Le Corbusier’s Only Architectural Design in Africa

The influential French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier, a pioneer of modern functionalism, completed just one project in Africa - Villa Baizeau, perched atop a hill on the ancient Roman site of Carthage in Tunisia. Remarkably, Le Corbusier designed this villa without ever setting foot in Tunisia. 

In 1927, Lucien Baizeau, a French colonist and contractor in Tunisia, met Le Corbusier at a German Association of Craftsmen exhibition in Stuttgart. Impressed by the architect’s innovative work, Baizeau commissioned him to design a summer home, all via correspondence. Despite the unusual request, Le Corbusier accepted. Over the course of two years, the project evolved through mail exchanges, with Le Corbusier accommodating Baizeau’s detailed preferences, even after four initial rejections. 

Inspired by Le Corbusier’s ‘Dom-Ino’ concept, the villa incorporates a domino-like floor plan, using concrete columns and an open layout, similar to his other projects like Villa Savoye. However, in North Africa’s intense sunlight, the design required innovation. Le Corbusier implemented his “free façades” system, allowing recessed walls and overhanging terraces to shield the interiors from harsh sun exposure, thus pioneering his concept of brise soleil. 

Inside, the open-plan was modified to include more rooms than usual, an adaptation of the Maison Domino concept. The minimalist, all-white interiors are framed by sweeping views of the surrounding landscape through extended horizontal windows. 

In 1961, the Baizeau family vacated the villa when it was nationalised and absorbed into the grounds of the Presidential Palace in Carthage. Although it was not included in UNESCO’s 2016 listing of 17 Le Corbusier sites as World Heritage Sites, Villa Baizeau was declared a protected national heritage building in January 2024, thanks to the efforts of local figures like architect Chacha Atallah and Fatma Kilani, founder of the contemporary art gallery La Boîte in Tunis. 

Today, the villa remains inaccessible to the public, with the Tunisian General Intelligence Archives housed inside, surrounded by serene green landscapes and a view of the sea.