Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier (1887-1965), born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris in La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland), is considered by many to be the most influential architect of the twentieth century. Educated in his hometown in the Arts and Crafts tradition under his mentor Charles L’Éplattenier, his early training included important travels and periods of work in the offices of the Perret Brothers (Paris) and Peter Behrens (Berlin). He settled permanently in Paris in 1917, after which he encountered the modernist painter Amedée Ozenfant who would have a significant influence on his work; together they established Purism and the L’Esprit Nouveau journal. During this period he also took the name Le Corbusier derived from the name of a relative. The 1920s saw Le Corbusier emerge as one of the leading modern architects internationally with his designs for a series of villas and projects for the modern city. His ‘white’ architecture of this period was inspired by modern machines, including early aircraft, automobiles, and ocean liners, along with an abiding interest in architectural history. Many of his ideas were captured in two important publications: Vers une architecture (1923) and Urbanisme (1925). In the early 1930s he sought larger commissions internationally and his architecture evolved away from the Purist work of the 1920s with the adoption of vernacular elements. As the political climate in Europe changed in the late 1930s Le Corbusier’s career struggled leading him to take desperate measures. For example, during World War II, he attempted unsuccessfully to secure commissions from the Vichy regime controlling southern France. During this period he also began work on his Modulor measurement system. At the end of the work he reestablished his office in Paris and embarked on a creative and productive period that would last until his death by drowning in 1965. Of particular importance was the Unité d’Habitation project in Marseilles, begun in 1946, which allowed him to develop his ideas for collective housing; this project also signaled the emergence of his ‘brutalist’ period. His formal experiments also broadened with works such as the pilgrimage church of Notre Dame-du-Haut at Ronchamp and the monastery of La Tourette. In 1950 he was invited to India, where he was engaged to take over the master plan of the new capital city of the Punjab at Chandigarh. This allowed him to test his urban theories and to develop designs for the Capitol complex. A series of late work demonstrated Le Corbusier’s continuing experiments in architecture. Often unfairly maligned for the failings of modern urbanism, Le Corbusier’s legacy continues to evolve. Thisfour-volume collection of writings on the career and legacy of Le Corbusier traces the various periods of his life from his early training to his final projects. The writings, by Le Corbusier and leading scholars, also explore important themes and specific buildings. The final volume includes articles, some critical of his ideas, which examine his legacy and impact.

Volume I: Formative Years, 1887-1916 Education, Apprenticeship and Early Travels 1. H. Allen Brooks, ‘Le Corbusier’s Formative Years at La Chaux-de-Fonds’, in H. Allen Brooks (ed.), Le Corbusier, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987), pp. 27-45. 2. Giuliano Gresleri, ‘Home-Ties—Adrift Abroad: The Oriental Journey of CH. Jeanneret’, Daidalos, 15, (March 1986), pp. 102-111. 3. Christoph Schnoor, ‘Munich to Berlin: The Urban Space of German Cities’, in Jean-Louis Cohen, (ed.), Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes, (London: Thames and Hudson, 2013), pp. 85-90. 4. Le Corbusier, ‘The Parthenon’, in Journey to the East, trans I. Zaknic, (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1987), pp. 209-239, 263-266. Early Projects and Themes 5. Jacques Grubler, ‘From Feeling to Reason: Jeanneret and Regionalism’, in Le Corbusier: Early Works by Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, (New York: St. Martin’s, 1987), pp. 112-119. 6. Geoffrey Baker, ‘The Early Villas in La Chaux-de-Fonds by Charles-Edouard Jeannneret-Gris’, in Le Corbusier: Early Works by Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, (New York: St. Martin’s, 1987), pp. 8-24. 7. Peter Serenyi, ‘Le Corbusier, Fourier, and the Monastery of Ema’, Art Bulletin, (Dec. 1967), pp. 277-286. 8. Peter Eisenman, ‘Aspects of Modernism: Maison Dom-ino and the Self-Referential Sign’, Oppositions, no. 15/16, (Winter/Spring 1979), pp. 118-128. Toward an Architecture 1917-1929 Transitional Years: Amedée Ozenfant, Purism, L’Esprit Nouveau 9. H. Allen Brooks, ‘The Transitional Years: Jeanneret’s Move to Paris 1917-1920’, in Le Corbusier’s Formative Years: Charles-Edouard Jeanneret at La Chaux-de-Fonds, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997), pp. 471-503. 10. Le Corbusier and Amédée Ozenfant, ‘Purism’, in Robert L. Herbert, (ed.), Modern Artists on Art: Ten Unabridged Essays, (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1964), pp. 58-73. 11. M. Christine Boyer, ‘A Method for the Arts of Today: Purism, Après le Cubisme, and L’Esprit Nouveau’, in Le Corbusier, homme de lettres, (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2011), pp. 261-276, 725-727. 12. Kenneth E. Silver, ‘Ars Longa’, in Purism and the Spirit of Synthesis, (New York: Barbara Mathes Gallery, 1986). Vers une architecture, 1923 13. Le Corbusier, ‘Argument’, ‘Three Reminders To Architects: Volume’, and ‘Eyes That Do Not See: Liners’, in Toward an Architecture, trans. J. Goodman, (Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2007), pp. 85-89, 99-106, 145-158, 308-310, 317-319. 14. Frederick Etchells, ‘Introduction’, in Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture, trans. F. Etchells, (New York: Payson & Clark, 1927), pp. v-xvii. 15. Peter Collins, ‘The Mechanical Analogy’, in Changing Ideals in Modern Architecture, (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1967), pp. 164-166. Purist Villas 16. Richard A. Etlin, ‘A paradoxical avant-garde: Le Corbusier’s villas of the 1920s’, Architectural Review, Vol. CLXXXI, No. 1079, (January 1987), pp. 21-26, 31-32. 17. Kurt W. Forster, ‘Antiquity and Modernity in the La Roche-Jeanneret Houses of 1923’, Oppositions, no. 15/16, (Winter/Spring 1979), pp. 131-153. 18. Philippe Boudon, ‘Le Corbusier’s Conception at Pessac’, in Lived-in Architecture: Le Corbusier’s Pessac Revisited, trans. G. Onn, (London: Lund Humphries, 1972), pp. 29-46. 19. Colin Rowe, ‘The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa: Palladio and Le Corbusier Compared’, Architectural Review, 101, (March 1947), pp. 101-104. 20. Tim Benton, ‘Villa Savoye and the Architects’ Practice’, in H. Allen Brooks (ed.), Le Corbusier, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1987), pp. 83-105. 21. Richard Meier, ‘’Les Heures Claires’’, in Yukio Futagawa, (ed.), Le Corbusier: Villa Savoye, Poissy, France. 1929-31, (Tokyo: A.D.A. Edita, 1972), pp. 2-7. Themes: Five Points of a New Architecture, the Architectural Promenade 22. Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, ‘Five points towards a new architecture’, in Ulrich Conrads, (ed.), Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-Century Architecture, (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1970), pp. 99-100. 23. Werner Oechslin, ‘Les Cinqs Points d’une Architecture Nouvelle’, Assemblage, No. 4, (October 1987), pp. 83-93. 24. Bruno Reichlin, ‘The Pros and Cons of the Horizontal Window: The Perret-Le Corbusier Controversy’, Daidalos, 13, (September 1984), pp. 65-78. 25. Flora Samuel, ‘Elements of the Architectural Promenade’, in Le Corbusier and the Architectural Promenade, (Basel: Birkhäuser, 2010), pp. 85-101. The City of Tomorrow 1920-1933 Urbanisme, 1925 26. Le Corbusier, ‘A Contemporary City’, in The City of Tomorrow, trans. F. Etchells, (New York: Payson & Clarke, 1929), pp. 164-177. Urban Projects and CIAM 27. Norma Evenson, ‘A City for Three Million People’, and ‘The Voisin Plan’, in Le Corbusier: The Machine and the Grand Design, (New York: George Braziller, 1969), pp. 13-20, 112-114. 28. Kenneth Frampton, ‘The City of Dialectic’, Architectural Design, Vol. XXXIX, (October 1969), pp. 541-546. 29. Sigfried Giedion, ‘The International Congresses for Modern Architecture (CIAM) and the Formation of Contemporary Architecture’, in Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982), pp. 696-706. Volume II: Allied Arts, 1925-1937 L’Art décoratif d’aujourd’hui (1925) 30. Le Corbusier, ‘Type-needs. Type-furniture’, in The Decorative Art of Today, trans. J. Dunnett, (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1987), pp. 67-79. Furniture and Interiors 31. Charlotte Benton, ‘Le Corbusier: Furniture and the Interior’, Journal of Design History, 3, no. 2-3 (1990): pp. 103-124. The Role of Drawing, Painting, Sculpture and Colour 32. Christopher Green, ‘The Architect as Artist’, in Le Corbusier: Architect of the Century, (London: Arts Council of Great Britain, 1987), pp. 110-118. 33. Geoffrey Baker, ‘Le Corbusier: Sketches and Drawings’, Architectural Design, 52, 7/8, (1982), pp. 64-69. 34. Richard Joseph Ingersoll, ‘Le Corbusier: A Marriage of Contours’, in Le Corbusier: A Marriage of Contours, (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1990), pp. 7-16. 35. Fernand Leger, ‘Color in Architecture’, in Stamo Papadaki (ed.), Le Corbusier, Architect, Painter, Writer, (New York: Macmillan, 1948), pp. 78-80. Photography 36. Beatriz Colomina, ‘Le Corbusier and Photography’, Assemblage, 4, (October 1987), pp. 7-23. 37 Thomas L. Schumacher, ‘Deep Space/Shallow Space’, Architectural Review, Vol. CLXXXI, No. 1079, (January 1987), pp. 37-42. World Architect, 1928-1936 League of Nations and Mundaneum 38. Sigfried Giedion, ‘The League of Nations Competition, 1927: Contemporary Architecture Comes to the Front’, in Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition, (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1982), pp. 530-539. 39. Giuliano Gresleri, ‘The Mundaneum Plan’, in Carlo Palazzolo and Riccardo Vio (eds.), In the Footsteps of Le Corbusier, (New York: Rizzoli, 1991), pp. 93-113. International Encounters: U.S.S.R., Latin America, North Africa and America 40. Jean-Louis Cohen, ‘Le Corbusier and the Mystique of the U.S.S.R.’, Oppositions, no. 23, (Winter 1981), pp. 85-121. 41. Moses Ginzburg, ‘Letter to Le Corbusier’, in A. Kopp, (ed.), Town and Revolution, (London: Thames & Hudson, 1970), pp. 253-254. 42. Fernando Pérez Oyarzun, ‘Le Corbusier in South America: Reinventing the South American City’, in Le Corbusier & The Architecture of Reinvention, (London: AA Publications, 2003), pp. 141-153. 43. Mary McLeod, ‘Le Corbusier and Algiers’, Oppositions, no. 19/20, (Winter/Spring 1980), pp. 54-85. 44. Mardges Bacon, ‘The "Call" to American Industrialists’, in Le Corbusier in America: Travels in the Land of the Timid, (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2001), pp. 184-189, 365-368. 45. Le Corbusier, ‘The Skyscrapers Of New York Are Too Small’, in When the Cathedrals Were White: A Journey to the Country of Timid People, trans. F.E. Hyslop, Jr., (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1964), pp. 51-58. Housing Projects 46. Brian Brace Taylor, ‘Technology, Societ

Graham Livesey is a Professor in the Master of Architecture Program (Faculty of Environmental Design) at the University of Calgary. Antony Moulis is Associate Professor and Director of Research in the School of Architecture at the University of Queensland, Australia