Using twentieth century masterworks in school

This paper describes methods of learning based on the use of architectural masterpieces of the first half of the twentieth century. A particular case, involving the rehabilitation of Le Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation in Firminy, is presented in detail to demonstrate that the benefits of such methods encompass more than learning technology and detailing, and to show that such student work may have an intrinsic interest beyond the pedagogical. This is followed by a discussion of the more general ideas underlying such teaching methods.