Villa Savoye suffered well-documented leaks soon after the family moved in. Ribbon windows can overheat rooms and lose heat without modern glazing. Pilotis can leave ground levels feeling empty or unwelcoming in dense cities, a criticism often made of later housing projects that borrowed the idea without the landscape. Le Corbusier's own later work, such as the sculptural chapel at Ronchamp, moved well beyond the five points, using heavy, curving concrete walls and small deep-set openings that seem to contradict the lightness of the 1920s villas.

Comparing his approach with contemporaries is instructive. Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion (1929) also separates structure from walls but uses freestanding planes and rich materials. Luis Barragán, whose Casa Gilardi embraces massive colored walls and controlled light, offers almost the opposite answer.

What designers can still learn

• Let structure enable freedom. A clear structural grid makes flexible, adaptable plans possible.
• Treat the roof as space. Green roofs and roof terraces are now common in dense cities, supported by far better waterproofing.
• Design for light. Window placement shapes how a room feels more than almost any other choice.
• Separate skin and frame. Curtain walls and rainscreen facades are direct descendants of the free facade.

Today, architects test these ideas digitally before building. Our introduction to architecture in 3D explains how modeling supports design, and a 3D visualization and rendering service can show how light, structure and facade work together long before construction.

Frequently asked questions