LC16 Wood Desk

Overview

The LC16 Table de travail ("LC16 Table de travail avec rayonnages, Unité d'Habitation, Nantes-Rezé, 1957") is a small wooden writing desk by Le Corbusier. The credit line on the sheet is "Designed by Le Corbusier, 1957" with "Produced Cassina, 2010". It consists of a shelving unit and a work-surface, both in matte natural-stain oak, and the sheet says the piece can be extended by adding fixed shelves to the table feature.

Construction

The sheet lists the container structure and table top as wood particle panel (chipboard) veneered with oak, with edges in solid oak. The base frame and the leg are solid oak. The finish is a transparent matt lacquer, open pore.

Specifications

• Dimensions (drawing 016 01): 140 cm wide, 72 cm high; plan depth 27 cm shelving + 70 cm work-surface = 97 cm
• Shelving unit: two 70 cm modules, 27 cm deep
• Finish: natural oak, matt open-pore lacquer

The children's rooms of Nantes-Rezé

Cassina writes that Le Corbusier designed this small wood desk as an all-purpose desk for the children's rooms at the Unité d'Habitation of Nantes-Rezé, a French city in the Pays de la Loire region. The sheet adds that his interest in the harmonious arrangement of people's individual and collective lives led him to explore spaces and furniture in depth, with constant reference to the measurements of the human body calculated using his Modulor system.

Design year and production

On the sheet the years are 1957 (designed) and 2010 (produced Cassina); the product page headline shows 2010. The sheet files the desk under the Cassina iMaestri Collection.