When Henri Frugès, a sugar trader, wanted to provide his employees with affordable housing, he approached an up-and-coming Swiss-born architect named Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, who would later become known as Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier applied his ambitious vision of minimalist, functional, standardized, prefabricated housing to a small pilot scheme in nearby Lège, where six houses and a communal building were delivered in 1924. He then deployed the same approach on a larger scale to a plot acquired by Frugès in Pessac, where around 50 homes were completed in 1926, albeit somewhat short of the initially planned 135 units.  The distinctive, flat-roofed and colorful homes come in six modular variants. These include a row of 'Arcade' designs aptly connected by arcade-like features; twin 'Jumelle' designs; and the comparatively tall 'Gratte-ciel' (skyscraper) homes with outdoor staircases leading to desirable rooftop terraces. Even today, the various units look unusually modern.…