Le corbusier

Who was Le Corbusier ?

- He was a highly polemical designer hailed from obscurity in the Swiss Jura
Mountains to become (arguably) the most influential urban planner and architect of
the 20th century. He was one of the key designers who formulated the ideas behind a
truly modern, avant-garde architecture during the interwar period. His ideas about
immense, rationalized, zoned, and
industrially-constructed cities both shocked
and seduced a global audience, and while they
never came to fruition as a cohesive vision,
his disciples put many of their pieces into
place around the world, both during and after
his lifetime. Over fifty years after his death,
Le Corbusier still manages to exercise
influence and arouse hatred for his ideas and
buildings. His complex ties to politics and the
sociological dimensions of architecture - along with his voluminous records and
archives - mean that he will continue to be the subject of debates for decades to come.

Childhood
- Charles Édouard-Jeanneret was born in the fall of 1887 in the small industrial town
of La Chaux-de-Fonds, in the section of the Alps called the Jura Mountains, just
across the border from France. The city was known for its renowned watchmaking
industry. His father was a watch engraver and enameller, and his mother worked as a
music teacher. They encouraged their son to study decorative arts in the hope that he
would also become an engraver of watchcases. Jeanneret also frequently made trips
with his father into the mountains around La-Chaux-de-Fonds, becoming intimately
acquainted with nature and the environment.
Education
- At 13 years of age, Le Corbusier left primary school to learn the enameling and
engraving of watch faces, his father’s trade, at the École des Arts Décoratifs at La
Chaux-de-Fonds. There, Charles L’Eplattenier, whom Le Corbusier later called his
only teacher, taught him art history, drawing etc
- It was L’Eplattenier who decided that Le Corbusier, having completed three years of
studies, should become an architect and gave him his first practice on local projects.
From 1907 to 1911, on his advice, Le Corbusier undertook a series of trips that played a
decisive role in the education of this self-taught architect. During these years of
travel through central Europe and the Mediterranean, he made three major
architectural discoveries. The Charterhouse of Ema at Galluzzo, in Tuscany,
provided a contrast between vast collective spaces and “individual living cells” that
formed the basis for his conception of residential buildings. Through the
16th-century Late Renaissance architecture of Andrea Palladio in the Veneto
region of Italy and the ancient sites of Greece, he discovered classical proportions.
Finally, popular architecture in the Mediterranean and on the Balkan Peninsula
gave him a repertory of geometric forms and also taught him the handling of light
and the use of landscape as an architectural background.
- At the age of 30 he returned to live in Paris, where his formation was completed a year
later when he met the painter and designer Amédée Ozenfant, who introduced him
to sophisticated contemporary art.

Advance decorative art course Watchcase

Career ( major years)
- Corbusier became involved in local projects, and designed his first house in 1907.
After this, he chose to tour places like Italy, Munich, Vienna and Paris, where he
took up apprenticeships with famous architects and structural rationalists such as
Peter Behrens, Gustava Perret and Auguste Perret.

Works for Auguste and Gustave Perret

- This exposure to different forms of architecture in 1910 and 1911, later helped Le
Corbusier come up with a number of key architectural findings such as the five
points of architecture. He observed the differences between huge collective spaces
and separate compartmentalized areas.
- He devised a new system of measurement known as the ‘Modulor’. The Fibonacci
series, the golden ratio and other important concepts formed the basis of this
- In 1912, he came back to the city where he was born and turned to teaching. It was
here that he started to design villas( example villa Jeanneret-Perret) and decided to
seriously pursue architecture.

villa Jeanneret-Perret
(La Chaux-de-Fonds : Builds the villa
Jeanneret-Perret in the rue de la Montagne (for
his parents)
- The architect-painter moved to Paris in 1917, and worked as an architect on
concrete structures under government contracts. However, his inclination then was
more towards painting.

Vue des toits de Paris Vue de la cathédrale de chartres dépasse la champagne

- In 1918, Le Corbusier met the renowned painter Amedee Ozenfant. They both came
out with a book ‘Apres les cubisme’ in which they dealt with a new anti-cubism
artistic movement called, ‘Purism’.

meets the painter Amédée Ozenfant

- In 1920, they joined Paul Dermee to publish a journal dealing with purist art titled,
‘L’Esprit Nouveau’. Subsequently, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret adopted the more
famous name Le Corbusier.

Launches L’Esprit Nouveau magazine

- In 1923, he published ‘Vers une Architecture’ as a compilation of his writing from

the ultra-modern journal he published in 1920.
- In 1928, he forayed into the field of furniture designing too.
- The architect-painter moved on to urban planning, and designed a number of
buildings based on his views on urbanism. He expanded his ideas on urbanism and
brought out a book titled, ‘La Ville radieuse’, in 1935.
- In the 1950s, the gifted architect planned and constructed a number of administrative
buildings in the then-newly formed Union Territory of Chandigarh, in India.

La ville radieuse Le corbusier in chandigarh

Awards
- In 1937, he was the recipient of the Chevalier de la Legion d’Honneur from the
French government.
- In 1945, he was promoted to Officer of the Légion d'honneur.
- In 1952,he was promoted to Commander of the Legion of Honor.
- In 1955, he received an honorary doctoral degree from the Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology in Zurich.
- The University of Cambridge awarded Le Corbusier an honorary degree in June 1959.
- He received the Frank P. Brown Medal and AIA Gold Medal in 1961.
- 1964, Le Corbusier was named Grand Officier of the Légion d'honneur.
- ‘Fondation Le Corbusier’ was established in 1968 to honor the life and works of this
great architect. It is a private foundation cum archive, housing a huge collection of his
drawings, plans and studies.

Le Corbusier and Zürich Foundation le corbusier

Design philosophies of le corbusier
Five points of New Architecture:
- During his career, Le Corbusier developed a set of architectural principles that
dictated his technique, called "the Five Points of a New Architecture’. They were:
- 1. Pilotis – A grid of columns to replace load-bearing walls, allowing architects to
make more use of floorspace.
- 2. Free facade – To separate the exterior of the building from its structural function
the facade becomes free.
- 3. Free floor plan – Absence of load-bearing walls to create flexible living spaces that
could adapt to changing lifestyles.
- 4. Horizontal window – Windows cut through non load- bearing walls to provide light
and panoramic views.
- 5. Roof gardens – A flat roof covered in vegetation, which keeps moisture consistent
and regulates temperature.

The Modulor:
- The Modulor is an anthropometric scale of proportions devised by Corbusier. The
system is based on human measurements, the double unit, the Fibonacci numbers, and
the golden ratio. Le Corbusier described it as a "range of harmonious measurements
to suit the human scale, universally applicable to architecture and to mechanical
things."
- Le Corbusier developed the Modulor in the attempt to discover mathematical
proportions in the human body and then to use that knowledge to improve both the
appearance and function of architecture
 - Le Corbusier placed systems of harmony and proportion at the center of his design
philosophy. His faith in the mathematical order of the universe was closely bound to
the golden section and the Fibonacci series, which he described as ‘rhythms apparent
to the eye and clear in their relations with one another’

Timeline of projects done by le corbusier

The three examples chosen for further study
1 villa fallet
- Villa Fallet is a traditional chalet located in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland designed
and built by the eighteen-year-old Charles-Édouard Jeanneret. Jeanneret was
teaching himself architecture by going to the library to read about architecture and
philosophy, by visiting museums, by sketching buildings, and by constructing them.
The house is in the Style Sapin, the Swiss variant of Art Nouveau.
- The chalet on the forested hillside near La Chaux-de-Fonds, is a large traditional
chalet with a steep roof in the local alpine style, and is decorated with carefully
crafted colored geometric patterns on the façade, with a design of triangular pine
trees and pine cones.
Justification
- this was the first ever building constructed by le corbusier and from twitch he
started his journey into architecture and making discoveries , this being his first
project it holds a lot of information of his basics and his education style

2 villa shodha
- It is a modernist villa located in Ahmedabad, India, it was built between 1951 and
1956. Building on his earlier designs and integrating the traditional features of
Ahmedabad design, the villa symbolizes Le Corbusier's "family" architecture. The
building is currently used as a private residence.
- Key aspects taken into consideration in the design of Villa Shodhan include the sun,
the wind, the view on arrival and the landscape. They could be faced above all by the
positioning of the facades which, with a diagonal orientation, allowed the
incoming visitor a view on three quarters of the building. The landscape enhances
the construction by contrasting the curved mounds of the site with the geometric
and rectangular lines of the structure. The rectangular geometry of the north-west
and south-west facades is further emphasized by the installation of brise soleil for
protection from the.
Justification
When Asked about the house Corbusier said,
- ‘What have I given to Shodhan? ….I have given him: shade in the summer, sun in
the winter, air circulation and cool in the seasons…..He leaves his house on the first
 terrace, in the shade, sheltered. In constantly moving air. He climbs to the roof, he
sleeps there. Everywhere he or his guests are sheltered, captivated and enchanted.’
- This project was a continuation of villa savoye and corbusier adjusted and built the
being for indian climate

3 villa savoye
- Exemplar of his "five points for new constructions”. He built it in the following
manner:
The first point was Pilotis which he incorporated by lifting structure off the ground,
supporting it by pilotis – reinforced concrete stilts.
The second point was a free design of façade, meaning non- supporting walls that
could be designed as the architect wished,
The third point was a free open plan, meaning that the floor space was free to be
configured into rooms without concern for supporting walls.
The fourth point was horizontal windows which he inducted in the second floor of
the building by adding long strips of ribbon windows that allow unencumbered views
of the large surrounding yard.
The fifth point was the roof garden to compensate for the area consumed by the
building and replacing it on the roof.
A ramp rising from ground floor to the roof terrace allows for an architectural
promenade through the structure. The white tubular railing recalls the industrial
"ocean-liner" aesthetic that Le Corbusier much admired.
Justification
- paradigm of the “machine as a home”, so that the functions of everyday life inside
become critical to its design. The movement of cars to enter the interior of the
house (a concept that impassioned Le Corbusier for years) is the trigger for the
design of the building.
- This concept also includes the fact that housing is designed as an object that
allegedly landed on the landscape, is totally autonomous and it can be placed
anywhere in the world.