Le Corbusier1887-1965

The Villas 1914,1930

• During the 1st World War he taught in Switzerland and worked on theoretical architectural studies using modern techniques.

“Dom-ino” House (1914-1915):• An open floor plan

consisting of concrete slabs supported by a minimal number of thin, reinforced concrete columns around the edges, with a stairway providing access to each level on one side of the floor plan

1918-1922

• He didn’t build anything concentrating on Purist theory and painting.

• His studies soon advanced into several different single-family house models.

Maison “Citrohan”• A pun on the name of the

French Citroën automaker, for the modern industrial methods and materials Le Corbousier adopted in the house.

• It consists of a three floors structure, a double-height living room, bedrooms on the second floor and a kitchen on the third.

Sun terrace on the roof.

• A stairway to provide a second floor access from the ground level

• The house used a rectangular plan, with exterior walls that were left white, stuccoed spaces.

• Large expanses of uniterrupted window space.

Villa Savoye 1929-1931

• The bulk of the structure was lifted off the ground by supporting reinforced concrete stilts

• A free façade with non supporting walls that could be designed as the architect wished, not depending on supporting problems

A long strips of ribbon window• Unencumbered views of

the large surrounding yard

• A ramp rising from the ground level to the third floor terrace: architectural promenade through the structure

Modern architecture to rise the quality of life

• “Immeubles Villas” 1922 : large blocks of cell-like flats, with plans that included a living room, bedrooms, kitchen, garden terrace.

Not mere housing blocks but entire cities

• He presented his scheme for a three million inhabitants city.

• Sixty-story cruciform skyscrapers built on steel frames, with curtail walls of glass.

At the centre a transportation knot with depots for buses, etc…

• He advocated the use of modern, industrial techniques.

• “L’Esprit Nouveau”: society was to be transformed into a more efficient environment.

• His dictum was “Architecture or Revolution”, that was to avoid the spectre of revolution (articles from 1922-1923)

Plan Voisin-1925

• He proposed to bulldoze a huge section of Paris North of the Seine and replace it with sixty-story cruciform towers from the contemporary city, placed in an orthogonal street grind and green space.

Scorn and criticism about this plan

• At 78 he had heart attack while swimming in the Mediterranean Sea.

• Death rites in the courtyard of the Louvre Palace

Automobile would change human agglomerations

• Large apartment buildings isolated in a park-like setting on stilts.

• “By law all buildings should be white”

• Brasilia city plan was based on his ideas.