The Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau, build for the Exposition des Arts Decoratifs in Paris 1925, was posited as a prototypical two-storey high-rise dwelling-unit, created by combining the megaron form of the Maison Citrohan with the characteristic two-storey L-shaped monk's cell and garden of the standard Carthusian monastery. Lit by a light-well to the rear of the court, the duplex was built around an inset "hanging garden" rather than being equipped with a balcony in the conventional sense. It is this singular feature that has remained a challenge for all residential high-rise construction ever since, perennially unrealizable it seems due to its volumetric extravagance.

The Pavillon was demolished in 1926 and Le Corbusier didn't manage to find funding for the reconstruction of it. This Pavillon in Bologna is a replica of the original Pavillon realized in 1977 by Jose Oubrerie and Giuliano Gresleri.