LE CORBUSIER

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

SUBMITTED TO: SUBMITTED BY:

Ar. Rajshree Mathur Gaurika Mehta
Kashish Mrig
Mudita Singh
Ujjwala Harjai
B. Arch III-Year , B-Section
LE CORBUSIER

Le Corbusier combined the organization of space with the use of

carefully chosen colours, which reflect his main lines of thought:

•green: to adapt architecture to its environment and remain continually

in touch with nature,

•yellow: architecture that develops with light,

•blue: constant contact with the space,

•red: Man is the driving force of his creation.

 INTRODUCTION
 Charles- Edouard Jeanneret know popularly known as Le Corbusier was born on October 6, 1887 – August 27, 1965.
 He was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now called
modern architecture.
 He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930.
 Le Corbusier prepared the master plan for the city of Chandigarh in India.
 From 1908 till 1910 he worked as a draftsman in the office of the architect Auguste Perret at Paris, the pioneer of the
use of reinforced concrete in residential construction . Auguste Perret was Le corbusier Master.
 Two years later, Between October 1910 and March 1911, he traveled to Germany and worked four months in the office
Peter Behrens where Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius were also working and learning.
 Like his contemporaries Frank Lloyd Wright and Mies van der Rohe , Le Corbusier did not have formal academic
training as an architect.
 He was attracted to the visual arts and at the age of fifteen he entered the municipal art school .
 Three years later he attended the higher course of decoration, founded by the painter Charles L E plattenier.
 LE plattenier taught him painting from nature.
 PHILOSOPHY
 Le Corbusier explicitly used the Modulor in the long tradition of
Vitruvius, Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, and other attempts 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 based the system on human measurements, Fibonacci
numbers, and the Golden Ratio.

Fibonacci Numbers Golden Ratio Vitruvian Man

“Through the channel of my painting I arrived at my architecture.” – LE CORBUSIER

 FAMOUS WORKS
 1923 :Villa La Roche, Paris
 1925 : Villa Jeanneret, Paris
 1928 : Villa Savoye, Poissy- sur -Seine, France
 1947–1952 : Unité d'Habitation, Marseille, France
 1949–1952 : United Nations headquarters, New York City (Consultant)
 1950–1954 : Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France
 1951: Buildings in Ahmedabad, India ;1951 : Sanskar Kendra Museum, Ahmedabad ;1951 : ATMA House ;1951 : Villa
Sarabhai, Ahmedabad ;1951 : Villa Shodhan, Ahmedabad ;1951 :Villa of Chinubhai Chimanlal, Ahmedabad
 1952–1959 : Buildings in Chandigarh, India ;1952 : Palace of Justice ;1952 : Museum and Gallery of Art ;1953 :
Secretariat Building ;1953 : Governor's Palace ;1955 : Palace of Assembly ;1959 : Government College of Art
(GCA) and the Chandigarh College of Architecture(CCA)
 1962 : Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts WORKS
 DESIGN PRINCIPLE
 THE PILOTIS - Replacement of supporting walls by a grid of reinforced concrete columns that bears the
structural load is the basis of the new aesthetic.
 ROOF GARDEN - Roof garden on flat roof can serve a domestic purpose while providing essential protection
to the concrete roof.
 FREE FLOOR PLAN - The free designing of the ground plan i.e. the absence of supporting walls . The house is
unrestrained in its internal use.
 ELONGATED WINDOW - Window The horizontal window, which cuts the façade along its entire length,
lights rooms equally.
 FREE FACADE - The free design of the façade i.e. separating the exterior of the building from its structural
function sets the facade free from structural constraints.
 DESIGN PRINCIPLE
 It illustrates with extreme clarity and is perhaps the most faithful in
its observation of hi five points i.e pilotis, roof garden, free floor plan ,
elongated window, and free façade
 Grid pattern is followed.
 Golden proportions are analysed
 Columns of the buildings are defined by a system of walls
independent of structures.
 The main portion of the house is raised on the columns which are set
on grass plane .
 Second level with the open terrace , as the extension of the main
rooms of the house is lifted upon the columns.
 From the hall a two stage ramp lead up into the living area .
 Rooms are arranged in L- shaped.
VILLA SAVOYE ,FRANCE 1931
- Plan , Elevation and Section of VILLA SAVOYE, FRANCE
 DESIGN FEATURES
• It was Le Corbusier’s best contribution to a modern
typology of social housing
• The building Is situated on 9 acre site on the outskirts of
Marseille
• It has an East West Orientation
• It Is 450’ Long, 80’ Wide And 185’ High
• The Partition Walls between the Apartments are load
bearing.
• It Is 9 Storeys High
• 337 Apartments
 PLANNING OF CHANDIGARH CITY

 Chandigarh was the first planned city

after independence from British rule in
1947.it is the capital city of the states
of Punjab and Haryana .
 American architects Albert Mayer and
Mathew Novicki were the first
architects to be appointed for the
project.
 After the death of Novicki in 1950 , Le
Corbusier was commissioned.
 PLANNING CONCEPT OF CITY
 Le Corbusier conceived the master plan of Chandigarh as analogous to human body,
with a clearly defined :
Head – Capitol Complex (sector 1)
Heart – The City Centre( sector 17)
Limb – Industrial Area
Lungs – Leisure Valley , Open Spaces
Arteries – Network Of Roads
Intellect ( mind , brain ) - The Cultural And Educational Institutions
 The concept of the city based on four major functions :
• Living( residential sector)
• Working( capitol complex, city centre educational and industrial area)
• Care of a body and spirit( leisure valley , open spaces )
• Circulation( different types of roads known as 7V)
He made the plan to resemble the human body function.

1. It is the head , this is represented by the admin area also known as capitol complex ( sector 1).
The capitol complex comprises three architectural masterpieces , the secretariat , the high court and the legislative
assembly.

2. It is the heart which is also known as city centre ( sector 17).

It is one complete sector of approx. 100 hectares and broadly divided into two zones on the north and south .
The southern zone was developed as a center of district administration , containing the district courts , police headquarters
, fire station , bus terminus etc , while major commercial and civic functions are carried out in the northern section.

3. These are the lungs popularly leisure valley and open spaces.
It was Le Corbusier’s endeavor to create such a place where people can enjoy a clean environment and breathe in fresh
air.
There is lot of green space in chandigarh but there is also 8km long green space known as leisure valley which runs across
the city valley in each sector has different theme garden such as ( rose garden , botanical garden , shanti kunj etc.)
4. It is the intellect ( brain)
One full area is devoted to educational institute of higher learning.

5. It is the Limb( hands and legs )

The industrial area are the representation of Limb.
The industries located in south-east side of the city close to the railway station .
It is located on the factors such as the proximity on the access road for the entry of raw materials and exit of the finished
goods without disturbing the town and keeping the pollution zone away from the city.
HEAD (CAPITOL COMPLEX) HEART(THE CITY CENTRE) LIMB(INDUSTRAIL AREA) INTELLECT(INSTITUTIONAL
AREA) LUNGS(LEISURE VALLEY).

6. It is the circulation - V7 CONCEPT

V1 : Arterial roads which connects Chandigarh with other cities.
V2 : Major boulevards , there are commercial and institutional buildings located on them.

V3 : Sector definers , each sector is surrounded either by V2 or V3.

V4 : Shopping streets , they are so placed in mind in the sun direction that anyone walking
along the commercial streets , will always walk in shades.
V5 : Circulation roads within the sectors, giving access to its inner land.

V6 : Access roads to the houses.

V7 : Pedestrian paths run through the middle of the sector in the green areas, enabling pedestrians to cross sectors without
having vehicular traffic.

There is additional V8 , that was in the initial plan of le Corbusier .V8 are the cycle tracks . Not properly developed yet.
 CAPITOL COMPLEX
 The most important group of the building constituting the capitol – the parliament , the secretariat and the
assembly hall.
 The building material chosen for the capitol buildings was concrete , as it was locally available and familiar to local
builders and had the raw , brute aesthetic appeal that Corbusier called ,” molten rock of the 20th century.”

Parliament Secretariat Assembly Hall

SITE PLAN
LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY
• The assembly was conceived as a rectilinear structure.

• The large chamber is in hyperbolic form of the cooling tower with an average thickness of 15cm.

• Employing a system of individual entrances , stairways , lifts and ramps, a complete segregation of members is provided.

• This tower was designed to insure natural light, ventilation and proper acoustics.

• An assembly chamber is 128ft in diameter at its base and rises to 124ft at its highest point .

• The small council chambers are in rectilinear frame.

• There are two separate galleries for men and women in council chamber .
THE SECRETARIAT
• The secretariat , the longest building in chandigarh , 254m long and 42m high forms the administrative center.

• The building was completed in 1958.

• The building is composed of six-eight storey blocks separated by expansion joints.

• The central pavilion , block 4 contains the offices of the ministers.

• Block 1 and 2 rises directly from the ground.

• Block 3,4 and 5 face on the excavated area of the parking lot and have the lower storey open between pilotis.

• For the rest block 5 and 6 the level goes till plaza height, and the lower portion of these blocks are left open to a height
of two storeys.

• The top of the building is developed as a roof garden containing the service blocks and cafeteria for employees.
THE HIGH COURT
• An entire structure has resulted in the use of double roof .

• The upper roof cantilevered out of the office block in the manner of parasol shading the lower roof .

• The plan of the building took the form of abbreviated L-Shaped with long façade facing the capitol plaza .

• The orientation of the high court is such that the main façade faces north west , and does not receive direct sunlight.

• The entrance lobby is paved with whitish flag stone set in the rows of varying widths.

• The adjacent pillar painted green. The center pillar is yellow. The right hand pillar is red.

• The massive entrance piers are finished with gunite cement.

Bibliography:
1. https://www.ft.com › content

2. https://www.archdaily.com › ... › Master Plan › India › Le Corbusier › 1951

3. chandigarh.gov.in › knowchd_general

4. https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › The_Architectural_Work_of_Le_Corbusier

5. https://sitelecorbusier.com › le-corbusier
THANK YOU