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Abstract

Although Le Corbusier's debt to vernacular architecture has been frequently discussed, the particular effects that the architect searched for in his postwar buildings have been insufficiently studied. The Maisons Jaoul (1951–1955) are a case in point. Le Corbusier's search for a direct, expressive, and tactile quality of building is here also related to his interest in the ideas and practice of Jean Dubuffet. Le Corbusier was not a regionalist but he particularly admired craftsmen from the Mediterranean basin, who, he believed, retained a vigorous and comprehensive sympathy for materials. This article, using firsthand interviews with Le Corbusier's craftsmen, explores the complex and subtle ways that Le Corbusier and his assistants negotiated the textural effects they desired, which Le Corbusier described ironically as mal foutu (messed up).