Designed in Poissy by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, the Villa Savoye distils the theory of modern architecture into a single small house. It is a demonstration building that displays in full Le Corbusier's "five points" (les cinq points) derived from the concrete frame.

The principle is this: because slender reinforced-concrete columns (pilotis) carry the load, the walls are now free. Five consequences follow. (1) Pilotis: the house is lifted into the air on columns above the ground; the ground floor empties, and the car turns beneath this void. (2) The free plan: since the interior walls bear no load, they are placed as desired. (3) The free facade: since the outer wall also bears nothing, the facade is hung outside the column line and designed independently. (4) The ribbon window (fenêtre en longueur): since the facade bears nothing, the window can run uninterrupted from end to end. (5) The roof garden: the flat concrete roof gives back above the greenery lost at ground level.

The Villa Savoye applies all five together: a white prism floating on pilotis, with a ramp inside binding the floors into an architectural promenade, wrapped in ribbon windows, opening above into a roof-terrace garden. The building thus turns the freedom that reinforced concrete brings into a grammar of design and becomes the manifesto of the modern dwelling.