On the lower floor (12), Gray and Badovici used pilotis
to create a space, shaded from the sun but open to the garden
and sea breezes. In that Gray and Badovici’s emphasis was
on making places for the various aspects and activities of life
in their villa, their plan is related in spirit to that of an Arts
and Crafts house (for example, Blackwell in the English Lake
District, by M.H. Baillie Scott, 1899, 13). Such Arts and
Crafts houses were, in their turn, influenced by old traditional
houses (for example, Llanmihangel Place in south Wales, 14a
and b). This last also has the main living rooms on the upper
floor (14a). But the structural potential and possibilities of
reinforced concrete are illustrated by comparing the amount
of structure necessary in the lower floor of the load-bearing
masonry house (14b) with the plan of the lower floor (undercroft)
of Villa E.1027 (12). In place of thick walls there are
slim concrete columns; in place of tiny windows there is
openness to the surroundings; in place of gloomy darkness
there is light and air.
In Villa E.1027 the intent to frame life and its domestic
ceremonies is similar to that found informing Arts and Crafts
houses and their models, the traditional houses of times past.
But in the E.1027 the expression is different because of the
different materials used, and the rejection of stylistic ornamentation.
And a future-oriented aspiration – seeking light,
health and distant horizons – produces a radically different
atmosphere.