Immeuble Clarté, Modernist apartment building in Genève-Cité, Switzerland.
Immeuble Clarté is an eight-story apartment building at 2 and 4 rue Saint-Laurent in Geneva's Eaux-Vives district, designed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret and built in 1931–32. Its fully glazed facade has sliding windows on ball bearings, and the structure uses four of Le Corbusier's five points: free plan, point-load structure, free facade and roof terrace. The photograph shows horizontal bands of dark-framed windows between white and grey spandrel panels, orange-brown accents, and white awnings over a black-railed balcony with planters.
Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret completed this residential project in 1932, setting new standards for modern housing construction. The building emerged during a period when architects were seeking new solutions for dense urban living spaces and experimenting with materials like steel frames and glass.
The building is also called maison de verre, the glass house, for its fully glazed facade with sliding windows on ball bearings, an innovation at the time. Its 45 units range from studios to eight-room duplexes, the first time Le Corbusier tried the duplex in a rental block. Early residents included Félix Pommier, director of Radio Genève, and the painter and writer Carlos Suarès, a friend of Le Corbusier, with his family from 1932 to 1934.
The ground floor displays features of accessible residential construction with two entrances and glass brick walls that facilitate public access. Inside, bicycle storage and storage areas are arranged to serve residents' practical daily needs.
The ironmonger Edmond Wanner commissioned the plans in 1928 and supplied the land, hoping to promote standardised construction; the components were prefabricated and assembled on site. The fully glazed facade has sliding windows on ball bearings, an innovation at the time. The structure by engineer Robert Maillart consists of welded steel columns.
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