Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier
Name	Le Corbusier
Caption	Le Corbusier in 1964
Birth name	Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris
Birth date	6 October 1887
Birth place	La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Death date	27 August 1965
Death place	Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France
Nationality	Swiss, French (from 1930)
Alma mater	No formal architectural degree
Significant buildings	Villa Savoye, Unité d'Habitation, Notre Dame du Haut
Significant projects	Plan Voisin, Chandigarh
Awards	AIA Gold Medal (1961), Grand Officier of the Légion d'honneur

Le Corbusier. A pioneering Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, and urban planner, he was one of the most influential figures in modern architecture and a founder of the International Style. His career, spanning five decades, was defined by a radical reimagining of living spaces and cities through principles like the Five Points of Architecture and the concept of the house as a "machine for living." His visionary, and often controversial, ideas left an indelible mark on the twentieth-century built environment, from individual villas to entire cities like Chandigarh.

Early life and education

Born Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris in the watchmaking city of La Chaux-de-Fonds, he was initially trained as an engraver at the local École d'Art. His early mentor, Charles L'Eplattenier, steered him toward architecture and decorative arts. Crucial to his formation were extensive travels across Europe and the Mediterranean, where he sketched classical monuments and vernacular structures. He worked briefly in Paris under Auguste Perret, a pioneer in reinforced concrete, and later in Berlin for Peter Behrens, alongside contemporaries like Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. These experiences, combined with self-directed study at the Bibliothèque Nationale, formed his autodidactic education.

Architectural career and principles

Adopting the pseudonym Le Corbusier in the 1920s, he launched his career with theoretical manifestos published in the journal L'Esprit Nouveau. His seminal treatise, Vers une architecture, championed the aesthetic of modern engineering. He co-founded the Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM), which advocated for functionalist urbanism. His architectural doctrine was crystallized in the Five Points of Architecture, which promoted pilotis (stilts), free facade, open floor plan, horizontal windows, and roof gardens. These principles were realized using materials like reinforced concrete and steel, aiming to create efficient, standardized dwellings mass-produced like automobiles.

Major works

His early Purist villas, like the Villa La Roche in Paris, demonstrated his new aesthetic. The iconic Villa Savoye in Poissy is the definitive embodiment of his Five Points. Later, his monumental brutalist period produced the Unité d'Habitation housing block in Marseille. Significant public buildings include the Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp, a sculptural departure from his rigid geometry, and the Monastery of Sainte Marie de La Tourette near Lyon. His governmental complex for Chandigarh, India, featuring the Palace of Assembly and High Court of Punjab and Haryana, stands as his most extensive project.

Urban planning theories

Le Corbusier's urban visions were radical and transformative. He proposed demolishing historic city centers to replace them with ordered, zoned metropolises of towering skyscrapers set within parkland, as illustrated in his Plan Voisin for central Paris and the Contemporary City for three million inhabitants. These plans emphasized separation of functions—living, working, recreation, and circulation—connected by vast highway systems. While largely unrealized in Europe, his principles heavily influenced post-war reconstruction and the development of Chandigarh, which he master-planned as a symbol of modern India.

Influence and legacy

His influence is pervasive in modern architecture and urban design, shaping the work of generations of architects and the global spread of tower block housing. Institutions like the Museum of Modern Art in New York City were instrumental in promoting his work. He received numerous honors, including the AIA Gold Medal and the Frank P. Brown Medal. However, his legacy is complex; critics associate his urban theories with sterile environments and social problems in later housing projects. His work, including seventeen sites across seven countries, was inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2016.

Personal life and death

He became a naturalized French citizen in 1930. In 1934, he married the fashion model Yvonne Gallis. He maintained a long-term professional and personal partnership with the architect and designer Charlotte Perriand. An avid painter and sculptor, he considered his visual art integral to his architectural practice. He died of a heart attack in 1965 while swimming in the Mediterranean Sea at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, where he owned a modest cabanon. He was buried alongside his wife in the cemetery at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin.

Category:Swiss architects Category:Modernist architects Category:20th-century French architects