Project from radiant city in Meaux

Vast project of a town of 10.500 inhabitants engaged by the town of Meaux and the architect Le Corbusier between 1955 and 1960 with the site of the current district of Beauval. In spite of 5 years of reflection, this project forever considering the day.

Origins

Vis-a-vis the deficit of residences in the Paris region, Le Corbusier spontaneously proposes in 1954 a project of “Radiant City” in the suburbs of Meaux. This project is accommodated with enthusiasm by the Barennes deputy and mayor. The municipal council votes the realization of a radiant city of 2.000 residences which is entrusted to the company of HLM Orly-Park. On this project, Le Corbusier works within her cabinet with her assistant André Wogenscky and for the development of novel methods of prefabrication with Iannis Xenakis, in addition, type-setter of modern music.

The program

The ground from 25 to 30 hectares is brought by the city. It envisages the construction of five housing units on the model of those already existing, but also of two cylindrical turns reserved for the young couples. The project includes also hotels, restaurants, public equipment, a cinema, equipment generally directly integrated in the turns. As with Marseilles or Firminy, the nursery school and a gymnasium are thus directly accessible since the roof from each housing unit. A commercial street occupies the equivalent of a corridor in the stages. In addition, it designs a “green factory” in periphery of the site, in the north of the Nationale 3, directly connected to the Radiant City: it is what it calls the “Industrial Linear City”, produced of a reflection carried out by the architect on the rational integration of the industrial parks to their environment.

It appears obvious that the urban plan of Meaux is read only in comparison with the former work of Le Corbusier. The housing units point by point resume the work undertaken on the housing unit of Marseilles. Then, when the excessive costs of the building site of Marseilles prohibit to keep a constructive concrete system, the solution of prefabricated metal cells is adopted. In the same way, the appearance of the cylindrical turns for single people is obviously to place taking into consideration project for the embassy from France to Brasilia. The plan of mass of Meaux is the first to let appear this form related to such a program. The project of Strasbourg will take again these cylindrical turns made up of residences for single people.

Encountered difficulties

But the administrative interlocutors miss with the call. The State deals with the town-planning in 1957. A contract is signed on June 4th, 1957 between the Ministry for the rebuilding and housing (MRL), the architect for the study of the urban expansion of Meaux and the supervision of the architects brought to work in this zone. But the engineers of the services of the Bridges and Chaussées balk to support Le Corbusier. One reproaches him the inaccuracies of his study, in particular with regard to the costing of construction.

A new version with the beginning of the year 1958 is proposed by Le Corbusier and her team which envisages from now on 15 housing units and 4 turns. However, the project always sins by inaccuracies in particular on the means of service road of the whole of the city. Moreover, architect celebrates it always misses valid interlocutors, according to him, within the administrative hierarchy. During this same year 1958, it is a new hard blow with the nomination of Marcel Lods with the load of town planner in charge of the plan of installation of the Seine-et-Marne. This one, regarded as the specialist in the application of the industrial methods to the building and heavy prefabrication, thus becomes the direct superior of the “Master”, intolerable situation for this last. New criticisms are emitted in particular on the mode of prefabrication considered to be too expensive. The method known as of the “bottle rack”, picturesque term indicating the way in which are embedded the prefabricated apartments, is judged out of price following the vexations of the housing unit of Marseilles where the same technique was tested. These risks do not prevent Le Corbusier from continuing on her project while negotiating with the control Renault for the installation of an automobile factory of assembly in its project of “green factory”.

Finally, of tired war, the architect ends up gradually disengaging project during the summer 1960 and prefers to engage in his international projects, in particular for the Indian city of Chandigarh. The M.R.L definitively deprives Le Corbusier of the project of Z.U.P. in October of the same year. It is however one of the most succeeded programs of town planning which it tried to apply in France: 745 drawings and plans are listed concerning this Radiant City, which will remain for always in the paperboards.

Projects of substitution

Finally, for the extension is of Meaux, two projects of scale will be realized: first of all, in periphery, Pierre Collinet by Jean Ginsberg (1958-1963) then on the site even of the Radiant City, the Z.U.P. of Beauval, by Marcel Lods (1959-1969). This one tries besides, by buildings in forms of Y (called also later “caravels”), to give, according to its dires, of the aspects of housing units corbuséennes to the apartment buildings.

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