Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gray , known under the pseudonym of Le Corbusier , is a Architecte, town planner, decorator, painter and man of letters French Suisse naturalized French (born on October 6th, 1887 with La Chaux-de-Fonds - died on August 27th, 1965 with Roquebrune-Cape-Martin).

It is one of the principal representatives of the modern Mouvement with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Alvar Aalto, Theo van Doesburg and others.

Le Corbusier also has work in the fields of the Urbanisme and the Design. It is known to be the inventor of the Housing unit, subject on which it started to work in the Années 1920, like a theoretical reflection on the multifamily apartment. " The housing unit of size conforme" (name given by Corbu itself) will be only built at the time of the Reconstruction after the Second world war in five different specimens all, with Marseilles, Briey-in-Forest, Rezé-the-Nantes, Firminy and Berlin. It will take value of solution to the problems of residences of the Après-guerre. In its concept, it integrates all the utility services necessary to the life - nursery, laundry, swimming pool, school, trade, library, meeting places. However, the architects who will take as a starting point him for the modern cities, will forget this part there, degrading its generous concept and opening the way at worst town plannings “the city of suburbs”.

Biography

1887-1916 Formation, first achievements and voyages

In 1900, it starts a training of engraver-engraver at the School of Art of La Chaux-de-Fonds (his/her father was Horloger). Its professor of drawing, Charles Eplattenier, directs it towards the Architecture in 1904 and pushes it to carry out its first Villa at the seventeen years age.

The year 1907 sees it starting a series of voyages, it starts with Italy where it is very impressed by the visit of the Chartreuse of Emma to Galluzzo, chartreuse which will be used to him as model in the development of its various attempts at housing unit.

Since 1909, he learns the technique from the Reinforced concrete while working as a draftsman at the Architecte Auguste Perret with Paris. In 1910, one sees it employed at Peter Behrens where it meets Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe and Walter Gropius

Corbu itself speaks about sound " travel of Orient" that it starts in May 1911: Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Istanbul, Athens, Pisa etc all cities where it fills six notebooks with drawings of which it will be used for many recoveries to illustrate its remarks, and its publications.

Of return to the Chaux-de-Fonds, it built there the Villa Jeanneret-Perret (1912) and the Villa Schwob.

The 1917-1929 adventure of Purism, then " villas blanches"

Since 1917, it opens a first workshop of Architecture to Paris. With Amédée Ozenfant, it provides the foundations in 1918 purism, current artistic heir to the Cubisme, thus defined in their review the new Spirit (in which it produces many manifest articles on the modern man): Works are made readable by simple and stripped forms, organized in ordered, generating constructions of harmony.

In 1922 it joins as an architect his cousin Architecte Designer Pierre Jeanneret.

The decade 1920-30 sees it constructing a remarkable whole of manifest projects of villas, built or not, where one sees formalizing the elements of the architectural language corbuséen. One can quote:

  • the Villa Ker-Ka-D also called Besnus Villa, with vaucresson, delivered in 1923
  • the workshop Ozenfant for his/her friend painter, in Paris, also delivered in 1923
  • the Workshops Lipchitz-Miestchaninoff, delivered in 1925 to the Boulogne-on-Seine
  • the apartment Beistegui, built in heightening of a building of the Fields-Élysées, in Paris, delivered in 1933 and destroyed since.
  • and the Villa Church, with City-in Avray, finished in 1929 also destroyed.
(nonexhaustive list)

This series culminates with two remarkable achievements:

  • the Villa Stein, known also under the name of " villa terrasses" , delivered about 1929 to Garches. This house, altered on several occasions is today only the shade of itself.
  • the Villa Savoye, (1929, Poissy) literal application of the " five points of an architecture moderne" , most remarkable of this period, and which will have a considerable influence in the history of architecture.

Lastly, one can supplement this continuation by the realization in 1925 of the Pavillon of the new Spirit , at the time of the International exhibition of decorative Arts (World Fairs of Paris).

Parallel to this practice of the trade of architect, it carries out a theoretical reflection on town planning, through projects possibly violently polemical like the Plan Neighbor in 1925, which proposes D-to urbanize Paris, by destroying its center (except the recognized historic buildings), and by building vast buildings skyscraper there. It organizes, in 1928, the international Congrès of modern architecture (CIAM). 1929 also see it presenting a line of Furniture drawn with Charlotte Perriand.

1929-1944 Multifamily apartments, public buildings and town planning

Starting from the Economic crisis of 1929, Le Corbusier will concentrate her theoretical reflection on the problems of the urban concentration. Installation of the sea front of Algiers in 1930, study of urbanization of Rio de Janeiro… All projects which will be strongly criticized. At the same time it carries out the achievements, of the city-refuge of the Salvation Army of 1929 Paris, the Swiss Pavillon of the Cité international academic of Paris (1930 - 1932) or, in collaboration with the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer the minister of education main road with Rio de Janeiro (1936 - 1943). It is it should be noted that he was member of the Faisceau of Georges Valois, in 1926.

1945-1965 post-war period

Of 1945 with 1952, Le Corbusier builds the radiant Cité of Marseilles, a residential building in the form of a parallelepiped on Pilotis (in the shape of mountings widened with the rough aspect), which constitutes an important innovation in the architectural design of the residences of dwellings. In this building, it tried to apply its principles of architecture for a new form of Cité by creating a vertical village , composed of 360 apartments in Duplex distributed by interior streets .

Built between 1945 and 1952, located on the Michelet boulevard of Marseilles, close to the Stage Cycle-racing track, this building is one of the five housing units built by Le Corbusier during her career. Primarily made up of residences, it also includes/understands with middle height of its ten seven levels, the offices and various business services (grocer, bakery, coffee, hotel/restaurant, bookstore, etc). The roof-terrace of the unit, free of access to the public, is occupied by public equipment: a nursery school, a gymnasium, a track of athletics, a small swimming pool and an auditorium in the open air.

In 1950, at 63 years it launches out in the adventure of the rebuilding of the Chapelle Our-Lady-of-High in Ronchamp in Franche-Comté, destroyed by the bombardments of September 1944. It was its first project of a pertaining to worship building, although he worked in 1929 in the fields of the church of Tremblay-lès-Gonesses: I had not done anything of monk, but when I was in front of these four horizons, I could not hesitate . Atheistic, it said to have ancestors Cathares (which it draws its Corbusier pseudonym meaning corbel). It will take part in the construction of two other pertaining to worship buildings: the convent of Sainte-Marie of Tourette to Éveux close to Lyon of 1957 with 1959, and the Saint-Pierre church of Firminy to Firminy, close to Saint-Etienne in the the Loire. Ever finished of alive sound, it is only in 2006 qu ' it will be supplemented. This completely unusual building site, will have been carried out by Jean Oubrerie, former collaborator of the Corbu agency.

It will apply its urban and architectural principles on a city scale when the Indian authorities , in the Années 1950, entrust to him the project of the town of Chandigarh, new capital of the Penjab. It draws the buildings of the administrative complex for this Indian city (law courts, palate of Capitole, Secrétariat and palate of the Parliament). It made a synthesis enters there the innovative theories of its beginnings and the use of new forms. It is on this occasion that it meets the architect Georges Maurrios (or Georges Maurios) whose influence on the work and the life of Corbusier will take shape starting from this date. when well even Georges Maurrios refuses certainly to admit by coquettery this total influence but agrees to admit that it is him which, with the assistance of his/her young Indian comrade B.V. Doshi, drew the main part of the buildings of Capitole.

In 1952, the builder of gigantic buildings, is made build with Roquebrune-Cape-Martin, a cottage-hut of 3.66m X 3.66 m X 2.26 m with boarding of crust of pine “on an end of rock beaten by the floods” . He dies on August 27th, 1965, at the 77 years age, the Cape-Martin, during a bathe in the Mediterranean.

Theories of Le Corbusier

Where is born the order, is born the wellbeing. The choices of Le Corbusier in architecture are those which define the purism: simplicity of the forms, organization, rigor. This vision is interfered Utopie, the Bonheur being one of the keys of its reflections on the Urbanisme. Its architectural “language” as well applies to the economic housing as with the Villa of Luxe. As of 1926, Le Corbusier defines " A modern architecture " (and not " architecture moderne") in five points (they are the Five points of the modern architecture ):
  1. the piles
  2. the roof terrace
  3. the free plan
  4. the window-stringcourse
  5. the free frontage

In 1933 with the congress of the international Congress of modern architecture (CIAM) of Athens, it affirms: The materials of town planning are the sun, space, the trees, steel and the reinforced concrete, in this order and this hierarchy.

Doctor P. Winter declares to him: our role and yours, today are to restore nature with the Man, to integrate it into it.

In 1938 and this until in 1965, it did not have of cease to be interested in the project of the Holy-Balsam, which was used to him as Brainstorming all its life. The project Utopique of then was to reconcile the French and the countries around the France, and to raise the heart and the Esprit and the Raison of people to give again taste and hope to them after all these years of war.

Already in 1938 it wrote a book with like titrates: Of the guns, the ammunition? Thank you! Home… PLEASE.

Its friendship with Edouard Trouin, Geometrician of wire father since 5 generations, was very prolific.

Le Corbusier consigned her theories and her research in 35 works written between 1912 and 1966. Its pars regarded it as a visionary but a poor builder. Le Corbusier defended himself some: In architecture, I will be never one of your competitors, since I gave up (…) to practice architecture in a general way and that I reserved myself certain problems which exclusively bring into play questions of plastic.

Le Corbusier artist, Le Corbusier and artists

At the same time as its architectural practice, Corbu does not have of cease to nourish its reflection by a regular practice of the visual arts. It was seen, his collaboration with Amédée Ozanfant was fertilizes (the new spirit purism, etc).

It practices all its life painting, and counts many exposures. Its first " travel of Orient" the fact of passing by Vienna where it meets inter alia Gustav Klimt.

It was dependant of friendship with the Breton artist Joseph Savina, cabinetmaker of formation, to which it entrusted - in the Fifties the realization of sculptures out of wood, whose it made the drawn project.

It has much work to make known its " autre" cousin Louis Soutter, who is now recognized like a large Swiss artist and of which it had several hundreds of drawings.

It is reproduced on the ticket of 10 Swiss francs put in circulation the April 8th 1997, where it is represented with the glasses with large round glasses, ringed of black, that it usually carried.

The influence of Le Corbusier

The free Plane

Though it is not the single Le Corbusier inventor is known for the constructive technique post/flagstone whose prototype is the Villa Savoye and whose theoretical development passed by the Maison Domino. The floors are supported by fine posts laid out on a screen. Thus the frontages are released from the structural function. It are not charged any more to carry the building, as in construction in masonry, known as also period " pre-moderne".

The interior organization continues the idea: divisions of space are not subjected to the requirements of structure of the building. The openings as well as the full parts are established freely and organize the frontage.

This new way of conceiving the construction of the buildings is rich consequences. If Corbu is not the inventor, it is however that which knew to formulate it in concise terms: " the libre" plan; , and to develop a really new architectural vocabulary of it.

Neo-Corbusianism?

One could see, a redécouverte work of Corbu at the end of the years 1960, where its vocabulary is taken again sometimes in detail formal, sometimes in his principles founders. " villas blanches" of Richard Meier for example, no matter what built of wood and steel, take again details of connection post-beam to the achievements of Le Corbusier, as if they were made out of concrete. Beyond this anecdotic aspect, these villas though that dimensions " American " form a kind of homages to the villas corbuséennes of the Thirties. In France, this redécouverte will be formalized in the years 1970-90, where a generation of architects formed mainly by Enrique Ciriani could be described as " neo-corbuséenne"

Le Corbusier, organic architect?

That would undoubtedly have shocked it itself, but today, by some of its achievements, Le Corbusier is regarded as one of the precursors of the organic Architecture, at least partly.

Beyond the purely functional aspect and will to make reproducible prototypes of them, Le Corbusier always constructs buildings showing a sensitivity going beyond technical quality.

According to Edouard Trouin, painter and friend of Le Corbusier, this last professed “that to create, it is necessary to be initially fire, then of ice”.

Mainly religious (Notre-Dame de Ronchamp, Couvent of Tourette, Église Saint-Pierre), these achievements are more than “machines to be lived”, and offer to the visitor a plastic composition whose form, always based on a mathematical play (the Modulor), testifies to a significant approach of architecture, calling upon the emotions.

Achievements and projects

Chronology of its achievements

Typology of its achievements

the collective habitat

  • Swiss House of the University residence of Paris (1930)
  • Real Clearness with Geneva (Swiss, 1932)
  • City-refuge of the Salvation Army with Paris (1934)
  • Quoted radiant with Marseilles (1946)
  • House of Brazil of the University residence of Paris (1954)
  • Quoted radiant of Briey (1960)
  • Real Molitor (apartment LLC) in Paris

the habitat standardized

the house

the residence workshop

town planning

the industrial programs

crowned architecture

Geography of its achievements

August 1st

Not built projects

Even if these projects never were born, they marked the reflection on the modern architecture.

  • 1925 : Close plan: project of urban development for Paris

  • 1927: Project for the contest of the Palate of the Company of the Nations to Geneva
  • 1929: Project of town planning for the town of Bogota
  • 1930: Projects of town planning known as " Obus" plan; for the town of Algiers
  • 1945: Project of Plan of rebuilding and installation for the town of Saint-Gaudens in collaboration with Marcel Lods
  • 1945: Project of Plan of rebuilding and installation for the town of Saint-Dié
  • 1945: Project of Plan of rebuilding and installation for the town of La Rochelle it Pallice
  • 1947: Palate of the United Nations with New York
  • 1950: Universal basilica of Peace by Forgiveness with Plan-with Aups-Holy-Balsam (work and studies started with Edouard Trouin, as of on August 12th, 1945).
  • 1951 : Project for the contest for the great whole of the Rotterdam district to Strasbourg
  • 1955: radiant City with Meaux
  • 1961: Project for the contest of the Palate of the congresses and hotel instead of the Station of Orsay with Paris
  • 1962: Project of 3500 residences set out again in 3 housing units but only 1 unit seen the day on the heights of the city Firminy-Green

The most known collaborators

Amédée Ozenfant, Jean Ginsberg, Pierre Jeanneret, Charlotte Perriand, Guy Rottier, Marc Emery, Jean-Louis Véret, Iannis Xenakis (between 1947 and 1960), Fernand Guard, Rogelio Salmona, German Samper, Jacques Michel, Serge Micheloni, Andre Wogenscky, Vladimir Bodiansky (called " Bod and Vog"), Jose Oubrérie, Roger Aujame, Guillermo Jullian of Fuente, Georges Maurrios (especially after 65), N.N Sharma, Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry, Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi (between 1951 and 1954), Mr. Ducret, Jean de Maisonseul, Badovici, Jean Petit, Edouard Trouin, etc

Publications

Under the name Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gray

Under the name Le Corbusier

  • After the cubism , with Amédée Ozenfant, Paris 1918
  • Towards an architecture , Paris 1923
  • Town planning , Paris 1924
  • decorative art today , Paris 1925
  • Almanac of modern architecture , Paris 1925
  • Architecture of time machinist , Paris 1926
  • Request addressed to the Company of the Nations , with Pierre Jeanneret, Paris 1928
  • a house, a palate , Paris 1928
  • Precise details on a state present of architecture and town planning , Paris 1930
  • Keyboard of color Salubra , Basle 1931
  • Request with Mr. President of the Council of the Company of the Nations , with Pierre Jeanneret, Paris 1931
  • Crusade or the twilight of the academies , Paris 1933
  • the radiant city , Boulogne, 1935
  • Aircraft , London - New York 1935
  • When the cathedrals were white , Paris 1937
  • tendencies of rationalist architecture in connection with painting and the sculpture , Rome 1937
  • unhealthy Îlot n°6 , with Pierre Jeanneret, Paris 1938
  • Guns, ammunition? Thank you, of the home PLEASE , Boulogne 1938
  • Destiny of Paris , Paris - Clermont-Ferrand 1941
  • On the four roads , Paris 1941
  • the house of the men , with François de Pierrefeu, Paris 1942
  • constructions murondins , Paris - Clermont-Ferrand 1942
  • the Charter of Athens , Paris 1943 (adaptation for the publication)
  • three human settlements , Paris 1945
  • Matter of town planning , Paris 1946
  • Manner of thinking town planning , Boulogne, 1946
  • U.N. headquarters , New York 1947
  • New world off space , New York, 1948
  • Grid C.I.A.M. of town planning: application of the Charter of Athens , Boulogne 1948
  • the modulor , Boulogne 1950
  • problems of standardization: report/ratio submitted to the Economic council , in the charter of the habitat , vol.1, Paris 1950
  • the housing unit of Marseilles , Souillac - Mulhouse 1950
  • Poetry on Algiers , Paris 1950
  • '' a small house '', Zurich 1954
  • Modulor II (I call the users) , Boulogne 1955
  • Architecture of happiness, town planning is a key , Paris 1955
  • '' the Poem of the right angle '', Paris 1955
  • the plans of bets: 1956 - 1922 , Paris 1956
  • Von DER Poetry of Bauens , Zurich 1957
  • Discussion with the students of the schools of architecture , Paris 1958
  • Second keyboard of the colors , Basle 1959
  • the workshop of research has patience , Paris 1960
  • Orsay Paris 1961 , Paris 1961
  • the voyage of the East , Paris 1966
  • Mises at the point , Paris 1966
  • the nursery schools speak to you, Paris 1968

See too

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