Le Corbusier’s project for the Palace of the Soviets

(1928-1931)

The Radiant City:

Elements for a doctrine of urbanism for the machine age (1933)
Le Corbusier
The Main Auditorium: an audience of 15,000. Open-air platform: 50,000 people. And
perfectly regulated acoustics. Small auditorium: 6,500 people. Huge crowds can move
about at their case of the esplanade. Cars are on a lower level; the parking lot is
beneath the auditoriums.

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General ground-level plan: The natural declivities of the ground are left untouched.
Automobiles are assigned a circuit on either side, in the open or underground. The
circuit leads to the various entrances: an automatic classification of all
visitors. Pedestrians never come into contact with cars. (There can be 25,000 people
inside the Palace, and 50,000 more on the open-air platform).

Le Corbusier’s sketches of the Palais des Soviets

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1932: Project for the Palace of the Soviets in Moscow
1928-1931 Moscow classified traffic system
The ground is devoted to movement: pedestrians, cars.
Everything above the ground (the buildings) is devoted to stability.
No similarity between the two. The ground beneath the buildings must be freed, for
regular streams of cars and lakes of pedestrians. The streams flow directly to certain

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entrances; the pedestrians are widely scattered. This makes for a new economy of
layout.
The streams of cars can flow in sunken beds or along elevated highways. Starting 5
meters above the ground, buildings take on definite shape. Distribution of traffic has
been achieved below, on the ground.
Here, the dynamic functions: distribution of sorts of traffic.
(Pilotis on the ground level).
Here, the static function is expressed by offices, club, and auditorium. 1928. Palace of
Light Industry (first called the Tsentrosoiuz) in Moscow. Now built.

Le Corbusier at a conference in Moscow, 1928

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.
Here, the dynamic functions: distribution of sorts of traffic.
(Pilotis on the ground level).
Here, the static function is expressed by offices, club, and auditorium. 1928. Palace of
Light Industry (first called the Tsentrosoiuz) in Moscow. Now built.

Tsentrosoiuz: Plans, models, site visits

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Master plan for the urbanization of the city of Moscow
.
In 1931, Moscow officials sent me a questionnaire, admirably thought out, about the
city’s reorganization. If only all cities would send out such questionnaires! Their lot
would be improved.
The theoretical drawings of the “Radiant City” were made in order to answer this
questionnaire. They form a theory of urbanization for modern times.
My “Answer to Moscow” caused an unexpected reaction: its technical aspects were
hailed in flattering terms. But the cornerstone of my work was freedom of the
individual, and this was held against me. Doctrinal vehemence prevented any
worthwhile discussion. Capitalist? bourgeois? proletarian? My only answer is a term
expressing my line of conduct and my ingrained revolutionary attitude: human. My
professional duty, as architect and city planner, is to achieve what is human.
Charitable colleagues — Frenchmen, too, and far from being “Reds” — proclaimed to
all who would listen or read, “that I wanted to destroy Moscow.” Whereas they
themselves, if only they were called upon, would, etc.…
The plate which appears opposite (last in the “Radiant City” series), is not a program
for Moscow’s destruction but on the contrary, for its construction. It shows zoning and
axes of movement along which the city could gradualIy achieve a position of supple
ease, expansion without difficulty, and so forth. This plate shows a specimen of urban
biology.
So far, only the International Congress for Modem Architecture, the C.I.A.M. has
required its members to seek the lines of vital communication which can bring a city
into efficient contact with its surrounding region. (A task which will fall to the 5th
Congress).

Corbu’s iconic model of the Palais des Soviets

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Palace of the Soviets in Moscow
The administration building, on the left, is independent of the ground. Not only is the
ground freed but, moreover, the expanse of open space beneath the building forms a
highly architectural frame for the landscape seen in the background.
On the right, impressive ramps lead the way to the open-air platform for 50,000
people.
By contrast, 15,000 can reach the main auditorium from ground level by means of a
continuous inclined plane, becoming concave until it reaches the seats. No stairways,
not even a single step can be tolerated in a public building — and certainly
not “monumental” stairways!

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Corbusier in the USSR
Space, Time, and Architecture (1941)
Sigfried Giedion
Le Corbusier’s Geneva plan remained a project, but the principles embodied in it were
partially realized in the Tsentrosoiuz at Moscow (1928-34). The erection of the
Tsentrosoiuz — now the Ministry of Light Industry — was retarded partly by the
requirements of the Five-Year Plan and partly by the emergence of an architectural
reaction. It was one of the last modern structures erected in Russia.
Le Corbusier with Sigfried Giedion and Gabriel Guervekian
at La Sarraz for the founding of CIAM (1928)
Le Corbusier’s design for the Palace of the Soviets (1931) fell within the period of
Stalinist reaction. With the ceiling of the great hall suspended on wire cables from a
parabolic curve, it was Le Corbusier’s boldest accomplishment up to that time. In
1931 the realization of this project or any of the other contemporary schemes, such as
those by Gropius and Breuer and by the sculptor [Naum] Gabo, was no longer
conceivable in the U.S.S.R.
Russian translation of Le Corbusier’s 1925
classic, Urbanisme [Планировка города]

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