ID 2202 International Style: Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier

- International Style

- Swiss born (1887-1965)

- Originally known as Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris

- Changed name in 1920

- grandfather's name: Lecorbesier ("the crow-like one")

- 1908: studied architecture in Vienna with Josef Hoffman

- geometrical structure/ornament

The Pavilion of the New Spirit

- worked with Pierre Jeanneret (cousin)

- International Exposition of Decorative Arts, Paris, 1925

- Early Modernism:

- geometrical structure

- lack of ornament

- circular shapes

- no Art Deco ornamental language or materials

- connecting conceptual ideas that were published with title of work

- "L'esprit Nouveau" journal:

- advocated "the use of modern industrial

techniques and strategies to transform society into a

more efficient environment with a higher standard of

living on all socioeconomic levels"

- reprinted several photographs of NA factories,

specifically Ford Automotive plants, and grain

elevators

- " a tool object is attuned to our movements and

quick to respond to them"

- furniture as tool objects: "responds to our needs"

- building as a tool object: "machine for living"

Domino House

- 1914

- dom-ino: "domus innovation"

- modular kit:

- concrete slabs, concrete columns, foundation

block (accommodate for slopes), no weight-bearing

walls: glass walls

- can be stacked or multiplied, can be added

to/subtracted from, adjustable to site, open spaces

allows for variety of uses of the spaces

- interior walls forming terraces

Citrohan House

- 1919-1922

- modular kit: concrete slabs, concrete columns, no weight-bearing walls, pilotis)

- citroen automobile

- "a city made for speed is a city made for success"

- "houses, as efficient as a car"

- piloti: freestanding support that lifts building above ground/foundation

- terraces, free space, car parking

- "tool object": kit

- International Style:

- pilotis adjust to any topography

- modular units provide for variety of configurations

- modular units provide for adjustments of functions

- geometric structure/absence of ornament

Modulor Man

- diagram in studio

- fundamental, repeated

- "tool objects...are objects used by man"

- body in motion (dynamic)

- proportions of parts of the body:

- Golden Section

- Golden Mean

- Golden Ratio

- 1 : 1.618

- Mark Barr: American mathematician -- 1909:

proposed naming it "Phi"

- Phi calipers: Golden ratio gauge

- Golden Section based on male 1.83 meters tall = 6 ft

- Sections: naval, heart, knee

- hand: "open to give and open to receive"

- to get at the "rhythms at the very root of human activity"

Villa Savoye

- Poissy, France, 1930

- modular kit: pilotis, stacking

- "a house is a machine for living in"

- car park at ground floor (part of house)

- back: geometric volumes, unadorned

- Golden section proportions:

- height of windows to below windows

- solids to the voids on either side (side of house)

- Golden Section measurement in the rooms

- Pilotis, stack verticals, strip windows

- free floor plan: openness, one floor from another

- matching columns: interior with exterior

- roof patios: outdoor space (flat roof)

- ramp (parking lot for cars) and spiral staircase (Golden Section proportions, openness)

- furniture as "equipping a house", not decorating it

- built in shelfs, cantilevers, other furniture

Five Points Towards a New Architecture

- 1926

1. Pilotis

2. Stack verticals

3. Free Floor Plan

4. Strip windows

5. Roof patio

MOMA Exhibit

- Why International Style:

- 1932 exhibit: "Modern Architecture: International

Exhibition"

- "Early Modernism" characteristics:

- use of rectilinear forms

- flat surfaces without ornament

- open interior spaces

- Other characteristics:

- "visually weightless quality" (cantilever: open

spaces, use of glass: transparency)

- materials: concrete, steel, glass

- 1932 -- "International Style" (Johnson, Hitchcock)

The Decorative Art of Today

- 1925

- types of furniture: "human-limb objects"/"tool objects"

- furniture that is "extension of our limbs and adapted to human functions"

- 1929: furniture ("equipment for the home")

- 1928: begins collaborating with Charlotte Perriand on furniture design:

- Perriand: "confrontations" (between materials,

surfaces, colors, textures

B301 chair (Le Corbusier and Perriand)

- 1929

- "confrontations":

- organice confronting inorganic

- lot of texture and coldness (machine)

B306 chaise (Le Corbusier and Perriand)

- 1929

- "confrontations":

- organic confronting inorganic

- modular kit: structure, floating on top, can adjust

- attachments

"Grand Confort" chair (Le Corbusier and Perriand)

- 1929

- French: "big comfort"

- "confrontations":

- cage like structure: organic/inorganic

- Le Corbusier: "cushion baskets" -- modular kit

- "Grand Confort" sofa (1929): Golden Section proportions

City of Tomorrow

- 1922-25

- "high density...high rise...modular city"

- 3 million population: expandable: "plug-in modules"

-- cellular system