“A HOUSE IS A MACHINE FOR LIVING IN.

”
CHARLES-ÉDOUARD JEANNERET- LE CORBUSIER

LE CORBUSIER (CHARLES-ÉDOUARD JEANNERET)
is the most important architect of the modern age.
He shaped the perceptions of modern architecture
and of modernity itself.
INTRODUCTION
 Le Corbusier was a celebrated architect, painter, urban planner, writer
and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture.
 Born Octobre 6, 1887, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzer land.
 Named Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris at birth.
MAIN LIFE EVENTS OF LE CORBUSIER
 At the age of 13 le Corbusier attended Arts Décoratifs at La Chaux-de-Fonds, where he learned
the art of engraving watch faces, following in the footsteps of his father.

 There, Charles L’Eplattenier, whom Le Corbusier later called his only teacher, taught him art
history, drawing, and the naturalist aesthetics of Art Nouveau.

 It was also L’Eplattenier who decided that Le Corbusier, having completed three years of
studies, should become an architect and he arranged for his first commissions working on
local projects.

 After compeleiting his first project, Le Corbusier found a real confidence in his talent that he
left school convinced that he would educate him self through travel.

 He traveled through central Europe and the Mediterranean, including Vienna, Munich and Paris.
 THREE MAIJOR ARCHITECTURAL DISCOVERIES BY LE CORBUSIER DURING HIS TRIP
1. The importance of the contrast between large collective spaces and
individual compartmentalized spaces, an observation that formed the
basis for his vision of residential buildings.

2. Classical proportion via renaissance architecture.

3. Geometric forms and the use of landscape as an architectural tool.

His travels included apprenticeships with various architects, most

construction, and later with renowned architect Peter Behrens. significantly
with structural rationalist Auguste Perret, a pioneer of reinforced concrete.
 CONT.…

 In 1912, Le Corbusier returned to La Chaux-de-Fonds to teach alongside L’Eplattenier and to open his own
architectural practice. He designed a series of villas and began to theorize on the use of reinforced concrete as a
structural frame, a thoroughly modern technique.

 Then, in 1918, one year after he moved to Paris, Le Corbusier met Cubist painter Amédée Ozenfant, who encouraged
Le Corbusier to paint. The two began a period of collaboration in which they rejected cubism, an art form finding
its peak at the time. And published the book Après le cubisme (After Cubism), and established a new artistic
movement called purism.

 In the first issue of the new publication, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret took on the pseudonym Le Corbusier, an
alteration of his grandfather’s last name, to reflect his belief that anyone could reinvent himself and to create a
persona that could keep separate his critical writing from his work as a painter and architect.
“ TO BE MODERN IS NOT A FASHION, IT IS A STATE. IT IS
VILLA SAVOYE
NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND HISTORY, AND HE WHO
UNDERSTANDS HISTORY KNOWS HOW TO FIND
CONTINUITY BETWEEN THAT WHICH WAS, THAT WHICH IS,
AND THAT WHICH WILL BE.”

LE CORBUSIER

LE CORBUSIER, VILLA SAVOYE, 1928-1931

POISSY, FRANCE.
RESIDENTIAL BUILDING
MATERIAL-REINFORCED CEMENT CONCRET,GLASS,STEEL
 Villa savoye is one of the most significant work of Le Corbusier.
 It represents the architectural principles that dictated his technique, which he called
"THE FIVE POINTS OF A NEW ARCHITECTURE.”

1. THE PILOTIS- provide structural support for the house, replaces the load-bearing walls, and make the soil freely usable.
2. THE FREE FAÇADE- non load bearing walls.
3. THE HORIZONTAL WINDOW- cuts the façade along its entire length, lights rooms equally.
4. THE FREE PLAN- the absence of supporting walls – means the house is unrestrained in its internal use.
5. THE ROOF GARDEN- a flat roof can serve a domestic purpose while providing essential protection to the concrete roof.
VILLA SAVOYE

THE ROOF GARDEN THE FREE FAÇADE THE FREE PLAN

STAIR ENTRANCE
FLOOR PLAN

INDOOR SPACES
OUTDOOR SPACES

SECTION PLAN
 LA VILLE RADIEUSE: Le Corbusier’s
Functionalist Plan for a Utopian “Radiant City”
“ SPACE AND LIGHT AND ORDER. THOSE ARE THE
THINGS THAT MEN NEED JUST AS MUCH AS THEY NEED
BREAD OR A PLACE TO SLEEP.”

LE CORBUSIER

FIRST PRESENTED IN 1924

 Ville Radieuse (The Radiant City) is an unrealized urban masterplan by Le Corbusier.
 The basic strategy behind was to create vertical architecture and leave plenty of shared open space in
between for people to use and enjoy. The resulting horizontal areas would serve as traffic corridors as well as
public landscapes with lush greenery.
 At the core of Le Corbusier’s plan stood the notion of zoning: a strict
division of the city into segregated commercial, business,
entertainment and residential areas.

 Located in the center of this civic district was the main

transportation deck, from which a vast underground system of
trains would transport citizens to and from the surrounding housing
districts.

 The housing districts would contain pre-fabricated apartment

buildings, known as “Unités.” Reaching a height 50m, a single Unité
could accommodate 2,700 inhabitants and function as a vertical
village.

 Though highly influential, the Ville Radieuse was never constructed.

 UNITÉ D'HABITATION

“ TO CREATE ARCHITECTURE IS TO PUT IN

ORDER. PUT WHAT IN ORDER? FUNCTION AND
OBJECTS.”
LE CORBUSIER

LE CORBUSIER, UNITÉ D'HABITATION, 1945-195

MARSEILLE, FRANCE.
APARTMENT BUILDING
 Unité d'Habitation, which - inspired by The Radiant City’s Unités,
took Le Corbusier's most famous quote, that “ a house is a machine
for living in. “, and applied it to an entire community.

 “ a house is a machine for living in. “ meaning a house is an efficient

tool to help provide for the necessities of life.

 This apartment building was the first of a new housing project

series for Le Corbusier that focused on communal living for all the
inhabitants to shop, play, live, and come together in a “vertical
garden city.”
 Le Corbusier believed the tower block was the solution for
rehousing the masses that had been displaced during the second
world war, and that high rise building could be used to create
spacious city homes with the same amenities as a typical street.

 Its 337 apartments can accommodate 1,600 residents, but it also

boasts two shopping streets, a hotel and a rooftop terrace.

 These elevations comprise a series of balconies and deep-set

windows that reveal the spacing of the internal floor plates.
 Le Corbusier developed this grid using a proportional measurement
system based on his Modulor Man – a concept that combined the
proportions of a six foot tall human figure with the mathematics of the
golden section.

 The Modulor is a universal, anthropometric scale of proportions created

Le Corbusier and devised to measure and reconcile maths, the human
form, architecture, and beauty into a single system.
THE ROOF TERRACE THE INTERIOR

THE CORRIDOR
 This typology, which provided an answer to the Post-War
housing shortage, was further adapted around the world
in countless housing projects.in the wake of World War II.

 In the years that followed, four similar buildings were

erected in France and Germany.

 Today, Unité d'Habitation is still home to many of its

original occupants and It is recognized by UNESCO as a
world heritage site.
 CHAPELLE NOTRE-DAME DU HAUT( RONCHAMP CHAPEL)

“ LIGHT CREATES AMBIENCE AND FEEL OF A

PLACE, AS WELL AS THE EXPRESSION OF A
STRUCTURE. ”
LE CORBUSIER

LE CORBUSIER, NOTRE-DAME DU HAUT, 1950-1954

RONCHAMP, FRANCE
A CATHOLIC CHURCH
MATERIAL-REINFORCED CEMENT CONCRET,GLASS
 Ronchamp is one of the extreme and unusual design of Le
Corbusier.
 In 1950, Le Corbusier was commissioned to design a new Catholic
church to replace the previous church that had been destroyed
during World War II.
 the church reformists wanted to clear their name of the
decadence and ornamental past by embracing modern art and
architecture. Spatial purity was one of Le Corbusier’s main
focuses by not over complicating the program and removing the
typical modern aesthetic from the design.
 Instead, Corbusier wanted the space to be meditative and
reflective in purpose.
 The stark white walls add to this purist mentality that when the
light enters into the chapel, it evokes expressive and emotional
qualities that create heightened sensations in tune with the
religious activities.
INTERIOR
EXTERIOR
BUILDINGS DESIGNED BY LE CORBUSIER

PALACE OF ASSEMBLY
CHANDIGARH, INDIA, 1952

SAINTE MARIE DE LA TOURETTE

LYON, FRANCE, 1953-1961
NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WESTERN ART
TOKYO, JAPAN, 1955-1959

THE PAVILLON
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND 1963-1967
  The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier, an Outstanding
Contribution to the Modern Movement is a World Heritage
Site consisting of a selection of 17 building projects in
several countries by Le Corbusier.
 These sites demonstrate how Modern Movement
architecture was applied to respond to the needs of
society and show the global range of a style and an
architect.
“ HOW NICE IT WOULD BE TO DIE
SWIMMING TOWARD THE SUN,”
LE CORBUSIER Le Corbusier died of an apparent heart attack
while swimming in the Mediterranean Sea on
August 27, 1965.
THANK YOU!