AT2015 a monument to the greatest architect of the 20th century, Le Corbusier, was unveiled in Moscow. The monument is installed next to the only building in Russia, designed by him(st. Myasnitskaya, 39). AT30- 1990s, this building belonged to Tsentrosoyuz, under this name it entered the history of architecture. Now Rosstat is located there. So why in Soviet Moscow they built a house designed by a bourgeois architect? Could there be more houses like this?? And what does the building of the Central Union and the usual Khrushchev have in common?
For the Soviet avant-garde, Le Corbusier was like David Bowie for Soviet rock. The comparison is, of course, a stretch, but it gives some idea of the scale of the phenomenon. The 1920s, the first post-revolutionary decade, were the heyday of avant-garde art in the USSR: in painting, design, photography, and architecture. Then many avant-garde figures received official status in the young country, Malevich, Rodchenko, Tatlin, Stepanova and many others were recognized by the new government and called to serve the people. Constructivism was the main avant-garde trend in architecture. Ginzburg, Melnikov, the Vesnin brothers, Leonidov - these are the best of the best who worked in this style.
The main ideas of constructivism - simplicity and functionality - were absolutely in tune with the ideas that Le Corbusier promoted and implemented in European architecture. "A house is a machine for living", - these words of Le Corbusier could belong to any representative of the school of Soviet constructivism.
Villa Savoy in the Parisian suburb of Poissy by Le Corbusier. Photo: Omar Barcena
Le Corbusier became an influential theorist of architecture in his youth. In 1914, twenty-seven-year-old Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris (this is the real name of Le Corbusier), after an internship at the architectural office of the Perret brothers in Paris, opened his own architectural studio. Even then, he was an ardent supporter of the use of reinforced concrete in construction. For the first time this material began to be used in his projects by his teacher, Auguste Perret. In the same 1914, Corbusier patented the Dom-Ino project, where the idea of \u200b\u200bbuilding a building was first formalized.
In 1919, together with the artist Ozenfant, they begin to publish the magazine L'Esprit Nouveau ("Esprit Nouveau"), where the pseudonym Le Corbusier first appeared as a signature under an article. In this journal, Le Corbusier published a manifesto that brought him European fame. It was called "Five starting points of modern architecture" and contained five principles that soon became known to every progressive architect. Here they are:
- The house is built on separate pillars. Car traffic is possible under the house or. The house seems to float above it all.
- The roof is made in the form of a terrace, flat. It is possible to use the roof functionally, including laying out a garden on it.
- The layout inside the building is free, it becomes possible due to the use of a reinforced concrete frame. Now the walls are no longer load-bearing, so inside the building they play the role of just partitions, they can be moved at will, which provides significant savings in the internal volume of the building, as well as materials.
- Windows in the frame architecture of the house can be located along the entire facade with a continuous tape, which increases the functionality of the window and improves illumination.
- The facade is relieved of the load, since the supporting columns are moved outside it, inside the house. Thus, the façade is formed from light hinged wall panels and rows of windows, which leads to significant savings in materials and the possibility of further constructive replacement of the façade.
Le Corbusier became a highly successful popularizer of his ideas. In 1922, he opened an architectural office in Paris, and in 1925 he proposed a sensational plan for the reconstruction of the center of Paris - "Plan Voisin", which brought him scandalous fame. Le Corbusier's impudent project called for the demolition of residential areas of a large part of the center of Paris and the construction of a modern business center on this site, consisting of eighteen 50-story towers with infrastructure. The plan was eventually rejected, but the noisy controversy in the press did not subside for a long time.
Prior to that, in 1924, in the suburbs of Bordeaux, according to the project of Le Corbusier, a more modest, but also very significant project for the urban planning of those years, was implemented: the village "Modern Houses of Frouges", which consisted of fifty low-rise standard houses - one of the first experiments in the construction of cheap and fast serial housing in Europe.
The activities of Corbusier, who was becoming more and more famous in the world, could not pass by Soviet architects. There was no Iron Curtain then, information about new principles and trends reached the USSR quite quickly. Therefore, most constructivist architects became ardent admirers of the work of Le Corbusier. He was surprisingly related to them in terms of views, and as a theorist and popularizer of modern architecture, he knew no equal. In the late 1920s, Le Corbusier was even a member of the editorial board of the Soviet journal Modern Architecture.
With all this, by the end of the 1920s, Corbusier had no major completed projects. The projects of several villas near Paris in the avant-garde style made of reinforced concrete, in which its five principles were used, as well as the Esprit Nouveau pavilion at the International Exhibition in Paris, which was a model of a residential apartment in a frame house, were embodied. Therefore, Le Corbusier was interested in a major project. And then the competition Tsentrosoyuz building project in Moscow came in handy, and constructivist architects who were well acquainted with Corbusier and sympathetic to him warmly supported the idea of his participation in the competition.
The competition was announced in 1928. It was attended by both leading Soviet and several foreign architects. After three stages of the competition and quite a long debate, the board of the Centrosoyuz decided to commission the final design of Le Corbusier. Not the last role in the decision of the board was played by the appeal of leading constructivist architects.
The construction of the building lasted from 1930 to 1936, it was supervised by the Soviet architect N.Ya. Collie. During the construction process, the project was repeatedly refined in close cooperation with Le Corbusier. The complex, which is now architectural monument of constructivism, consists of three main working buildings of the same height, but of different lengths, located with the letter “H”, and a parabolic-shaped building connected to them into a single unit with a conference room. In the complex, you can easily find the embodiment of all five principles of Le Corbusier.
The buildings rise on pillars, partially, however, hidden by the walls of the facade. , as expected, flat. The windows are no longer tape, but form a continuous glazing. They can even be defined as glass double-layer walls with a vacuum between the layers to improve thermal insulation. The unglazed surfaces of the façade are made of light suspended slabs of pink tuff. The interior layout is free, with large open spaces and interfloor ramps.
Le Corbusier noted that 2,500 workers have all the conditions for work: a conference room, a dining room, wide sloping ramps as stairs and continuous mechanical elevators. In the 1930s, it was indeed the most modern office building with a high level of comfort. Today, the building continues to function successfully. True, its appearance after the recent reconstruction of the glazing does not correspond to the original.
The building of the Central Union today. Photo: Yuri Virovets
In the future, Corbusier twice offered his projects for implementation in the USSR. But, as they say, no luck. One of these projects was dedicated to global restructuring of Moscow. It appeared after Corbusier was asked to express his opinion on the concept of the socialist city of the architect N.A. Milyutin. Apparently, Milyutin's ideas seemed to Corbusier not global enough. Instead of analyzing Milyutin's project, he writes his "Response to Moscow". The meaning of the answer can be expressed something like this: guys, stop exchanging over trifles, it’s better to do a really large-scale business, here I sketched something for you. The "answer" was accompanied by extensive material from drawings on twenty sheets. In terms of boldness and breadth of conception, the project surpassed even the famous Plan Voisin. Only in this case, the whole of Moscow was offered to the root, except for a small island around the Kremlin. And instead build a completely different city, functionally divided into administrative, residential and industrial sectors. Blocks of skyscrapers, a lot of parks around, and everything that prevents this from being mercilessly demolished - this is Le Corbusier's urban planning concept.
Of course, the chances that this Le Corbusier project would be seriously considered by anyone, and even more so - accepted, were zero. And frankly, thank God. However, the project itself did not disappear without a trace, but served as the basis for the further development of Corbusier's urban planning ideas in the famous Radiant City project, which he later sought to implement around the world.
The second coming of Le Corbusier to the USSR was associated with participation in competition for the design of the Palace of Soviets. It was a grandiose event in the world of architecture. In addition to Corbusier, such luminaries of European architecture as Gropius and O. Perret took part in the competition. The competition was announced in July 1931 and lasted for almost two years in several rounds.
Le Corbusier's project was, as always, innovative and avant-garde. The skeleton of the structure was brought outside, forming a naked structural skeleton, and the internal volumes were suspended from it on steel cables. The large hall for 14,000 seats, with acoustics calculated using light waves, had the shape of a parabola, just like in the Tsentrosoyuz building. This project is considered one of the undoubted creative achievements of Le Corbusier. It is known that at the presentation of the layout in front of the state commission headed by Stalin, the master played the Internationale on the double bass. And the last verse was played right on the shrouds of the layout roof, specially made of strings. But Stalin did not appreciate the beauty of the moment and only casually threw to the interpreter: “Can he do Suliko like that?”
Neither the constructivism of Le Corbusier's project nor his original presentation impressed the high commission. As a result, the project of B. Iofan, made in the spirit of Stalin's Empire style, which was gaining momentum, won.
After this competition, left-wing European architects who sympathized with the USSR received painful blow: their ideas about Soviet power turned out to be fairly idealized. Corbusier wrote that the project that won the competition "demonstrates the enslavement of modern technology by spiritual reaction" and "returns to the kingdom the pretentious architecture of former monarchical regimes."
The answer was not long in coming. Pretty soon avant-garde art in general and constructivism in particular were announced in the USSR decadent and alien to the ideals of the proletariat, and Le Corbusier himself is called a fascist and an enemy of the Soviet regime. After that, his name disappeared from everywhere in the USSR for a quarter of a century, including from Soviet textbooks on architecture.
Nevertheless, as Moscow Architectural Institute graduates recall, in the early 60s Corbusier again became so popular in the architectural environment that every second graduation project was then made as a direct imitation of him. Therefore, the influence of Corbusier is visible to the naked eye both in the construction of buildings, for example, a multi-storey tower (one of the "panels" - "brezhnevok"), and in urban planning. The same Novy Arbat with its towers-books (which some wit compared with false teeth) is a big hello to Corbusier and his plan for the reconstruction of Moscow. Hello, fortunately, it turned out to be a much more modest scale.
What about standard construction? Reinforced concrete panels, simple building geometry, lack of decor, flat roofs - these are the hallmarks of Corbusier's architecture. So New Cheryomushki, numerous quarters of Khrushchevs - this is also his idea, embodied with a delay of three decades. The implementation, however, let us down with the lack of a flight of thought and stinginess, the desire to save on everything. But in fairness, let's remember that in the master's system of proportions Modulor, the ceiling height of 226 cm was recognized as quite sufficient for housing. And we also honestly admit that many of the so-called residential units of Corbusier do not look very good now, half a century after the construction.
The 17-story Unité d'Habitation complex in Marseille (1945-1952). Photo: Guzman Lozano
Buildings made of glass and concrete have one thing in common: they age quickly. Three or four decades - and now they seem sprinkled with mothballs. And the more, the less pleasing to the eye. Corbusier was a "leftist" and believed that the new typical architecture would help overcome social contradictions. However, in most countries, prefabricated housing blocks were viewed from the outset as housing for the poor. In the USSR, Khrushchevs were also, as you know, people's housing.
Yes, Corbusier's panel cubes did not become a bright future for mankind, but his projects were implemented all over the world: in France, Germany, USA, Russia, Brazil, Japan, India, his architectural ideas have become an integral part of modern architecture, and he continues to be the most revered and most hated architect of the last century.
Alisa Orlova
A provocative writer, a gifted painter, an innovator in modern architecture, an author of urban theories and an unsurpassed polemicist of the 20th century - Le Corbusier, whose work can be seen in almost any city in the world.
Le Corbusier: a brief biography and the main principles of modern architecture
Le Corbusier, New York, 1947 1887
Charles Edouard Jeanneret-Gris was born in Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland). Later he took the pseudonym Le Corbusier.
1904
Corbusier graduated from the art school and completed his first architectural project for one of the school's board members. At that time he was 17 and a half years old.
“At 17 and a half years old, I designed my first house. He's just awful! I always avoid it."
Villa Fallet, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. 1905 1907
With the money earned, Corbusier left the provincial town and went on an educational trip to Italy, Austria, Hungary, completing the trip in France.
1908 - 1909
In Paris, he worked as an intern draftsman for Auguste and Gustave Perret. (Auguste and Gustave Perret) who were innovators in their field and promoted the use of the newly discovered reinforced concrete. Subsequently, they refused to call Corbusier their student for his "too extreme ideas."
1910
During 2 years of work in Paris, Corbusier learned German and moved to Berlin for an internship with the master of architecture Peter Bernes (Peter Behrens) who is often cited as the world's first industrial designer.
Portraits of Le Corbusier 1911
Charles went on another educational trip, this time to the east - through Greece, the Balkans and Asia Minor. There he studied ancient monuments and the traditional folk construction of the Mediterranean.
1912 - 1916
After the trip, he returned to his hometown and for 4 years taught at the school where he studied himself.
During the same period, Corbusier designed and patented the project House - Ino(Dom-ino: dumos - house, ino - innovation). It is based on the concept of building with large prefabricated elements. At that time it was a significant innovative step in architecture. The concept of Dom - Eno was later implemented by the architect in many of his buildings.
1917 - 1920
Charles never hid his dislike for his native city, so when the opportunity arose, he immediately moved to Paris. There he met Amede Ozanfant (Amede Ozenfant) who introduced him to contemporary painting. Then Corbusier painted his first picture.
“I prefer to draw than to talk. Drawing is faster, and leaves less room for lies."
Together with Ozanfant, they organized joint exhibitions of paintings, calling them exhibitions of "purists" - supporters of laconism, fighters against eclecticism and decor. And they created a philosophical and artistic review magazine "L'esprit Nouveau" (new spirit).
Issues of L'esprit Nouveau magazine 1925
“Everything in the house should be white. Every citizen is now obliged to replace curtains, bedding, wallpaper and everything else with white things. When you cleanse your home, you cleanse yourself.”
In the same year, Charles created the "Plan Voisin" (Plan Voisin) or the "Modern City of 3 million inhabitants" - a plan for the radical modernization of Paris, which he considered "built at the crossroads and trodden by donkeys' hooves."
The architect planned to destroy half of the buildings, increase the height of new ones (up to 20 floors), create a modern road system and divide the city “into squares”, thereby increasing the comfort of living in the city.
"My task, my desire is to pull a modern person out of chaos and catastrophes, placing him in a happy atmosphere and harmony."
1928
This year, Charles built the building of the Tsentrosoyuz in Moscow. It has become a new, unprecedented for Europe example of a modern business building solution.
1929
In his journal L'esprit Nouveau, Corbusier published The Five Points of Modern Architecture, a set of rules for modern architecture.
1. The house must stand on supports. Due to this, the premises get rid of dampness, have enough light and air, the building site becomes a garden that runs under the house.
2. Internal walls are located in any place: the layout of one floor does not depend on another. There are no capital walls, instead of them there are membranes of any fortress.
3. The facade is pushed forward from the supporting structure. Thus, it loses its load-bearing properties, and the windows can stretch to any length without direct relation to the internal division of the building.
4. A ribbon window into which window openings merge is a must. Due to this, not only the lighting of the premises improves, but also the geometric pattern of the facade is formed.
5. At the top of the house there should be a flat roof-terrace with a garden, “returning” to the city the greenery that the volume of the building takes. Waste pipes are placed inside the house.
Corbusier did not indulge his customers with decor. Color was the only kind of embellishment he allowed.
Portraits of Le Corbusier For many young architects of the “new movement”, the set of rules became the “starting point” in their work, and for some, a kind of professional credo.
Villa La Roche (Villa La Roche) and Villa Savoy (Villa Savoye), which Corbusier designed, are vivid illustrations of these rules.
AT Villa La Roche Since 1968, the Le Corbusier Foundation has been located, which is dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the architect's legacy.
Villa Savoy the owners left 75 years ago, exhausted by the fight against leaks. Now the villa is an architectural monument.
1940
In France, restoration work began, and the authorities invited Corbusier as a city planner. He created plans for the reconstruction of the French cities of Saint-Dieu and La Rochelle, in which he followed his idea of a "green city".
1946
Le Corbusier erected the building of the Claude and Duval manufactory - a four-story block with industrial and office premises, with continuous glazing of the facades.
During the construction, "sun cutters" (rise-soleil) were used - special hinged structures that protect the glazed facade from direct sunlight, which were invented by Charles himself. From that moment on, sun cutters became the hallmark of Corbusier's buildings. They perform both a service and a decorative role.
1948
Le Corbusier developed a system of proportioning in Modulor architecture based on the golden ratio and the proportions of the human body. When developing the system, Charles took three anatomical points: the top of the head, the solar plexus, and the top point of a person's raised arm.
The architect himself described it as "a set of harmonic proportions, commensurate with the scale of man, universally applicable to architecture and mechanics."
"Modulor" Le Corbusier 1950
The Indian authorities of Punjab invited Corbusier and other architects to design the new state capital. This project was the largest in his life.
The most complete and original works include the Assembly Palace, the Palace of Justice and the Open Hand monument.
Assembly Palace
"Open Hand"
Palace of Justice
1952
The beginning of a new Corbusier period: he moves away from asceticism and purist restraint. Now his handwriting is distinguished by the richness of plastic forms and textured surfaces.
The Marseille Block became one of the most famous projects in the new style. This is an apartment building in Marseille, which is located on a spacious green area.
Most public spaces are designed on the roof. It has a garden, a jogging track, a club, a kindergarten, a gym and a small pool. Shops, medical facilities and a small hotel are located inside the building itself. This house, which Corbusier called "a city within a city", is spatially and functionally optimized for its inhabitants.
The project was conceived as an experimental housing with the idea of collective living (a kind of commune).
“It is my honor, joy and satisfaction to present you with the perfect size living unit, the exemplary model of modern living space.”
1950 - 1960
Corbusier designs a series of buildings that cement his reputation as Europe's No. 1 avant-garde architect.
The main ones are:
Ronchamp Chapel
The atheist Le Corbusier took up the job with complete creative freedom. He found inspiration in a large shell found on the beach, which seemed to him an expression of absolute security.
Monastery complex of La Tourette
The building was built in the shape of a rectangle with an inner courtyard, which is divided by covered galleries.
Museum of Western Art in Tokyo
19 years after the completion of construction, Kunio Makaeva, a student of Le Corbusier, added several additional rooms to the museum.
1965
Corbusier died at the age of 77. He drowned while swimming, presumably due to a heart attack. This happened at Cape Roquebrune, where he lived in his summer house Le Cabanon with an area of 15 square meters. Le Cabanon is a tiny residence that was built as an example of Corbusier's minimal dwelling.
“Youth and health guarantee the ability to produce a lot, but it takes decades of experience to produce well.”
2003 - 2006
José Ubreri, a student of Le Corbusier, completed the construction of the Saint-Pierre de Firmini church, the plan of which the great architect developed back in 1963. Then the lack of money caused the freezing of the project. José did not lose hope for the completion of the work and in the early 1990s he created a fund to raise funds. In 2003, construction was started again.
More works by Le Corbusier
Swiss pavilion, France, 1932
House of Culture, France, 1965
House Guiette, Belgium, 1926
United Nations Building, USA, 1952
House of Doctor Curuchet, Argentina, 1949
Villa Sarabhai, India, 1951
House in the village of Weissenhof, Germany, 1927
Secretariat Building, India, 1958 (Tomo Yasu), official site
You can catch the parallels between the works of Corbusier and the domestic architect Alexander Zhuk in our article about St. Petersburg.
Also, you may be interested in biographies about:
- - the legend of street photography
One of the most famous contemporary architects
Braun industrial designer
Born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, he first spoke about the need for fundamental changes in architecture. But even today his plans are no less revolutionary than many decades ago. Le Corbusier is the greatest and at the same time the most controversial architect of the 20th century. A passionate writer, art theorist, sculptor, furniture designer and painter, loved and hated by many, he forever changed architecture and the world we live in.
Portrait of Le Corbusier The architecture of Le Corbusier is rightfully considered innovative. He invented a new architectural language that marked the final break with the traditions of the past. The modernist abandoned unnecessary decorative elements, following the philosophy of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe "less is more" and introduced into practice a simple geometry of forms, asymmetry, horizontal planes and free layouts. He valued natural light and preferred the colors of a calm color palette: white and shades of gray. Le Corbusier was one of the first to actively use industrial materials such as concrete, steel and glass.
Whatever project the architect took on, be it private villas, residential complexes or churches, he always went beyond conventions. His contribution to modernism is invaluable, and the principles of Le Corbusier's functionalism became the basis of the international style. Below we present ten grandiose works of the architect from around the world.
Villa La Roche
Location: Paris, France
Years of construction: 1923-1925
The house consists of two separate isolated rooms and consists of a residential residence of the brother of the architect and an art gallery of the collector Raoul La Roche, who is passionate about the art of cubism. The villa is currently used as a museum and exhibition space for the Fondation Le Corbusier.
In Villa La Roche, Le Corbusier embodies his revolutionary ideas for the first time. He would later refer to them as the "five starting points of architecture": pilot pillars, a flat roof that can serve as a garden and a terrace, open-plan interiors, ribbon windows, and a façade independent of the supporting structure. The project is rightfully considered the first truly modernist home with its unusual geometric shapes, minimalist aesthetics and muted color palette.
Villa Savoy
Location: Poissy, France
Years of construction: 1929-1931
In the forested suburbs of Paris lies the Villa Savoy, designed by Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret as a family vacation home. This project is a vivid example of the master's architectural innovation and the embodiment of Le Corbusier's five principles of new architecture, finally formulated by him in 1927.
The building stands on pillars that support the weight of the structure raised above ground level. Le Corbusier leaves the structure free of internal supporting walls and relieves the façade of its load-bearing function. The architect seeks to “dissolve” the house in the surrounding nature with the help of wide ribbon windows, continuous glazing, greenish thin columns on the ground floor and a flat roof-terrace.
Notre Dame du Haut Chapel
Location: Ronchamp, France
Years of construction: 1950-1955
The Roman Catholic chapel at Ronchamp is one of Le Corbusier's most radical projects. This building marked a rejection of the functionalist philosophy that characterized early modernist work.
“Everything in it is interconnected. The poetry and lyricism of the image are generated by free creativity, the brilliance of strictly mathematically justified proportions, the perfect combination of all elements.
The chapel was built on a pre-existing pilgrimage site that was completely destroyed during World War II. The billowing concrete roof, reminiscent of a seashell, is supported by thick curved walls with a scattering of irregularly shaped windows.
Residential complex in Berlin
Location: West Berlin, Germany
Years of construction: 1956-1957
Due to massive bombing, Berlin experienced a major housing crisis after World War II. As a solution to the problem, the architect developed a project for a multi-storey social housing consisting of 530 apartments. The concrete building, reminiscent of an ocean liner, has become a symbol of post-war modernization in Germany and a prime example of Le Corbusier's "machine for life".
The concept of "living unit" was first successfully implemented in Marseille. The Berlin residential complex is an almost exact copy of the Marseille housing unit, recognized as the most significant example of brutalism of all time. Corbusier sought to create a "city within a city" that would meet everyday human needs.
“This is not architecture for kings or princes, this is architecture for ordinary people: men, women, children”
National Museum of Western Art
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Years of construction: 1957-1959
The art gallery, located in the center of Tokyo, is the only project of the great modernist in Southeast Asia and one of the few examples of architectural brutalism in Japan. In its artistic significance, the building is in no way inferior to the paintings of Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and Pollock, presented in the museum's exposition.
The three-story building, lined with textured concrete panels, was what Le Corbusier called the "square spiral". Starting from structural elements and ending with architectural details and interior items - everything is built according to the Modulor system, based on the proportions of the human body by Le Corbusier. The staircase symbolically placed outside the building is an allegory of ascent to the temple of art.
Monastery of Saintes-Maries-de-la-Tourette
Location: Eveux-sur-l'Arbresle, France
Years of construction: 1953-1960
A Dominican monastery near Lyon, built for a community of monks, looks more like the ruins of a long-forgotten civilization than a religious building: rough concrete surfaces, color contrasts, flat roofs covered with grass, asymmetry and illogical architectural composition.
The complex consists of many different rooms: one hundred separate cells for secluded worship and relaxation, a library, monastic premises, a church and study rooms. Unlike most of Le Corbusier's buildings, the structure does not harmoniously complement the surrounding reality, but sharply dominates the landscape, opposing the harsh purposefulness of faith to the chaos of uncontrollable nature.
Assembly Palace
Location: Chandigrah, India
Years of construction: 1951-1962
The monumental eight-story Assembly Palace is part of the Capitol - a government complex located in northern India at the foot of the Himalayas. Here Le Corbusier put some of his ideal city ideas to life for the first time. The raw concrete technique used in the construction of the Capitol became the starting point of Brutalism.
“The city is a powerful image that affects the human mind. Can't he be a source of poetry for us today too?
The main entrance is decorated with a portico in the form of a curved boat, supported by eight concrete pylons.The core of the building is the meeting room located in the inner cylindrical structures, penetrating the ceiling like a huge chimney. Bright contrasting elements of the facades enliven the heavy composition.
House of Culture Firmini
Location: Firminy, France
Years of construction: 1961-1965
house of culture, completed in the year of Le Corbusier's death,built on a steep cliff of a former coal pit. The architect decided to keep the old coal seam, thus achieving a "poetic resonance" between industrial and natural materials, a symbiosis of the building with the environment.
The asymmetrical curved roof, reminiscent of an inverted vault, is the result of an innovative technical solution: concrete slabs were laid on tension cables. Another feature of the building is a special glazing system with special partitions and glass panels of various sizes.
Heidi Weber Pavilion (Le Corbusier Center)
Location: Zurich, Switzerland
Years of construction: 1963-1967
Le Corbusier's last lifetime project was commissioned by Heidi Weber, a Swiss designer and great admirer of the great modernist. The building, intended for a collection of graphic works, sculptures, furniture and sketches of Le Corbusier himself, later became his creative testament. Today it houses a museum dedicated to the life and art of the architect.
The building was built from materials atypical for Le Corbusier: glass and steel. Instead of the concrete slabs usual for the late period in the work of the architect, there are enameled colored panels.The roof, assembled from steel sheets, is independent and clearly separated from the main structure. She, like a giant umbrella, protects the artistic heritage of the master from the outside world.
Church of Saint-Pierre de Firminy
Location: Firminy, France
Years of construction: 1971-1975, 2003-2006
The church at Firminy is the last major project, but never realized during Le Corbusier's lifetime, begun in 1960 and completed 41 years after his death. The concrete pyramidal church looks more like an industrial structure or a spaceship than a place of religious worship. The choice of such an unusual form is explained by the architect's desire to convey the spirit of the place: the building was built in a small mining town.
“The church should be spacious so that the heart can feel free and uplifted, so that prayers in it can breathe”
Simple geometry with complex cosmological symbolism: tothe structure, square at the base, narrows as it rises, losing the severity of the form, metaphorically denoting the transition from the earthly to the heavenly.Tiny round windows that dot the wall like a constellation of stars project the constellations of Orion onto the east wall of the church with beams of light.Multi-colored windows-cones, symbolizing heavenly bodies, illuminate the room in different ways depending on the time of year and religious holidays.
Using stone, wood and concrete, you build houses and palaces; this is construction. However, suddenly you touch my heart, my feelings, I am happy, I say: "Beautiful." This is Architecture.
Le Corbusier
The history of modern architecture in the West was written in parallel with the development of modern architecture itself. The best architects of the centuries were also theorists, and therefore researchers and commentators. With all the painful contradictions, with the ups and downs of the development of architecture, the central idea of the architect of the 20th century is revealed: the need for a radical transformation of society, the need to make it harmonious through a decisive impact on the human environment. "Architecture or revolution" - from this opposition of his Le Corbusier concludes: you can avoid the revolution! (How can one not recall the phrase put into the mouth of his hero by M.A. Bulgakov, an artist from the Corbusier generation and, perhaps, equal to him in talent: “Well ... they are people like people ... ordinary people ... in general, they remind former ones ... the housing problem only spoiled them ...”)
The activity of Le Corbusier in terms of influence and breadth of achievements occupies an exceptional place in the development of architecture of the 20th century. He was discussed during his lifetime and after his death. He was called the greatest and most unloved architect of the century. Corbusier himself, with bitterness and dignity, recognized the ability of his art to arouse anger in some cases, enthusiasm in others. The traits of his personality (poeticism, romanticism, a penchant for utopian constructions and possession of a "cold Gallic sense", Cartesianism, the ability to accurately plan the work regime and the utmost, selfless return to them) were embodied in his work. In each text, in each construction of the master, both the creative rise of entire epochs and “the finest nuances of the artist’s spiritual world” were reflected.
Le Corbusier worked at a turning point. A sharp increase in population, the need for new construction projects (train stations, airports, stadiums and exhibition halls, transport arteries, factory complexes, etc.), a change in production methods (replacement of manual labor by mechanical, the use of a conveyor, etc.), revolutionary a change in thinking in connection with scientific and technological progress (suffice it to mention the widespread introduction of electricity, an increase in the speed of transport and the emergence of new means of communication), the addition of closer ties with transport workers, hygienists, climatologists, with the public service organization - these are just some of the conditions that have become must be taken into account by architects. But along with the problems, there were also previously unknown opportunities ...
Le Corbusier, actually Charles Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, was born on October 6, 1887 in the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland), located near the border with France. This city, like the community of the same name, is one of the largest watch manufacturers. Today it is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The teachers of the kindergarten, to which little Charles was sent by his parents, were guided by the methods of F. Froebel, who encouraged the creative potential of the kids. So the desire to invent and taste were instilled in the boy from a very early age.
Swiss watches have always been considered the best in the world, and it is easy to understand why the family business - engraver, enameller, "designer" (then there was no such thing) of dials, did not provoke opposition from Charles. At the age of 13, he entered the local School of Applied Arts, having received the specialty of a jeweler, watchmaker and engraver.
In 1902 (the young man was only 15 years old), the clock minted by him using silver, steel and gold won an honorary diploma at the international exhibition of decorative arts in Turin. He was not yet 18, when, under the influence and with the blessing of his teacher, Charles Leplatenier and with the help of a professional architect, Charles created his first building - a house for a member of the board of the Engraver School, Louis Fallet (Villa Falle, 1905). The building was built and decorated in line with an established tradition, with ornaments and decorations. Note that one of the brightest architects of the 20th century did not have a special architectural education (as did Mies van der Rohe, Wright and other greats). In fact, he was self-taught. Traveling, libraries, museums, systematic, deep self-education and, most importantly, creative communication with many leading masters of that time became architectural universities for him.
So, with the money earned through the first order, Charles Edward took a trip to Italy and Austria-Hungary, studying and sketching the monuments. In Vienna, he met Josef Hofmann, a well-known Austrian architect of the Secession (Modern). In Paris, he worked for two years as a draftsman in the architectural office of Auguste and Gustave Perret, whose work represents the transition from Art Nouveau architecture to functionalism.
In Perret's workshop, the young master "learned what reinforced concrete was" and appreciated it as the material of the future. From October 1910 to March 1911, near Berlin in Neubabelsberg, Janner was an intern in the studio of the German architect, pioneer of functionalism Peter Behrens. Here, at that time (an amazing, significant meeting!) Young Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius, (“the founding fathers of modernism,” as they will be called later), worked with whom friendship and cooperation were maintained for many years.
In 1911, Charles Eduard continued his cognitive journey through the countries of the Balkans and Asia Minor, carefully studying not only famous monuments, but also folk construction. Subsequently, these observations helped him "illustrate" with examples his own thoughts about the tasks of architecture. Thus, >n imperturbably compared the Parthenon and the car, finding in them a similarity in the principles of standardization of forms, born through careful selection.
In 1914, Jeanneret became the head of his own architectural workshop, fulfilling orders for private houses. Even earlier (1912) the villa Jeanneret-Perret was designed and built - a house for parents. However, the architect considered his truly first independent project to be the house for the local watch magnate - Villa Schwob (1916-1917), or, as it is also called, the Turkish Villa.
Already during this period in his homeland, realizing the great role of architecture in solving social problems, Charles Edouard developed the Dom-Ino project (together with engineer Max Dubois) - the technical idea of a house with standardized cells. On the plan, such buildings looked like dominoes stacked in chains, as happens during a game, and the columns looked like dots on them. In fact, it was the first idea in the history of architecture of a frame house for mass production. But putting forward the problem of standardization here and further, the master did not forget about artistry, believing that the standard is the path to selection, and therefore to improvement.
Since 1917 Jeanneret has been in Paris. He devotes all his free time to the theory of architecture and painting. Having joined the still seething life of the "Parisian school", having met the great modernists Picasso, Braque, Léger and others, he himself was ready for heroic experiments. Together with a friend, the French artist Amédée Ozenfant, Jeanneret published the manifesto "After Cubism" (1918), which formulated the main provisions of a new trend in painting - purism. Purist painting turns the subject into an occasion for a sophisticated play of lines, refined generalized silhouettes and color spots. Purists proclaimed the idea of purifying the depicted, replacing it with a plastic symbol, a sign capable of revealing the internal structure of the object. Let's also say that Le Corbusier considered painting as one of the sources of his architectural ideas.
As the architect admitted, the most significant for him, not far from Paris (an early work of the master).
Together with Ozanfant Jeanneret, in 1920-1925 he published the journal L’Esprit nouveau The New Spirit, which became extremely popular for all adepts of the wind of change in art, and led the architecture section in it. On the pages of this radical philosophical and artistic review, he published a lot himself and for the first time signed as Le Corbusier, taking the surname of one of his mother's ancestors. The “new” included, first of all, the idea of rationalism in architecture, which, in its implementation, would have to focus on the degree of functionality, as demanded by designers and car designers. The slogan house is a car for living” becomes for Corbusier a kind of password for marking “friends and foes” in a professional environment. "Machine" is, first of all, for him the creation of a smooth surface, a new aesthetic taste and precise calculation.
A milestone in the biography of Le Corbusier is 1922. He meets Yvonne Galli, whom he marries eight years later, having taken French citizenship. In addition, cooperation with a cousin, the architect Pierre Jeanneret, allowed in 1922 to open a successful design workshop in Paris. Very soon her address - Rue de Sèvres, 35 - became one of the international centers of new architectural thought.
In 1925, the ideas underlying the layout were transferred to the Voisin plan. It proposed demolishing old Paris (240 hectares) to build a business center with 18 50-story skyscrapers for various offices and "undersized" horizontal "bundles" for service purposes, which together would occupy a negligible share of the entire territory of the city. The remaining 95% were allocated for wide driveways, pedestrian zones and parks.
Even on the pages of the New Spirit magazine, Le Corbusier published materials about Soviet Russia, calling for the establishment of diplomatic relations between France and the USSR. In 1928-1930 he made three trips to Russia, where he designed and performed. After winning the 1928 competition, Le Corbusier was commissioned to design a building designed for 3,500 employees. This building, which came to life in 1928-1936, became for him the first large public building to be realized. All comfort conditions were provided, a large central hall, a dining room, an assembly hall, a special air conditioning system (which, alas, could not be implemented at that time due to technical reasons).
The world authority of Le Corbusier among the creators of the new architecture was so strong that not only Moscow, but also distant Brazil responded to his master. In 1935, Le Corbusier lectured in various cities and universities in the United States, and the following year in Latin America. In Rio de Janeiro, his enthusiastic admirers, the Brazilian architect Lucio Costo and his young collaborator Oscar Niemeyer, invite him to take part in the design of the building of the Ministry of Enlightenment and Education. The building in Rio de Janeiro (then the capital of the country), built with his consultations (he himself proposed two options) by Brazilian architects, bears a clear expression of the author's will. It was here that Corbusier first used sunblinds in practice.
in 1942 he was invited to Algiers, where a large-scale project for the city of Algiers was being developed, in which the master took part. However, Le Corbusier has been thinking about the problems of reconstructing the capital of the French colony for two decades. His proposals outraged the mayor so much that he even demanded that the prefect of police arrest the architect.
During the war, Le Corbusier, dreaming of the coming of peace, thought out and drew plans for restoration buildings that were not destined to come true. He realized his ideas only partially, taking part in the reconstruction of some cities: for example, Saint-Dieu 1945) and La Rochelle (1946). And here the architect perfects his design of the “residential unit”. In Saint-Dieu, during the construction of the Claude et Duval manufactory, he used sun cutters, which had already been tested in Rio, and then became a kind of Corbusier's calling card.
In 1947, he worked for half a year in the community of architects on the project of the UN Headquarters in New York.
Each Le Corbusier building erected in the 1950s, whose plans are no longer dominated by a right angle, and artistic imagery is visible in the forms, becomes a discovery. These were the Cultural Center and the Museum of Modern Western Art in Tokyo, the Brazilian Pavilion on campus in Paris (1957-1959) and the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts - a cultural center at Harvard (1962). In the project, the administrative capital of India, a newly independent country that has only recently appeared on the political map of the world, his dream of a large-scale urban development project came true.
In the buildings of the Chapel of Our Lady in and near Lyon, he, an atheist, first applied his intuitive insights in relation to the organization of space for spiritual needs. The “visual acoustics” that he spoke of regarding the harmony of architectural forms and suitable surroundings in Ronchamp was literally embodied in the phenomenal pavilion “Electronic Poem” of the Philips company (1958) at the World Exhibition in Brussels, which, thanks to architectural calculations, made it possible to resonate to a particular sound. Both in these and in the buildings of the 1960s, for example, the House of Youth and Culture in Firmini (1961-1965), the Le Corbusier Center in Zurich (1965-1967), the master continued his search for harmony in the architectural space.
Le Corbusier's centenary was marked by television films, exhibitions, and publications.
The beginning of Corbusier's creative career coincided with the technical revolution of the new time, the main points of which were the appearance of electricity and radio communications, the appearance of the automobile, the discovery of reinforced concrete, the emergence of aviation, as well as the construction of new-generation giant ships, ocean liners like Aquitaine, Olympic or " Queen Mary 1". These achievements of scientific thought, technology and design - fantastic for their time - were for Corbusier the main inspirational moment of his work. And its main goal was the creation (and theoretical justification) of such an architecture that would correspond to this completely new era.
It was Le Corbusier who put forward ideas that were enthusiastically accepted by architects around the world and received an incredibly wide distribution. He was one of the first to propose a "modern suit" for modern buildings - instead of using the "tailcoats and crinolines" of past eras.
Corbusier rose to prominence early 20s, upon arrival in Paris from his native Switzerland - he was then already about 35 years old. How did he do it? Probably, first of all, thanks to their first buildings erected in Paris or its environs - these are mainly private mansions, large, super-modernist, with white smooth walls, large windows, with roof terraces - as we would now say, in spirit of minimalism. The most famous of them are Villa Cook, Villa La Rocha, Villa Savoy in Poissy, Villa Stein in Garches. These buildings were so new and unusual for their time that the Parisians used to gather in droves to gawk at them, as if at some kind of circus attraction.
These first Corbusier villas - "white villas of purism" - became, in fact, constant reference books and sources of inspiration for architects of the first half of the century - after all, the range of forms of new architecture used was then still rather meager.
Villa Stein in Vaucresson (1927-28)
Villa Savoy. 1929-30
Already in those days it was difficult to name a country or continent where the architect would not be famous and recognized - in Brazil, in Japan, in Russia, in Great Britain.
Incidentally, in the 1920s and 1930s, Corbusier had high hopes for the latest architecture in Russia. He even completed a couple of projects for Moscow, each of which is unique in its own way. One of them was implemented - this is the famous House of the Centrosoyuz (1928-1934). This is a large office building, in fact, a whole complex. The project is amazing in its courage. However, it is also surprising that the Tsentrosoyuz was built at all. In Russia, these are still times, in general, of old-fashioned technologies: simple "monolithic" bricks and loopholes - despite the existence of a very strong and independent Russian architectural avant-garde. The Tsentrosoyuz project for Moscow was truly revolutionary in many respects.
The building of the Tsentrosoyuz in Moscow (pictured in the center), 1928-32.
The second period of Le Corbusier's work, incredibly successful and fruitful - so to speak, "Jupiterian" - began with the construction of the Marseille Block (Marseille Residential Unit - 1947-52). This is a large residential building in the city of Marseille, part of Corbusier's "Radiant City". So he called his imaginary ideal city - by analogy with the City of the Sun, once described by Tommaso Campanella. This building was unusual in every way - from its appearance to the layout of the apartments, which were two-level duplex apartments. The Marseille Block, which at one time caused a storm of conflicting opinions, has now become one of the sights of Marseille, its original calling card.
Marseille block. Usable terrace on the roof of the building
1947-52
The idea of the Radiant City first appeared to the architect back in the 20s, in his project "Plan Voisin". According to Corbusier, the radiant city looks in general terms like a green park or square. The buildings in it are located freely, washed from all sides by air and sunlight. Today we can see the real embodiment of this idea, just by throwing a glance from the window of our house - if, of course, it is located in a new microdistrict. It may seem that there is nothing particularly original in this - but what was the city like before? At its core, it consisted of driveways, along which rose a continuous row of stone facades, without any gaps. The higher the buildings were built, the narrower and gloomier the streets-corridors became. In order to move from the "city of corridors" to the "green city" (or "radiant", according to Corbusier), a revolution in consciousness had to take place. And in time - tens of years. For modern urban planners, the idea of a "radiant city" (or, as they say now, "green city") is something quite natural, indisputable.
Marseille Block in green surroundings
By the beginning of the 1950s, Le Corbusier had developed a very peculiar, purely individual architectural language. It was no longer necessary to ask whose building it was - Corbusier's style was immediately guessed. The buildings of this period fit into the current, which was called "brutalism" (from the French "beton brut" - "raw concrete").
Semantic similarity of the word brut in English and French allows it to be interpreted as "rough, sensual". In such a brutal, sensual key, very powerful, the administrative complex of Chandigarh, the capital of the Punjab province in India (1951-56), was built. Each of the buildings of this complex is a unique masterpiece of architecture, which has no analogues in the past in its original forms. With Le Corbusier, concrete, this flowing plastic material, turns out to be akin to soft clay in the hands of a sculptor. In the buildings of Chandigarh, he managed, probably like no one before him, to turn concrete into an unprecedented means of architectural expressiveness.
Church in Ronchamp - expressive sculpture embodied in concrete
France. 1955
Chandigarh. Portico at the Assembly building. Beginning 50s
The architectural manner of the mature Corbusier was so convincing that for some time it became the universal language for architects. In the 60s and 70s to be "Corbusian"(i.e. directly borrow the ideas and techniques of Corbusier) - was not considered shameful at all, but on the contrary, meant to be progressive, thinking, modern. In each country, buildings "a la Corbu" appeared, of different scale and for different purposes, to one degree or another conveying the spirit and letter of the master's original works.
However, even now many architects, sometimes the most famous, work, in fact, in line with the architectural images of Corbusier - such as the American Richard Mayer or the Japanese Tadao Ando.
All the innovations that Corbusier introduced into the practice of architecture (or contributed to this) cannot be listed. It is probably worth mentioning at least some of them:
=thin rack-columns instead of massive load-bearing walls
= large (including horizontal) windows in light curtain walls
= loggias in apartment buildings
= sun fins on fronts, "sun cutters"
= apartments on two levels
= use of in-situ concrete technology as a common
= building houses in series etc. etc.
These innovations have been taken up by architects around the world and are now part of the usual arsenal of modern design tools.
Although Corbusier's influence is usually associated more with such "technological" achievements in the art of building, one cannot, however, ignore the fact that he opened the eyes of architects to free forms. It was under the influence of his projects and his buildings that a shift in consciousness occurred, and free forms began to be used in architecture much more boldly, with much more ease. This is a kind of paradox, since the "architecture of Corbusier" in the minds of many is often associated with dull rectangular box buildings or boring suburban areas, with standard monotonous residential buildings in them. This is of course a misconception. Or at least very one-sided.
In addition to architecture, Le Corbusier was also engaged in furniture design. Some of his designs are still popular today (such as the reclining sofa or chairs made of bent metal tubes and leather cushions), and they are freely available in stores.
Chaise longue with adjustable position
In addition to all this, Corbusier also showed himself as a talented artist - painter, graphic artist, sculptor. He took up painting as soon as he arrived in Paris in 1918. In terms of the totality of his work in this period, pictorial and architectural, Le Corbusier can be quite attributed to the galaxy of artists of the "Paris school" of the 20s. Painting remained his favorite pastime throughout his life. Jokingly, he used to say: "Architecture is my wife, and painting is my mistress." His work in graphics is very effective, in which he fruitfully worked the last years of his life. He designed the covers of some of his books himself.
"Right Angle Poem" (1955) -
book by Le Corbusier designed by himself.
The motifs of Corbusier's paintings and sculptures are read in the outlines of many of his buildings. On some of his buildings you can see original author's bas-reliefs made in concrete, and in their interiors - carpets woven according to his sketches.
Widely known is his graphic figure Modulor - a man with a raised hand. It has become one of the common symbols of modern architecture.
Le Corbusier in front of the bas-relief of the House of Culture in Firminy.
60s
Le Corbusier even made it onto Swiss banknotes. He was a native of Switzerland, from the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. Although he lived permanently in Paris since 1918, he officially remained a Swiss subject until 1930, when he took French citizenship. As you can see, for Switzerland, his very name has become a currency :)
10 Swiss francs.
The front side is a portrait of L.K., the reverse side is an image
designs of Chandigarh and Modulor.
Not much is known about Corbusier's personal life. Apparently, until the age of 34, he remained practically a bachelor. Although he definitely did not belong to the number of male heartthrobs, he was nevertheless not indifferent to female beauty, which can be judged at least from his paintings and etchings. In 1922, in Paris, he became friends with the Monaco-born hat fashion model Yvon Galli, whom he officially signed in 1930. Their marriage successfully existed until 1957, when Yvon died. They didn't have children. After that, Corbusier lived alone, devoting himself to artistic creativity.
Two words in conclusion. Of course, any artist belongs to his time, and over the years everything he created freezes and becomes, as they say, the property of history. The same thing happens, whether we like it or not, with Le Corbusier. Like many of his contemporaries, the founders of modern architecture - Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van Der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, Richard Neutra, he becomes a classic, a textbook figure - instead of being, as before, a living source of ideas. Many of Le Corbusier's buildings, so unexpected and fresh at the time they were erected, may seem quite ordinary today. This is probably only because they served as a model for too many in their time. This is a kind of phenomenon, or, if you like, the paradox of Le Corbusier. All his life he strove for extra-originality, he wanted to be different from everyone else, but in the end everyone (or very many) became like him. Although, in fact, this was the goal of his life: to set an example with his theories and buildings, to teach the whole world the modern art of building. Set a new quality standard. New aesthetic. Remaining at the same time, first of all, a poet - a poet of architecture.
