The colored glass portholes on the doorframes of the Schminke House by Hans Scharoun were at a height that the children could look through. Helga recalls running from door to door within the house to look at the world through different colors.
The colored glass portholes on the doorframes of the Schminke House by Hans Scharoun were at a height that the children could look through. Helga recalls running from door to door within the house to look at the world through different colors. © CreditCoryn Kempster and Julia Jamrozik

Coryn Kempster and Julia Jamrozik, who teach architecture at the University at Buffalo, are finishing a book and exhibition project, “Growing Up Modern.” They have traveled widely to interview members of the first families who lived in European homes designed by architects such as Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier. The subjects’ emotions “ranged from embarrassment and apathy to admiration and nostalgia,” the couple wrote in a 2018 essay.

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Unité d’Habitation: rooftop pool, seen here in 2015
Unité d’Habitation: rooftop pool, seen here in 2015 - Ms. Moreau, the longtime Unité d’Habitation resident, recently said she has grown accustomed to being asked about her memories and the architecture’s importance. Each year, thousands of architecture fans descend on the Unité, taking photos even in the bathrooms. “Sometimes I think it’s a bit nuts,” she joked. She has visited Le Corbusier’s works as far afield as Harvard’s campus and Chandigarh, India. She still feels a thrill at the sweeping sea views from her building’s rooftop, she said. And she finds some comfort in aging while rooted in architecture that made waves when it was new. Even as a girl, she said, “I just understood it was a special place.” © CreditCoryn Kempster and Julia Jamrozik