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Le Corbusier

Authored by:Gregory Capone

Ryan CaswellDaniel Loveless

Matthew PerchCamille

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Biography

The Life of Le Corbusier

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Early Life Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris was

born in La Chaux de Fonds,Switzerland, 1887. Trained as anartist, he travelled extensivelythrough Germany and the East. In

Paris he studied under AugustePerret and absorbed the cultural andartistic life of the city. During thisperiod he developed a keen interestin the synthesis of the various arts.Jeanneret-Gris adopted the name Le

Corbusier in the early 1920s. In 1917 he settled in Paris where heissued his book Vers une architecture[Towards a New Architecture],based on his earlier articles inL'Esprit Nouveau. . He believed that

architecture had lost its way.From 1922 Le Corbusier worked withhis cousin Pierre Jeanneret. Duringthis time, Le Corbusier's ideas beganto take physical form, mainly ashouses which he created as "amachine for living in" and which

incorporated his trademark fivepoints of architecture.

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War Times

During World War II, Le Corbusierproduced little beyond some theories onhis utopian ideals and on his modularbuilding scale. In 1947, he started hisUnite d'habitation. Although relievedwith sculptural roof-lines and highlycolored walls, these massive post-wardwelling blocks received justifiablecriticism.

Le Corbusier's post-war buildingsrejected his earlier industrial forms andutilized vernacular materials, bruteconcrete and articulated structure. Near

the end of his career he worked onseveral projects in India, which utilizedbrutal materials and sculptural forms. Inthese buildings he readopted therecessed structural column, theexpressive staircase, and the flat

undecorated plane of his celebrated fivepoints of architecture.

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Time Line

1887- October 6, birth to the 38 street of the Greenhouse,the Lime-of-Bottoms, of Charles-Edouard Jeanneret (Corbusier), wire of George Edouard Jeanneret, engraver and enamellerof watches, and Marie Charlotte Amlie Jeanneret-Perret,musician.

1891- Primary school of the Lime-of-Bottoms.1902- Diploma of honor to the International exhibition of Arts1913- First exposure of the ten watercolours " the languageof

1916- Construction of the villa Schwob (Lime-of-Bottoms) andof

1923- Publication of "Worms an Architecture" - Exposure1929- Voyages in South America - Cycle of ten confere1938- Exposure of painting to Kunsthaus of Zurich and theGallery nces

1944- "Discussions with the students of the Schools ofArchitecture" and "the Charter of Athens" - Research on theHousing units .

1946- Travel to the United States - Meeting with Albert Einstein1965- Le passes away

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Villa Savoye

Designed in 1931, is to be considered anarchitectural icon. Also said to be one of thelast purest Villas built with a reinforcedconcrete frame. This structure is based on his

new architectural five point system. The Entirevolume is raised on pilotis, sheathed by simpleplanes disengaged from the columns within. Asingle, elemental window dominateseachside of the facades. The Free plan culminatesin the roof plan.He consider this to be an

object- type villa refined and standardized forthe elite.

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Pavillon de lEsprit Nouveau

Started as an exhibit in theInternational Exhibition of Arts held inParis in 1925, but not actually built

till 1977. This pavilion has two parts,one full-scale mock of the maisonettedwelling unit, the other is a rotundawith dioramas of urban scheme wherethe apartment building belongs. Usedmachine-age culture in all aspects,even when designing the furniture.

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Assembly Building (Parliament)

It was built in 1961 for the Indiangovernment. The forms for this buildingcame from both Indian culture and theconceptualization of the functions of agovernment assembly. In plan, the u-shaped

office blocks and front portico togetherform the perimeter of the concourse. Thegeneral assembly room is a circular spacecontained inside this volume, and thegovernors council is two cubes that rise

through the building to the roof. This he

thought would make a great space forfavorable encounters among law-givers.

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Chapel of Notre Dame-du-Haut

Constructed in 1955 in Lure, France. This

chapel is dedicated to the Virgin Maryand is very sculptural. This chapel is notgiven away as a place of worship but theshapes used to design this, evoke theearliest for of ancient deities. Manyarchitects were shocked and saw this

chapel as an irrational, expressionistaberration.

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Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris was designing his most

powerful work in the 1920s, after he took on his pseudonym LeCorbusier. At this time he took his place among one of the mostinfamous post-modernist architects in Europe. During the 1930s and1940s Le Corbusier was highly disliked for his stark forms and radical

cubed shapes. Postmodernism was the return to classical architecturewhich at the time was very unpopular with many critics and underwentsevere persecution.

Le Corbusier and PostModernism

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Le Corbusier was deeply involved in the purist movement which focused

on seeing objects in the world and rendering them exactly as they appear intheir purest forms. At this time the purist movement went hand in hand with thepost-modern style of architecture and suited Le Corbusier for a short period oftime while he developed his theories on the layout of urban dwelling known asUnite dhabitation. This was the architects way of rationalizing his unique style

of housing. Much of his radical design was centered on the basic shape and

form of the cube.

Le Corbusier as a Purist

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The effects and influences of Le Corbusiers work- Le Corbusier has influenced many by the use of manipulating light and hisconcept of Unite dHabitation, a large housing complex in Marseille. Hisinfluence with light can be found in a church he designed in Ronchampsand in the work of Joost van Santen.

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The effects and influences of Le Corbusiers work

- In the Unite dHabitation, Le Corbusier designed the apartments on two

floors because of the extremely tight area he had to work within. TheMaisonette Towers is an example of a building who used a similar conceptbased on the Unite dHabitation.

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Technological Innovations

Le Corbusier Revolutionized the worldof Architecture by applying TheGolden Section into his Work. By

using varieties of vertical andhorizontal planes and arranging

them according to human

proportions, he broughtArchitecture closer to humans .

Also all of his work is mounted onto a flat ground plane keeping acertain distance from all nature

elements to emphasize the

significance of human inArchitecture. He also introduced atechnique of building without

using load-bearing walls but justsimple dividers to created theseparation between spaces.

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Non-Architectural work of Le

CorbusierLe Corbusier was an artists as well as a sculptor in edition to being an architect.From a young age, Le Corbusier was involved in the arts, working as a clock painter in thelocal clock shop. He soon attended art school where he developed his own personalstyles. Le Corbusiers ideas expressed in his art are Purist in nature utilizing geometry andsketch as tools of conveying space and form. While studying at art school, he permutatedideas of looking to nature for inspiration into ideas of looking at nature as a source ofpatterns as well as utilizing certain governing rules as systems of applying order as well as

variety. Subdividing his work allowed him to organize his work according to the elementsin the subject of the work; a practice he began in in 19191.

Images from 35works of Le corbusierUne Biche Nature MorteLa Femme a LAccordeon

et le Coureur

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Furniture of Le CorbusierLe Corbusier is perhaps some of the most influential work of the early

nine-teen hundreds. Unlike other furniture from the period or prior to, Le Corbusier

designed his furniture with the general framing systems as metal and on theexterior. The cushions are free of any type of connection to any other element ofthe whole. Le Corbusier also incorporates Golden Section into his armchair andGrand 2 seat sofa, a practice also evident in his architecture.2

Images fromwww.sunsetsettings.com andwww.modernliving.com

Resting Chair

Arm chair

Table

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Works Cited

1 35 Works by Le Corbusier. Sotheby. London: 1987. 429. 420, 412, 414

Baker, Geoffery H. Le Corbusier The Creative Search, The Formative Yearsof Charles-Edouard Jeanneret. Van Nostrand Teinhold, New York:1996 247 263

Gans, Deborah. The Le Corbusier Guide. Princeton Architectural Press,

New York: 1987.

Lyon, Dominique. Le Corbusier Alive. Vilo Publishing, Paris: 1999.

LC10 P accessed on

3/17/2004

2 accessed on 3/17/2004

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Work Cited (cont.)

http://westworld.dmu.ac.uk/architecturenew/express/express.

Html accessed on 2/17/04

http://home.wanadoo.nl/~joostvansanten/RONCHAMP/roncha.htm accessed on 2/17/04

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/lecorbusierc2.shtml accessed on 2/17/04

http://www.bwk.tue.nl/architectuur/dmw/group4/le%20corbu

sier%20unite.htm accessed on 2/17/04

http://www.chbooks.com/online/eastwest/046.html accessedon 2/17/04

http://www.chbooks.com/online/eastwest/046.htmlhttp://www.chbooks.com/online/eastwest/046.htmlhttp://www.bwk.tue.nl/architectuur/dmw/group4/le%20corbusier%20unite.htmhttp://www.bwk.tue.nl/architectuur/dmw/group4/le%20corbusier%20unite.htmhttp://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/audiointerviews/profilepages/lecorbusierc2.shtmlhttp://home.wanadoo.nl/~joostvansanten/RONCHAMP/roncha.htm