Le Corbusier

Charles Edouard Jeanneret

1887 -1965
Introduction

originally known as Charles

Edouard Jeanneret

Swiss-born French Architect

(Urban Planner, Artist , Designer and Writer)

Pioneer of Modern Architecture

with 5 decade long career.
Early Life & Childhood
1887-1902
Le Corbusier, originally known as
Charles Edouard Jeanneret
was born as youngest child to
conservative ( Petty Bourgeois
protestant) family in La
Chaux-de Fonds , Switzerland.

La Chaux-de Fonds was

industrial town devoted to
manufacturing watches. His
father was an artisan who
enamelled boxes and watches
while his mother taught piano.
His elder brother Albert was
gifted violinist. In an attempt to
distinguish himself , young
Charles Edouard had to struggle
to carve out his own path

Charles Edouard attended a

Kindergarten that used Frobelian
Methods.
 Early Influencers
1900 - 1910
At the age of 15, Young Charles
Edouard Jeanneret was sent to
Municipal Art School in
La-Chaux-de-Fonds which
taught Applied arts connected
with watchmaking. But, He
detested repeated task of watch
engraving and got more
interested in visual arts.

3 years later, He attended higher

course of decoration, founded by
Charles L'Eplattenier Autoportrait. Charles L’Eplattenier, who
taught him about painting from
nature. He further taught him art,
history, drawing and aesthetics
of art nouveau.

Young Le Corbusier EARLY LIFE

 Early Influencers
1902 - 1910
Rene Chapallaz was architecture
teacher in the Art School who
had large influence on Le
Rene Chapallaz Corbusier’s early houses.

In 1905, Villa Fallet was built by

18 year old Charles Edouard
Jeanneret in collaboration with
architect Rene Chapalaz and with
help of other students studying
with Charles L’Eplattenier at the
Villa Fallet Ecole des Arts.
1905

Jeanneret despised academic

education and thought he would
learn by travelling. He tirelessly
did drawings.

Villa Jeanneret-Perret
(Maison Blanche)
Charles Edouard
Jeanneret’s first

EARLY LIFE
independent work
1912
Inspirations from Travels
1907-1911
Jeanneret travel through central
Europe and the Mediterranean,
he made three major discoveries.
1. Charterhouse of Ema at
Galluzzo in Tuscany where
contrast between collective
and individual living cells
formed the basis for his
conception of residential
buildings.
2. Through 16th century Late
Renaissance Architecture
of Andrea Palladio in
Veneto Region of Italy and
Ancient Sites of Greece,
he discovered Classical
Proportion.
3. Popular Architecture of
Mediterranean and Balkan
Peninsula that gave him a
repertory of geometric
forms , handligh of light and
use of landscape as
background.
Young Jeanneret
Ancient Sites of Greece Inspirations from Travels
1907-1911
Jeanneret travel through central
Europe and the Mediterranean,
he made three major discoveries.
1. Charterhouse of Ema at
Sketches of Le Corbusier Galluzzo in Tuscany where
Ancient Sites of Greece
contrast between collective
and individual living cells
formed the basis for his
conception of residential
buildings.
2. Through 16th century Late
Renaissance Architecture
of Andrea Palladio in
Veneto Region of Italy and
Ancient Sites of Greece,
he discovered Classical
Proportion.
3. Popular Architecture of
Mediterranean and Balkan
Peninsula that gave him a
repertory of geometric
forms , handligh of light and
use of landscape as

EARLY LIFE background.

 Inspirations from Travels
1907-1911
Jeanneret travel through central
Europe and the Mediterranean,
he made three major discoveries.
1. Charterhouse of Ema at
Galluzzo in Tuscany where
contrast between collective
and individual living cells
formed the basis for his
conception of residential
buildings.
2. Through 16th century Late
Renaissance Architecture
of Andrea Palladio in
Veneto Region of Italy and
Ancient Sites of Greece,
he discovered Classical
Proportion.
3. Popular Architecture of
Mediterranean and Balkan
Peninsula that gave him a
repertory of geometric
forms , handligh of light and
use of landscape as

EARLY LIFE background.

TOWARDS
 Later Influencers
1907 - 1911
In 1908, Jeanneret went to Paris
to begin practice with Auguste
Perret who taught him to
appreciate proportion, geometry,
scale, harmony and the classical
language of architecture.

In 1910, Jeanneret moved to

Berlin where he met William
Auguste Perret William Ritter Peter Behrens Ritter - a music and art critic,
intellectual, writer and painter.
Ritter exposed him to new ideas
and indirectly led him to architect
Peter Behrens (for whom
Jeanneret will work for several
months in Germany).

Ritter constantly challenged

Jeanneret to look beyond the
comforts of La Chaux-de-Fonds
and the more conservative view
of L’Eplattenier
Theatre-des-Champ-elysees Haus Behrensbau
Auguste Perret Peter Behrens
Painter and the Writer
1917-1920
At the age of 30, Charles
Edouard Jeanneret upon
returning Paris, meets Amedee
Ozenfant, who introduced him to
sophisticated contemporary art.
Ozenfant initiated him into purism
, his new pictorial aesthetic that
rejected the complicated
abstraction of Cubism and
returned to the pure, simple
geometric forms of everyday
objects. Together they wrote and
publish the Purist manifesto
Apres Le Cubisme ( After
Cubism, 1918)

1n 1920, with poet Paul Dermee,

they founded a polemic
avant-garde review , L’Espirit
Nouveau - presented ideas in
architecture and city planning
already expressed by Adolf Loos
and Henri Van De Velde, who
fought against old and defended
functionalism.
 Making of Le Corbusier
1917-1920

Ozenfant and Jeanneret together

wrote series of articles for
L'Esprit Nouveau that were
signed with pseudonyms.
These articles were collected and
Ozenfant
(Saugnier) published as Vers Une Architecture
and later translated as Towards
New Architecture (1923) which
propagated controversial ideas like
“A house is a machine for living in”
and “a curved street is a donkey
track, a straight street, a road for
C.E Jeanneret men” are among his famous
(Corbusier) declaration.

Towards New Architecture criticizes

the ‘Old world house’ with bad use
of space- cramped and wasted.
Instead this book proposes the new
form of dwelling will have machine
age imagery without pointed roof ,
with walls as smooth as sheet iron
and windows like those of factories.
Heroic Decade
1920-1930
1920 Corbusier exhibits model
house (Maison Citrohan) at the
Salon d’ Automne in Paris.
Maison Ctirohan was answer to
prevailing economic conditions
where masonry walls could be
built by workers anywhere and
floors and roof will be reinforced
concrete.

1922 Citrohan house was

modified to include garage -
which was placed below the
house which is raised by means
of a framed structure. The stair is
now enclosed.

1927 The spiral stair goes

and straight staircase is stacked
which gains recognition
elevationally by balcony
projection thrusting beyond end
plane of the house.
Heroic Decade
1920-1930
During Pre-war period, Corbusier built
primarily for privileged individuals who
commissioned individual houses.

Houses were functional in design and

ascetic in appearance, incorporating
rigorous geometric forms and bare
facades.

1922
Villa at Vaucresson

1922
Studio Apartment for Ozenfant

1923-25
Villa La Roche

1926-29
Villa Stein De Monzie

1929-31
Villa Savoye
Heroic Decade
1920-1930
During Pre-war period, Corbusier built
primarily for privileged individuals who
commissioned individual houses.

Houses were functional in design and

ascetic in appearance, incorporating
rigorous geometric forms and bare
facades.

1922
Villa at Vaucresson

1922
Studio Apartment for Ozenfant

1923-25
Villa La Roche

1926-29
Villa Stein De Monzie

1929-31
Villa Savoye
Heroic Decade
1920-1930
During Pre-war period, Corbusier built
primarily for privileged individuals who
commissioned individual houses.

Houses were functional in design and

ascetic in appearance, incorporating
rigorous geometric forms and bare
facades.

1922
Villa at Vaucresson

1922
Studio Apartment for Ozenfant

1923-25
Villa La Roche

1926-29
Villa Stein De Monzie

1929-31
Villa Savoye
Heroic Decade
1920-1930
During Pre-war period, Corbusier built
primarily for privileged individuals who
commissioned individual houses.

Houses were functional in design and

ascetic in appearance, incorporating
rigorous geometric forms and bare
facades.

1922
Villa at Vaucresson

1922
Studio Apartment for Ozenfant

1923-25
Villa La Roche

1926-29
Villa Stein De Monzie

1929-31
Villa Savoye
Heroic Decade
1920-1930
During Pre-war period, Corbusier built
primarily for privileged individuals who
commissioned individual houses.

Houses were functional in design and

ascetic in appearance, incorporating
rigorous geometric forms and bare
facades.

1922
Villa at Vaucresson

1922
Studio Apartment for Ozenfant

1923-25
Villa La Roche

1926-29
Villa Stein De Monzie

1929-31
Villa Savoye
 Second Machine Age
1930-1939s
By end 1920s, Corbusier’s
infatuation from machine
>recedes in favour of > return
towards fresh interpretation of
nature.

Natural forms including bones,

shells and human figures were
introduced into his paintings.
While Stone was used on the
Swiss pavilion and during thirties
a series of primitive buildings
emerged using stone and timber
construction.

During this time, New approach

drew on Le Corbusier’s constant
fascination with vernacular
architecture and reflects an
attempt to evolve an appropriate
Le Petite Maison de Weekend( Villa Henfal)
1935
contemporary language using
natural materials.
Reflective Practice
1930-1939s
Reflective attitude was the result
of many factors, one of which
was failure in practical sense of
many of Corbusier’s twenties
buildings. For examples :

- Rooflights on Ozenfant’s
Studio had to be removed
- the metal windows on
several buildings became
rusty and twisted.
- Concrete blocks were poor
insulators with the stucco
surface.
- Overglazing & Solar
overheating in his own
apartment.

These problems led him to

rethink on use of materials ,
incorporate natural materials and
invention of brise soleil
(architectural element used for
sunshading)
War Time
Evolution of Le Modular
1939-1945
German Occupation of France >
interrupts Corbusier’s travel and
work > only activities were
painting, writing and reflection.
During this time > Corbusier
elaborated the first bases of the
Modulor concept, a scale of
harmonic measures that set
architectural elements in
proportion to human stature.

The Modular is a anthropometric

system of quantity based human
measurements of Englishman,
Fibonacci series and The Golden
Ratio. It is used to determine the
proportion of units in
architecture.

Developed between 1943-1955 in an era

which was already displaying widespread
fascination with mathematics as potential
source of universal truths.
War Time
Evolution of Le Modular
1939-1945
Le Modular include 3 aspects
1. Human Measurements
2. The Fibonacci Series
3. The Golden Ratio

The measurement of man, are in

nature distributed in this manner
- A palm is four fingers
- A foot is four palms
- A cubit is six palms
- Four cubits makes a man
- A pace is four cubits
- A man is 24 palms
War Time
Evolution of Le Modular
1939-1945
Le Modular include 3 aspects
1. Human Measurements
2. The Fibonacci Series
3. The Golden Ratio

Sequence of numbers where the

first number of the sequence is 0,
second number is 1 and each
subsequent number is equal to
sum of the previous two
numbers.
War Time
Evolution of Le Modular
1939-1945
Le Modular include 3 aspects
1. Human Measurements
2. The Fibonacci Series
3. The Golden Ratio

Golden ratio is a ratio between

two numbers that is
approximately equal to 1.618.

Golden ratio is calculated by

dividing a line into two parts, a
long part (a) and a short part (b).
The entire length (a+b) divided by
(a) is equal to (a) divided by (b) .

It is believed to pleasing
proportions found in nature
 War Time
Evolution of Le Modular
1939-1945
The Modular is an
anthropometric scale of
proportions based on height of
an Englishman with his arm
raised.
43
The graphic representation of
the Modular is a stylized human
figure with one arm upraised
standing next to two vertical
70 measurements.

Basic Plot : 113, 70 and 43cm

43+70 = 113
113 + 70 = 183
113
113 + 70 + 43 = 226
 Post-War Period
1945-1965
Le Corbusier thought that he
would finally be able to apply his
theories of planning in the
reconstruction of France.

He prepared in 1945 two plans

for the cities of Saint Die and La
Pallice-Rochelle.

At Saint Die, in the vosges

mountains, he proposed
regrouping the 30,000
inhabitants of the destroyed town
into five functional skyscrapers.
Although they were rejected, they
subsequently circulated
throughout the world and
became doctrine.
Paris Plan Voisin for Paris
1956-60
Post-War Period
1945-1965
By 1950s, Corbusier reassessed
his position and his post-war
work shows a redeployment of
both form and materials in
response to fresh priorities .

1950
Maisons Jaoul demonstrates
shift in strategy offering a model
intended as a universal solution,
which the most respects reverses
the techniques and ideology of
the twenties decade.
 Post-War Period
1945-1965
Two Religious buildings in France
were comissioned as the result of
the influence of the dominican
father Reverend Couturier.

Chapel Notre-Dame DuHaut at

Chapel Notre-Dame Du Haut at Ronchamp
1950-1955
Ronchamp (1950-55) sacrifices
le corbusier’s famous principles
of apparent functionalism , the
wall has been built to a double
thickness for visual effect and
roof, which appears to be
suspended, actually rests on a
forest of supports.

More brutal and austere is the

The Monastery of La Tourette
(1957-60) Eveux-sur-Arbresle,
neary Lyon. The square building
imposes a fortress of concrete in
a natural setting.

Sainte Marie De La Tourette

1956-60
 Post-War Period
1945-1965
Villa Shodhan
1955-56
Evolution of the villa can be
traced back to Domino-system of
reinforced concrete slab and
column supports (1914) marking
the final stage of Le Corbusier’s
development of dwelling as a
cubic sculpting of form and
space (as opposed to
development of dwelling as a
vaulted structure of his work in
50s )

It exemplifies Corbusier’s
post-war rejection of machine
age imagery in favour of an
architectural language generated
by natural forces. The form of
Villa Shodhan villa responds directly to the
1955-56 tropical climate of India , with
parasol roof and brise soleil
giving shade and ventilation.
Post-War Period
1945-1965
Corbusier as City Planner
In 1951, Government of Punjab
named him architectural advisor
for the construction of new
capital Chandigarh.

For the first time , Corbusier was

able to apply his principles of city
planning on a metropolitan scale
totally without reference to local
tradition he designed the Palace
of justice, the secretariat and
Palace of Assembly.

Unfinished concrete with

windows sheltered by enormous
concrete sunshades, the
sculptural facades, swooping
rooflines and monumental ramps
are principal elements of his
architecture.
Post-War Period
1945-1965
Corbusier as City Planner

Separated different functions for

the city into
a. Dwelling
b. Working
c. Recreation of body & mind.
d. Circulation

For him, a man is only one type :

whether the city has a population
20,000 or 2 million, whether from
one part of the world or another.

In chandigarh, City had to be

built with bare hand of powerless
laborers in the extreme heat.

Maintained right angles thinking

that it is better than wavering
lines so - planned city like
checkerboard.
Post-War Period
1945-1965
Corbusier ‘s Chandigarh

- Chandigarh had 7 main road

- 1,2,3 - heavy traffic
- 4 - shopping
- 5,6- for feeders
- 7 parkway

- Still free from major traffic

problems.
- City planned for 150000 in
its first phase and 500000 in
its final stage.

- 3 major architectural
landmarks
1. The high court building
2. The Assembly Hall
3. The Secreteriat
Post-War Period
1945-1965
Open Hand

Open Hand ( La Main Ouverte) is

a recurring motif in Corbusan
Architecture , a sign for him for
peace and reconciliation . It is
open to give and open to receive.

It expresses a philosophy , the

result of a life of study of
struggles, of defeats of victories.
Post-War Period
1945-1965
Corbusier in his later works
rejects any facile interpretation of
modernity and uses the abstract
architectural language culled
from modern art and technology
to represent a centuries old
cultural tradition. This is seen in
his works in chandigarh

.
 Corbusier’s Cabanon
1965
The compact log cabin - smallest
architectural project - is the only
vacation home architect built for
himself . Measuring only 13 sq.m,
it contains only basic facilities
and is adorned by le corbusier’s
distinctive murals.

Cabanon
interior
DOMINO HOUSE
Maison Dom-ino is an open floor
plan modular structure designed
by Le Corbusier in 1914-1915.

It was a prototype as the physical

platform for the mass production
of housing.

The name is pun that combines

an allusion to domus ( latin for
house) and the pieces of the
game of dominoes, because floor
plan resembled the game and
because the units could be
aligned in a series like dominoes,
to make row houses of different
patterns.

The Model proposes an open

floor plan consisting concrete
slabs supported by minimal
number or RCC columns around
edges , with stairway to each
level on one-side.
5 POINTS IN
ARCHITECTURE
6TH POINT

One more feature that

distinguishes Corbusian
architecture of the years from 1945
to 1965, the use of the sunbreak (
brise soleil)

Failures of the pans de verre (glass

curtain walls) led him to think
about a passive sun protection for
his facades.

Oeuvre Vol 3 , he launched into a

detailed review of the process by
which he had come to invent the
sixth point of modern architecture.
I,e, the honeycomb sun break.

Seen mostly in chandigarh

 Other Contribution
In addition to practicing art,
architecture and writing ,
Corbusier also designed a
number of objects , including a
furniture collection (1928) with
Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte
Perriand that included LC1 and
LC4 chair
LC1 Chair
1928
Corbusier’s books, whose
essential lines of thought were
born of travels and lectures
hardly changed at all in 45 years,
constituted a bible for
succeeding generation of
architects.

Famous Books:
1. The City of Tomorrow 1929
2. When the cathedrals were
white 1947
3. The Modular I (1954)

Le Corbusier dies suddenly in

LC4 Chair
1928
1965.
Other Contribution
In addition to practicing art,
architecture and writing ,
Corbusier also designed a
number of objects , including a
furniture collection (1928) with
Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte
Perriand that included LC1 and
LC4 chair

Corbusier’s books, whose

essential lines of thought were
born of travels and lectures
hardly changed at all in 45 years,
constituted a bible for
succeeding generation of
architects.

Famous Books:
1. The City of Tomorrow 1929
2. When the cathedrals were
white 1947
3. The Modular I (1954)

Le Corbusier dies suddenly in

1965.