Le Corbusier's famous work. Architect le Corbusier. National Museum of Western Art

Le Corbusier- French architect of Swiss origin, who was also a designer, artist, writer and publicist. He is a pioneer of modernism, a representative of the architecture of the international style, in architecture he embodied the ideas of functionalism. The buildings designed by him are located all over the world: in Europe, America, India, Japan.

Seeking to make life easier for the inhabitants of overcrowded cities, Le Corbusier was actively involved in urban planning and was one of the founders of the International Congress of Contemporary Architecture (CIAM).

Biography

Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris was born on October 6, 1887 in the Swiss town of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the family of an enamel watchmaker.

From childhood, young Charles was attracted to the visual arts and he entered the School of Arts in Chaux-de-Fonds for the course of Charles Leplattenier, his teacher of architecture was René Chapalla, who greatly influenced his early work. From the moment he entered school, he began to independently engage in jewelry, creates enamels and engraves monograms on watch cases.

In his youth, he tried to leave the provincial atmosphere of his hometown and traveled around Europe. In September 1907 he made his first trip to Italy, then via Budapest to Vienna, where he stayed for four months and met Gustav Klimt and Joseph Hoffmann. Then in 1908 he travels to Paris, where he finds work in the office of August Perret, a French pioneer in the field of reinforced concrete. All these trips influenced him and began to develop his own architectural style. Between October 1910 and March 1911, he worked near Berlin for the famous architect Peter Behrens, where he may have met Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius. At that time, he visited the Nursing Home and the monastery with him in the Ema Valley and this greatly affected his position in life. From now on, he began to believe that all people should be able to live quietly and calmly, like monks in their monastery.

Later, in 1911, he traveled to the Balkans and visited Serbia, Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece, he returned with about 80 notebooks full of sketches of what he saw, in particular the Parthenon. He will then praise its forms in his book "Towards Architecture".

During the First World War, Le Corbusier taught at his home art school in Switzerland and returned to Paris only when the war was over. During these four years in Switzerland, he worked in the field of theoretical architecture using modern techniques. Among others was the Dom-ino House project, a model offering an open plan consisting of concrete slabs supported by a minimum number of reinforced concrete columns at the edges. This design became the basis for most of his structures for the next 10 years.

He soon began his own architectural practice, along with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret. This collaboration lasted until the 1950s, with a break during the Second World War.

In 1918, Le Corbusier met the cubist artist Amede Ozenfant, in whom he found a kindred spirit. Ozanfan encouraged him to paint and they began to collaborate. Rejecting Cubism as irrational and "romantic" they published their manifesto "After Cubism" and founded a new art movement, Purism. Ozenfant and Le Corbusier founded the magazine L "Esprit nouveau (New Spirit).

In the first issue of the magazine in 1920, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret adopted the pseudonym Le Corbusier (a slightly modified surname of his grandfather), under the auspices of the idea that everyone can create a new self.

Between 1918 and 1922, Le Corbusier did not build any buildings, focusing entirely on the theory of purism and painting. And in 1922 he, together with his cousin Pierre, opened an architecture studio in Paris. In the 1920s, Le Corbusier designed several villas that brought him fame. Almost all of them are located in the vicinity of Paris. All of them are modernist buildings. They started talking about Corbusier, the new aesthetics of the villas excited the minds of the European public. The most notable works are Villa La Roche / Jeanneret (1924), Villa Stein in Garches (now Vaucreson, 1927), Villa Savoy in Poissy (1929). All of them are distinguished by simple geometric shapes, white smooth facades, horizontal windows, and the use of a reinforced concrete frame. In these buildings, Corbusier applied his code of architecture - "Five starting points of architecture".

In 1925, Corbusier and Pierre presented the Plan Voisin, a proposal for the restructuring of Paris. The plan called for the demolition of about 240 hectares of old buildings and the erection of eighteen identical 50-storey skyscrapers in their place. In this and subsequent plans, Le Corbusier proposed new planning methods that would improve the comfort of living in cities, create green zones and a network of transport highways in them.

In 1940, Le Corbusier closed his Paris workshop and moved to a farm in the Pyrenees. At this time, he was engaged in theoretical developments, in particular the Modulor proportional system, which he then actively used in buildings.

After the end of World War II, restoration work began in France and Le Corbusier took part in them at the invitation of the authorities. In particular, he carried out plans for the reconstruction of the cities of Saint-Dieu (1945) and La Rochelle (1946), which became a new original contribution to urban planning.

For Saint-Dieu, Le Corbusier designed the Claude and Duval (1946-1951) manufactory building - a four-storey block with production and office premises, with continuous glazing of the facades. During the construction of the Duval manufactory, the so-called "sun cutters" (fr. Brise-soleil) were used - special hinged structures invented by Corbusier that protect the glazed facade from direct sunlight. Subsequently, the "sun cutters" became a kind of trademark of Corbusier's buildings, where they perform both a service and a decorative role.

In 1947, construction began on the famous "Marseille Housing Unit" - an apartment building with complete infrastructure located within a single building.

In 1950, Corbusier began implementing his most ambitious project - the new capital of the state of Punjab, Chandigarh. Corbusier developed the administrative center, residential areas with infrastructure, schools, hotels. The city took about 10 years to build. Corbusier himself designed the Capitol, the administrative center of the city. These are the buildings of the Secretariat, the Palace of Justice and the Assembly. Each of them is distinguished by a vivid characteristic of the image, powerful monumentality and represents a new word in the architecture of that time.

In the 50s and 60s, Le Corbusier was already recognized as an architectural genius. He was inundated with orders, his name thundered all over the world. During this time, he built several structures that cemented him as the number one European avant-garde architect. These are the Ronshan chapel in France (1955), the Brazilian pavilion on the campus in Paris, the La Tourette monastery complex (1957-1960), the building of the Museum of Western Art in Tokyo (1959).

One of Corbusier's last major works is the Harvard University Cultural Center, the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts (1959-1962), built in the United States.

In 1928, Corbusier took part in the competition for the construction of the building of the People's Commissariat of Industry (House of Tsentrosoyuz) in Moscow. It was subsequently built according to his design. The building of the Tsentrosoyuz was a completely new for Europe example of the solution of a modern business building. The construction was carried out under the direction of the architect Nikolai Kolli.

In 1928, 1929, in the early thirties, the architect often came to Moscow in connection with construction. Here he met with Soviet cultural figures, in particular with Meyerhold and Eisenstein, and admired the creative atmosphere that reigned in the country at that time. He was especially impressed by the achievements of the Soviet architectural avant-garde - the Vesnin brothers, Moisei Ginzburg, Konstantin Melnikov. Later, Le Corbusier took part in the international competition for the building of the Palace of Soviets for Moscow (1931), for which he made an extremely daring, innovative project.

"Five starting points of architecture"

Le Corbusier's Five Starting Points of Architecture were published in L'Esprit Nouveau in the twenties. In these seemingly simple rules, Corbusier tried to formulate his concept of modern architecture. Here is a free retelling of them:

Support pillars. The house is raised above the ground on reinforced concrete pillars, thus freeing up space under the living quarters - for a garden or a parking lot.

Flat roof terraces. Instead of a traditional sloping roof with an attic underneath, Corbusier proposed to arrange a flat roof-terrace on which a small garden could be planted or a place to relax.

Free layout. Since the walls are no longer load-bearing (due to the use of a reinforced concrete frame), the internal space is completely freed from them. As a result, the interior layout can be organized much more efficiently.

Ribbon windows. Due to the frame structure of the building and the absence, in this regard, of load-bearing walls, windows can be made of almost any size and configuration, incl. stretch them freely with tape along the entire facade, from corner to corner.

Free facade. Supports are installed outside the plane of the facade, inside the house (literally at Corbusier: freely located inside the premises). At the same time, external walls can be made of any material - light, fragile or transparent, and take any shape.

Modulor

Modulor is a system of proportions developed by Le Corbusier. He described it as "a set of harmonic proportions, commensurate with human scale, universally applicable to architecture and mechanics."

Le Corbusier(Le Corbusier). He is definitely a genius, whoever he really is. Le Corbusier did so much that now it doesn't matter who he was - a genius of his time, with a glimpse into the future, a talented compiler, or someone who stole unnoticed ideas and made them his own discoveries. He worked at a time when good students themselves quickly became teachers, when a lot of progressive quality ideas were born, and their implementation was so quick that authors could be plagiarists, at a time when architects were a community.

“Being modern is not a fashion, it is a state. Each of us must accept the conditions in which he lives, and adaptation to them is his duty, not a choice ... "
Le Corbusier

! In September 2014 the architectural portal TOTALARCH.COM presented the project CORBUSIER.TOTALARCH.COM... The resource contains all the buildings, most of the projects, Le Corbusier's books published in Russian and other materials that are the heritage of the master.

Le Corbusier(French Le Corbusier; real name Charles Edouard Jeanneret-Gris(fr. Charles Edouard Jeanneret-Gris); 1887-1965) - French architect of Swiss origin, artist, designer, creator of international style architecture.

Le Corbusier is one of the most prominent architects of the twentieth century, the pioneers of modern architecture, the creator of innovative structures in the spirit of modernism. One of the first to use in his buildings a reinforced concrete frame, roof-terraces, large glazing planes on the facade, open supports in the lower floors of buildings, free floor planning. The views of Le Corbusier, set out by him in numerous books, as well as his buildings, have had an exceptional impact on the entire practice of modern architecture.

Swiss period 1887-1917

Charles Edouard Jeanneret, - was born on October 6, 1887 in Switzerland, in the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds, the French-speaking canton of Neuchâtel. He belonged to a family where the craft of an enamel watchmaker was traditional. At the age of 13 he entered the School of Arts in Chaux-de-Fonds, where he studied arts and crafts with the teacher Charles Leplattenier. Education at the School of Arts was based on the ideas of "arts and crafts", a popular movement at that time, founded by J. Ruskin, and also in the prime of the Art Nouveau style. From the moment he entered the School of Arts, Eduard Jeanneret began to independently engage in jewelry and engrave watch lids.

E. Jeanneret began his first architectural project at the age of 18, with the help of a professional architect. It was an apartment building built for the engraver Louis Fallé, a board member of the School of Art. When the construction was completed, with the money he earned, he made his first educational trip - to Italy, Austria and France.

During this trip, E. Jeanneret trained as a draftsman for the architect and designer Joseph Hoffmann, the leader of the Vienna Secession (1907). Then - in Paris, in the workshop of the brothers Auguste Perret and Gustave Perret(1908-1910), architects who were among the first to use reinforced concrete in the construction of multi-storey residential buildings. In 1910-1911 he worked in Berlin, in the workshop of a major master of architecture Peter Behrens... In 1911, with the aim of self-education, he undertook a journey to the East - across Greece, the Balkans and Asia Minor, where he studied ancient monuments and traditional folk construction. This journey shaped his views on art and architecture in many ways.

Returning home, E. Jeanneret for several years, from 1912 to the end of 1916, worked as a teacher at the School of Fine Arts in La Chaux-de-Fonds. Here in 1914 he opened his first architectural workshop. In Chaux-de-Fonds, he designed several buildings, mostly private residential buildings. The last two buildings - built for parents Villa Jeanneret / Perret(1912) and also Villa Schwob, (Turkish Villa, 1916-1917), commissioned by a wealthy watch magnate, are already distinguished by their independent concept and are quite original in architecture.

In the same period, Jeanneret created and patented a very significant for his creative biography Dom-Ino project(1914) (together with engineer M. Dubois). In this project, the possibilities of building from large-sized prefabricated elements were foreseen, which at that time was an innovative invention. The concept of Dom-Ino was later implemented by Corbusier in many of his buildings. At the end of 1916 E. Jeanneret left La Chaux-de-Fonds and Switzerland for good to settle permanently in Paris.

The period of purism 1917-1930

Upon arrival in Paris, Jeanneret gets a job as a staff architect at the "Society for the Use of Reinforced Concrete" by Max Dubois. During his work there (April 1917 - January 1919), he completed several projects, mainly technical structures - a water tower in Podensac (Gironde), an arsenal in Toulouse, a power plant on the Vienne river and others. Workers' settlements were also built according to his designs, with dwelling houses for one or two families. The architecture of these houses is still close to traditional. Working in the said "Society ...", he becomes the director of a factory for the production of construction products in the city of Alfortville, a subsidiary of the company. She also teaches drawing at a children's art studio.

In Paris, Jeanneret met Amédée Ozenfant, an artist who introduced him to modern painting, in particular Cubism. Ozenfant introduces Jeanneret to the environment of Parisian artists, introduces By marriage, Picasso, Gris, Lipschitz, later with Fernand Leger... Jeanneret begins to actively engage in painting, which becomes his second profession. Together with Ozanfan, they organize joint exhibitions of their paintings, declaring them as exhibitions of "purists". In 1919, Jeanneret and Ozenfant, with the financial support of La Roche, created a philosophical and artistic journal-review " Asprey Nouveau» (« L'Esprit Nouveau”), In which the architectural department is led by Jeanneret. He publishes his articles under the pseudonym "Le Corbusier". The magazine "Esprit Nouveau" first published " Five starting points of modern architecture» Le Corbusier, a kind of set of rules for the latest
architecture.

1. Support posts. The house is raised above the ground on reinforced concrete pillars, thus freeing up space under the living quarters - for a garden or a parking lot.
2. Flat roof terraces. Instead of a traditional sloping roof with an attic underneath, Corbusier proposed to arrange a flat roof-terrace, on which a small garden could be planted or a place to relax.
3. Free layout. Since the walls are no longer load-bearing (due to the use of a reinforced concrete frame), the internal space is completely freed from them. As a result, the interior layout can be organized much more efficiently.
4. Tape windows. Thanks to the frame construction, windows can be made of almost any size and configuration, incl. stretch them freely with tape along the entire facade, from corner to corner.
5. Free facade. Supports are installed outside the plane of the facade, inside the house (literally at Corbusier: freely located inside the premises). At the same time, external walls can be made of any material - light, fragile or transparent, and take any shape.

Separately, such techniques were used by architects before Corbusier, he, having made a careful selection, combined them into a system and began to consistently apply. In the 1920s, when the language of new architecture was still emerging, these "five starting points of architecture" for many young architects of the "new movement" became a really "starting point" in their work, and for some, a kind of professional credo. These rules have been formulated repeatedly and in different ways. Here is a translation of one of Le Corbusier's original texts:

Five starting points of modern architecture

1. Racks. To solve a scientific problem means first of all to solve its elements. In a building, it is possible to separate the load-bearing elements from the non-load-bearing ones. Instead of the previous foundations, on which the building rested without a control calculation, dismembered foundations appear, and in place of the former walls, separate racks appear. Racks and pile foundations are accurately calculated according to their weight. Piles are installed at regular intervals that are not related to the internal layout of the house. They rise from the ground by 3, 4, 6, etc. meters and carry the first floor at this height. The premises are thus free from dampness, they have enough light and air, the building plot turns into a garden that runs under the house. The same plane is won a second time by the flat roof.
2. Flat roof, roof garden. The flat roof allows it to be used for living purposes: terrace, garden ... Drainage pipes run inside the house. Gardens with beautiful vegetation, not only bushes, but also small trees up to 3-4 meters in height can be laid out on the roofs.
3. Free design of the plan. The pile system carries intermediate slabs and extends all the way to the roof. Internal walls are located in any place, and one floor does not depend to any extent on the other. There are no more main walls, there are only membranes of any fortress. The consequence of this is absolute freedom in the design of the plan, i.e. the ability to freely dispose of all available funds, which should be easy to reconcile with some high cost of concrete structures.
4. Elongated window. Piles with intermediate slabs form rectangular openings in the façade through which light and air enter in abundant quantities. The window stretches from counter to counter, thus becoming an elongated window ... The room is equally lit in all its places - from wall to wall. It has been proven that such a room is illuminated 8 times more intensely than the same room with vertical windows. The entire history of architecture revolves exclusively around window openings. And now reinforced concrete opens up the possibility of maximum illumination with the help of elongated windows.
5. Free design of the facade. Due to the fact that the base of the house is raised on load-bearing piles and is positioned in a balcony-like manner around the building, the entire facade moves forward from the load-bearing structure. Thus, the facade loses its load-bearing properties, and the windows can stretch to any length without a direct relation to the internal division of the building. The window can be 10 meters long, as well as 200 meters (for example, our project of the League of Nations in Geneva). Thus, the facade gets a free design.

These five main points are the foundation of the new aesthetics. We have nothing left of the architecture of past eras, as little as literary and historical school education gives.

In 1922, Corbusier, along with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret opens its architectural bureau in Paris. Pierre Jeanneret became his associate employee for a long time. In 1924 they rented an office wing of an old Parisian monastery at st. Sevres, 35 ( rue de Sevre, 35). In this makeshift workshop, a large group of Corbusier's employees constantly worked, and most of his projects were created here.

For the exhibition "Salon d'Automne" in 1922, the Jeanneret brothers presented the project " Modern city for 3 million inhabitants", Which offered a new vision of the city of the future. Subsequently, this project was transformed into “ Voisin plan”(1925) - a developed proposal for a radical reconstruction of Paris. Voisin's plan called for the construction of a new business center in Paris on a completely cleared area. For this, it was proposed to demolish 240 hectares of old buildings. Eighteen identical 50-storey office skyscrapers were located freely according to the plan, at a sufficient distance from each other. The built-up area was only 5%, and the remaining 95% of the territory was allocated for highways, parks and pedestrian zones. The Voisin Plan was widely discussed in the French press and became a kind of sensation. In this and his other urban planning projects - the plan for Buenos Aires (1930), Antwerp (1932), Rio de Janeiro (1936), Plan Obus for Algeria (1931) - Corbusier developed completely new urban planning concepts. Their general essence is to increase the comfort of living in cities through new planning methods, to create a modern system of highways in them - with a significant increase in the height of buildings and population density. In these projects, Corbusier proved himself to be a consistent urbanist.

In the 1920s, Corbusier designed and built several modernist villas that give him his name. The most famous of them are located in Paris or its environs. it Villa La Roche / Jeanneret (1924), Villa Stein in Garsh(now Vaucreson, 1927), Paris, Villa Savoy in Poissy (1929). The characteristic features of these buildings are simple geometric shapes, white smooth facades, horizontal windows, and the use of an internal frame. They are also distinguished by the innovative use of internal space - the so-called. "Free plan". In these buildings, Corbusier used his code "Five starting points of modern architecture."

In 1924, by order of the industrialist Henri Fruget, the town of " Fruge modern houses"(Quartiers Modernes Frugès). This town, consisting of 50 two-three-storey residential buildings, was one of the first experiments in the construction of houses in series (in France). Four types of buildings are used here, different in configuration and layout - strip houses, blocked and detached. In this project, Corbusier tried to find the formula for a modern home at affordable prices - simple forms, simple to build, and at the same time having a modern level of comfort.

At the 1925 World Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris, according to the project of Corbusier, was built pavilion "Esprit Nouveau"(L'Esprit Nouveau). The pavilion included a life-size residential unit of an apartment building - an experimental apartment on two levels. Corbusier used a similar cell later, in the late 40s, when creating his Marseille Housing Unit.

30s - the beginning of the "international" style

By the beginning of the 30s, Le Corbusier became widely known, large orders began to come to him. One of the first such orders - House of the Salvation Army in Paris(1929-31). In 1928, Corbusier entered the competition for Narkomlegprom building (House of Tsentrosoyuz) in Moscow, which was then built (1928-1933). Tsentrosoyuz was a completely new, in fact, unprecedented example for Europe, an example of the solution of a modern business building. The construction was carried out under the direction of the architect Nikolai Kolli.

In connection with the construction of the Centrosoyuz, Le Corbusier came to Moscow several times - in 1928, 1929, in the early thirties. Met with Tairov, Meyerhold, Eisenstein, admired the creative atmosphere that reigned in the country at that time, and especially the achievements of the Soviet architectural avant-garde - brothers Vesnin, Moses Ginzburg, Konstantin Melnikov. Began a friendly correspondence with A. Vesnin. Participated in an international competition for building of the Palace of Soviets for Moscow (1931), for which he made a bold, innovative project.

An architectural discovery of its kind was built in 1930-1932 Swiss Pavilion in Paris- a dormitory for Swiss students on the territory of the international campus. Its originality lies in the novelty of the composition, the most original moment of which was the open pillars-columns of the first floor, unusual in shape, effectively shifted to the longitudinal axis of the building. Immediately after the completion of construction work, the Swiss pavilion attracted the attention of critics and the press, made them talk about themselves. In the post-war years, on one of the walls of the library hall, Corbusier created a large wall panel in an abstract-symbolic way.

In 1935, Le Corbusier visited the United States, touring the cities of the country with lectures: New York, Yale University, Boston, Chicago, Madison, Philadelphia, again New York, Columbia University. In 1936 he again makes a similar trip, now to South America. In Rio de Janeiro, in addition to lecturing, Corbusier takes an active part in the development of the project for the complex of the Ministry of Education and Education (with L. Costa and O. Niemeyer). On his initiative, continuous glazing was used on the high-rise office block of the Ministry, as well as external sun blinds, also one of the first experiments of this kind.

Le Corbusier was one of the founders of international congresses СIAM - congresses of modern architects from different countries, united by the idea of ​​renewing architecture. The first CIAM congress took place in La Sarra, Switzerland, in 1928. Corbusier's urban concepts formed the basis for “ The Athenian Charter", Adopted at the IV International Congress of the CIAM in Athens, 1933. Le Corbusier's theoretical views are presented by him in the books" Towards architecture"(1923)," Urban planning"(1925)," Radiant city"(1935), and others.

The impetus for his urban planning ideas was, according to him, the report on the newspaper interview of his teacher Auguste Perret(who, however, later rejected his student for being too extreme of his ideas).

In his interview, Perret proposed the construction of a city consisting of only tower houses. Le Corbusier took the idea further. In his imaginary city, the center is formed by a group of towers with a plan in the form of an equilateral cross. The towers house administrative offices and offices, as well as public and cultural buildings. To the west of the center is a large park, to the east is an industrial area. Residential areas surround the city center and park. In the center of the group of towers, both main highways, running from north to south and from west to east, intersect on concrete pillars with a height of 3 1/2 to 5 meters. The streets above are for pedestrians and passenger traffic, while trucks move below. Thus, the entire city is divided into two floors, and all communications - water supply, sewerage, gas, electricity, telephone - are located below, on the first floor. The residential area of ​​the city is separated from the industrial area by a green strip. Garden cities are located around in the green zone.

Thus, the idea of ​​de-urbanization, coming from the garden city, was supplemented by the idea of ​​hyper-urbanization of tower cities. In 1933, the Association of Progressive Architects (CJAM), which included and Le Corbusier, and Bruno Taut, and Soviet architects, proclaimed an architectural charter in Athens. It defined the city as a residential and industrial complex associated with the surrounding area and dependent on political, cultural, social, economic and political factors. Four main functions of the city were also formulated:

housing, production, recreation, and the fourth transport function, which unites the first three functions, was figuratively depicted as a triangle with three vertices (habiter, travailler, cultiver 1 "esprit et le corps) through which a circle (circuler) passes.

Athens Charter created a solid foundation for the building of a new science, already under the roof, which received the name of town planning, or urbanism.

All these years (1922-1940) young architects from different countries worked as trainees-apprentices in Corbusier's workshop in Paris at 35 rue Sevres. Some of them later became very famous and even famous, such as, Kunio Maekawa(Japan), Yunzo Sakakura(Japan), Jose Luis Sert(Spain-USA), Andre Vojanski(France), Alfred Roth(Switzerland-USA), Maxwell Fry(England) and others.

Corbusier was married to Yvon Galy(fr .: Yvonne Gallis), from Monaco, whom he met in Paris in 1922, the marriage was officially formalized in 1930. In the same year, Corbusier received French citizenship.

Period 1940-1947

In 1940, Corbusier's workshop was closed, and he and his wife moved to a farm far from Paris (Ozon, Pyrenees). In 1942 he made an official trip to Algeria in connection with the urban planning project of the city of Algeria. Returning to Paris the same year, due to the lack of orders, he studied theory, painted, wrote books. The beginning of the systematic development of " Modulora"- the system of harmonic proportions invented by him, which Corbusier applied in his first large post-war project - the Marseille Block. In Paris he founded the research society " Ascora l "(Assembly of Builders for the Renewal of Architecture), in which he chaired. In various sections of society, topics were discussed, one way or another related to the problems of construction, housing and healthy living.

After the liberation, restoration work began in France and Corbusier was invited by the authorities to participate in them as a city planner. He carried out, in particular, plans for the reconstruction of the cities of Saint-Dieu (Saint-Dieu-de-Vosges) (1945) and La Rochelle (1946), which became a new original contribution to urban planning. In these projects, the so-called "residential unit of impressive size" appears for the first time - the prototype of the future Marseille Block. In them, as in other urban planning projects implemented at this time, the idea of ​​a "green city" is consistently carried out, or, according to Corbusier - "Radiant City" ("La Ville radieuse").

In Saint-Dieu, by order of the industrialist Duval, Corbusier erects the building of the Claude and Duval (1946-1951) manufactory - a four-storey block with production and office premises, with solid glazing of the facades. In the Duval manufactory, the so-called brise-soleil, "sun-cutters»- special curtain structures invented by Corbusier that protect the glazed facade from direct sunlight. Later, sun-cutters became a kind of trademark of Corbusier's buildings, where they simultaneously perform both a service and a decorative role.

In 1946, Corbusier, together with other famous architects from different countries ( Niemeyer, Richardson, Markelius etc.) was invited to prepare the project of the complex UN headquarters on the banks of the East River in New York. For some reason, he did not have to participate in the project until it was completed, he worked on it from January to June 1947. Although Corbusier does not officially appear among the authors, nevertheless, the general layout of the complex and the high-rise 50-storey building of the Secretariat in particular (1951) largely reflect his project proposals.

The period of "new plasticism" - 1950-1965

The beginning of the 50s is the beginning of a new period for Corbusier, characterized by a radical renewal of style. He moves away from the asceticism and purist restraint of his previous works. Now his handwriting is distinguished by the richness of plastic forms, textured surface treatment. The buildings erected during these years make people talk about him again. First of all it is Marseille block(1947-1952) - an apartment building in Marseille, located in a mansion on a spacious green area. Corbusier used standardized duplex apartments (on two levels) in this project with loggias facing both sides of the house. The Marseilles block was originally conceived as an experimental dwelling with the idea of ​​collective living (a kind of commune). Inside the building - in the middle of its height - there is a public complex of services: a cafeteria, a library, a post office, grocery stores, and so on. For the first time on such a scale, painting in bright pure colors - polychrome - was applied on the enclosing walls of the loggias. This project also widely used proportioning according to the system “ Modulor". Similar Residential Units (partially modified) were erected later in the cities of Nantes-Rezé (1955), Meaux (1960), Brie-en-Foret (1961), Firmini (1968) (France), in West Berlin (1957). These buildings embodied the idea of ​​Corbusier's "Radiant City" - a city favorable for human existence.

In 1950, at the invitation of the Indian authorities of the Punjab state, Corbusier embarked on the most ambitious project of his life - the project of the new state capital, the city Chandigarh... The city, including the administrative center, residential areas with all the infrastructure, schools, hotels, etc., was built for about ten years (1951-60, was completed during the 60s). Architects from England, Max Fry and Jane Drew, and Pierre Jeanneret, the three Chief Architects who oversaw the construction, collaborated with Le Corbusier in designing Chandigarh. A large group of Indian architects headed by M.N.Sharma also worked with them.

The buildings, designed directly by Corbusier himself, belong to the Capitol, the administrative center of the city. These are the buildings of the Secretariat, the Palace of Justice and the Assembly. Each of them is distinguished by an expressive character of the image, powerful monumentality and represents a new word in the architecture of that time. As in the Marseille block, they use a special concrete surface treatment technology called "béton brut" (French for untreated concrete) for the exterior. This technique, which became a feature of Le Corbusier's style, was later picked up by many architects in Europe and countries in other regions, which made it possible to speak of the emergence of a new trend - "brutalism".

Chandigarh oversaw the construction Jawaharlal Nehru, first prime minister of independent India. The city was created by the designers "from scratch", in a new place, moreover, for a civilization of a different type than the Western one. All in all, it was a completely new, unexplored experience. Subsequent assessments in the world of this urban planning experiment are very contradictory. Nevertheless, in India itself, Chandigarh is considered today one of the most convenient and beautiful cities. In addition, in India, according to the projects of Corbusier, several buildings were erected in the city of Ahmedabad (1951-1957), which were also very original in terms of plasticity and internal design.

The fifties and sixties are the time of the final recognition of Le Corbusier. It is crowned with laurels, filled with orders, each of his projects is being implemented. At this time, a number of buildings were built, which consolidated his glory as the European avant-garde architect No. 1. The main ones are Ronshan Chapel(1955, France), Brazilian Pavilion on campus in Paris, complex of the monastery of La Tourette (1957-1960), Tokyo Museum of Art building(1959). The buildings, very different in their architectural image, plastic solution, are united by one thing - they are all original, innovative works of architecture for their time.

One of the last major works by Corbusier - a cultural Harvard University Center, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts(1959-1962). In this building, in its catchy unusual forms, all the varied experience of Corbusier of the last period was embodied. This is practically the only building by Le Corbusier in North America (with officially recorded authorship).

Corbusier died in 1965 at the age of 78, on Cap Martin, by the Mediterranean Sea, where he lived in his summer home, La Cabanon. This tiny residence, which served him for a long time as a place of rest and work, is a kind of example of Corbusier's minimal dwelling.

In addition to his architectural heritage, Corbusier left behind many works of plastic art and design - paintings, sculptures, graphic works, as well as furniture samples. Many of them are kept in the collection of the Le Corbusier Foundation, which is located in the Villa La Roche / Jeanneret, built by him, in Paris. And also at the Heidi Weber pavilion in Zurich (Le Corbusier Center), a high-tech exhibition building, also built according to his design.

In 2002, the Fondation Le Corbusier in Paris and the French Ministry of Culture took the initiative to include Le Corbusier's works on the UNESCO list of World Human Heritage Sites. Having enlisted the support of the countries on whose territory there are his buildings - France, Argentina, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, India, Japan - these organizations prepared a list of Le Corbusier's works for inclusion in the "Monuments ..." and submitted their proposal to UNESCO in January 2008 G.

Like his contemporaries, he constantly experimented, strove to master his materials perfectly, find the best ways to use them, and develop the most economical structures that could be standardized and industrially manufactured. Le Corbusier was primarily an engineer and did not think of architecture outside of engineering. For him, architecture was primarily the realm of accurate mathematical calculations.

He came to this understanding of architecture through his passion for painting cubism and for a long time remained, as he called himself, "a fan of the right angle." The architect saw the spirit of the times in modern technology, and it was in it that he looked for the basis for the renovation of architecture. "Learn from machines." A residential building should be a perfect and comfortable "machine for housing", an industrial or administrative building should be a "machine for labor and management," and a modern city should live and work like a well-oiled motor. In the "machine paradise", where everything is too straightforward and cold, a person will feel like a slave to technology, a slave to order. And the house needs to be not only a “car for living”. This is "the place of our thoughts, reflections and, finally, this ... the abode of beauty, bringing our minds much-needed peace of mind."

Distinctions and awards Le Corbusier:

Elected Honorary Doctor (honoris causa) of the University of Zurich (for the study of mathematical orders, 1934),

The Technical University of Zurich (1955), the University of Cambridge (1959), the Columbia University (New York, 1961), the University of Geneva (1963);

Honorary member of many Art Academies
Awarding of the French Legion of Honor: Order of the Knight (1937); Order of the Commander (1952); Order of the Officer of the Highest Rank (1963).

Other awards include:
1953 - Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects;
1961 - AIA Gold Medal - American Institute of Architects;
1961 - French Order of Merit;
1963 - Gold medal of the city of Florence;

The main buildings and structures built according to the designs of Le Corbusier:

1905 - Villa Fallet, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
1912 - Villa Jeanneret-Perret, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
1916 - Villa Schwob (Villa Turku) Villa Schwob, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
1922 -Offanzana Atelier House, Paris, France
1923-1924 - Villa La Roche / Villa Jeanneret, Paris
1924-1925 - Quartiers Modernes Frugès, Pessac, Bordeaux, France

1924 - Pavillon de L "Esprit Nouveau", Paris - not preserved
1925 - Villa Jeanneret, Paris
1926-1928 - House of the Salvation Army (Armée du Salut), Cité de Refuge, Paris.
1926 - Villa Cook, Boulogne-sur-Seine, France
1926-1927 - Villa Stein \ de Monzi, Vaucresson, France
1927 - Houses in the Weissenhof Estate, Stuttgart, Germany
1928-1933 - House of Tsentrosoyuz in Moscow
1929-1931 - Villa Savoye, Poissy-sur-Seine, France
1930-1932 - Swiss Pavilion at the International Campus (Pavillon Suisse, Cité Universitaire), Paris
1930 - Immeuble Clarté, Geneva, Switzerland
1930 - Maison Errazuriz, Chile
1931-1933 - House in Port Molitor (L.K. apartments) Paris, France
1931 - Participation in a competitive project for the building of the Palace of Soviets in Moscow
1936 - Palace of Ministry of National Education and Public Health, Rio de Janeiro
1938 - Cartesian skyscraper project
1945-1951 - Usine Claude et Duval in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France
1947-1952 - Unité d "Habitation", Marseille, France
1949 - Curutchet House, La Plata, La Plata, Argentina
1949-1952 - Competition design for the United Nations headquarters, New York City
1950-1954 - Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France
1951 - Cabanon Le Corbusier, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin
1951 - Maisons Jaoul, Neuilly-sur-Seine, France

Indian projects:

1951-1959 - Chandigarh Buildings - New Capital of Punjab State, India (with Iannis Xenakis):
1951 - Museum and Gallery of Art
1951-1958 - Secretariat Building
1951-1955 - Palace of Justice
1953 - Governor "s Palace
1951-1962 - Palace of Assembly
1959 - Government College of Arts (GCA)
1959 - Chandigarh College of Architecture (CCA) 1951 - Villa Sarabhai, Ahmedabad, India
1951 - Villa Shodan, Ahmedabad, India
1951 - Mill Owners "Association Building, Ahmedabad, India
1956 - Museum at Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, India

1956 - Saddam Hussein Gymnasium, Baghdad, Iraq

1952 - Unité d "Habitation of Nantes-Rezé, Nantes, France
1957 - Unité d "Habitation of Briey en Forêt, France
1957 - Maison du Brésil, Campus, Paris
1957-1960 - Complex of the Monastery of La Tourette (Sainte Marie de La Tourette), Lyon, France (with Iannis Xenakis)
1957 - Unité d "Habitation of Berlin-Charlottenburg, Flatowallee 16, Berlin
1957 - Unité d "Habitation of Meaux, France
1958 - Philips Pavilion, Brussels, Belgium (with Iannis Xenakis) - not preserved.
1961 - Center for Electronic Calculus, Olivetti, Milan, Italy
1962 - Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, USA
1957-1959 - National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo
1955-1957 - House Jaoul in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France
1957-1959 - Brazilian Pavilion, International Campus, Paris
1963-1967 - Heidi Weber Pavilion (Le Corbusier Center), Zurich
1964 - Unité d "Habitation of Firminy, France
1966 - Firminy-Vert Stadium, France
1965 - House of Culture Firminy (Maison de la culture de Firminy-Vert)
1969 - Church of Saint-Pierre, Firminy, France. Construction was carried out after the death of Le Corbusier, completed in 2006

Works of monumental art:

Wall paintings made by Corbusier with his own hand:
- 8 sgrafites in the Villa Badovici and Helene Gray at Cape Cap Martin (1938-1939);
- in the building of the Duval manufactory, late 40s;
- in the Swiss hostel of the international campus, Paris (size 55 sq. m, 1948);
- in the house of Nivol (Long Island, USA, late 40s);

Reliefs "Modulor" on the buildings of the Housing Units (in Marseilles, 1951; in Reze-le-Nantes, 1955, and others);

Monument "Open Hand" (including the sculptural image of the "hand" for the monument) - according to the sketches of Corbusier, in Chandigarh, India.

Large-scale enamels (according to L.K.'s sketches):
- to enter the Ronshan Chapel (1951);
- for a large ceremonial entrance to the Assembly building, (Chandigarh, 1953).

Large decorative wall carpets (according to L.K.'s sketches):
- acoustic carpet for the conference room of the Palace of Justice, Chandigarh (area 650 sq. m, 1954);
- carpet for the hall of the presidential palace in Chandigarh (area 144 sq.m, 1956)
- carpet-panels for a theater in Tokyo (area 210 sq. m, 50s);
- and many others, called "muralnomad" by Corbusier, based on sketches made by him for carpet workshops in Aubusson in 1948-1950.

Villa Jeanneret-Perret, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, 1912	Villa Fallet, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, 1905
Villa La Roche / Villa Jeanneret, Paris, 1923-1924	Villa Schwob (Villa Turku) Villa Schwob, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, 1916
Pavilion "Esprit Nouveau" (Pavillon de L "Esprit Nouveau), 1924, Paris - not preserved	The village of FRUGE (Quartiers Modernes Frugès), Pessac (Pessac), Bordeaux, France, 1924-1925
House of Tsentrosoyuz in Moscow. 1928-1933	House of the Salvation Army (Armee du Salut), Cite de Refuge, Paris. 1926-1928
Immeuble Clarté apartment building, Geneva, Switzerland. 1930	Villa Savoye, Poissy-sur-Seine, France. 1929-1931
Unité d "Habitation", Marseille, France. 1947-1952	Curutchet House, La Plata, La Plata, Argentina. 1949
Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France. 1950-1954	Manufacture Duval (Usine Claude et Duval) in Saint-Dié-des-Vosges, France. 1945-1951
Museum and Gallery of Art. Chandigarh is the new capital of the state of Punjab, India. 1951	Cabanon Le Corbusier, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. 1951
Secretariat Building. Chandigarh is the new capital of the state of Punjab, India. 1951-1958
Mill Owners "Association Building, Ahmedabad, India. 1951	Government College of Arts (GCA) Chandigarh New Capital of Punjab, India 1959
Assembly Building (Palace of Assembly). Chandigarh is the new capital of the state of Punjab, India. 1951-1962	Museum at Ahmedabad, Ahmedabad, India. 1956
Maison du Brésil, Campus, Paris. 1957	Open Hand Monument. Chandigarh - the new capital of the state of Punjab, India
Unité d "Habitation of Berlin-Charlottenburg, Flatowallee 16, Berlin. 1957	Complex of the Monastery of La Tourette (Sainte Marie de La Tourette), Lyon, France. 1957-1960 (with Iannis Xenakis)
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. 1962
National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. 1957-1959	Church of Saint-Pierre, Firminy, France. 1969 - Construction was carried out after the death of Le Corbusier, completed in 2006

Born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, he first spoke of the need for radical changes in architecture. But even today his ideas 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. An avid writer, art theorist, sculptor, furniture designer and painter loved and hated by many, he has forever changed architecture and the world we live in.

Portrait of Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier's architecture is considered to be 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 simple geometry of forms, asymmetry, horizontal planes and free layouts. He appreciated natural light and preferred colors in 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 undertakes, be it private villas, residential complexes or churches, he always went beyond convention. 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 epic works by an 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 the residential residence of the architect's brother and the art gallery of the collector Raul La Roche, who is passionate about the art of Cubism. The villa currently functions as a museum and exhibition space for the Le Corbusier Foundation.

In Villa La Roche, Le Corbusier embodies his revolutionary vision for the first time. He would later refer to them as "the five starting points of architecture": pilot pillars, a flat roof that could serve as a garden and terrace, open-plan interiors, tape windows, and a façade independent of the supporting structure. The project is considered to be the first truly modernist home with its unusual geometric shapes, minimalist aesthetics and subdued color palette.

Villa Savoy

Location: Poissy, France
Years of construction: 1929-1931

In the wooded suburb of Paris, there is the Villa Savoy, designed by Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret as a family country house. This project is a vivid example of the master's architectural innovation and the embodiment of the five principles of the new architecture of Le Corbusier, which he finally formulated in 1927.

The building stands on pillars supporting the weight of the structure, which is raised above ground level. Le Corbusier leaves the structure free of internal retaining 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 tape windows, solid glazing, greenish thin columns of the first floor and a flat roof terrace.

Chapel of Notre Dame du Eau

Location: Ronshan, France
Years of construction: 1950-1955

The Roman Catholic Chapel in Ronchamp is one of Le Corbusier's more radical projects. This building marked the rejection of the philosophy of functionalism characteristic of the early works of the modernist.

“Everything in it is interconnected. The poetry and lyricism of the image are generated by free creativity, the brilliance of strictly mathematically substantiated proportions, the impeccability of the 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 the massive bombing raids, Berlin experienced a major housing crisis after World War II. As a solution to the problem, the architect developed a multi-storey social housing project 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 "residential unit" concept was first successfully implemented in Marseille. The Berlin Housing Estate is almost a replica of the Marseille Housing Unit, hailed 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 downtown Tokyo, is the great modernist's only project 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, faced with textured concrete panels, Le Corbusier called a "square spiral". From structural elements to 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 taken out of the building, is an allegory of the ascent to the temple of art.

Monastery of Sainte-Marie-de-la-Tourette

Location: Éveux-sur-l'Arbresl, France
Years of construction: 1953-1960

The Dominican monastery near Lyon, built for a community of monks, looks more like the ruins of a long-forgotten civilization than a religious structure: rough concrete surfaces, color contrasts, flat roofs covered with grass, asymmetry and illogical architectural composition.

The complex consists of many different premises: one hundred separate cells for secluded worship and recreation, a library, monastery 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 determination of faith to the chaos of nature beyond its control.

Assembly Palace

Location: Chandigrah, India
Years of construction: 1951-1962

The monumental eight-story Palace of the Assemblies is part of the Capitol, a government complex located in northern India at the foot of the Himalayas. Here Le Corbusier first brought to life some of his ideas for the ideal city. 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 human consciousness. Can't he be a source of poetry for us today? "

The main entrance is decorated with a curved boat-shaped portico supported by eight concrete pylons.The core of the building is a meeting room located in the inner cylindrical structures that break through the ceiling like a huge chimney. Bright contrasting elements of the facades enliven the heavy composition.

Firmini House of Culture

Location: Firmini, 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 mine. The architect decided to preserve the old coal seam, thereby achieving a "poetic resonance" between industrial and natural materials, the 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 fan of the great modernist. The building, intended for the collection of graphic works, sculpture, furniture and sketches by 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 constructed from materials atypical for Le Corbusier: glass and steel. Instead of the concrete slabs usual for the later period in the work of the architect, there were 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 artist's artistic heritage from the outside world.

Church of Saint-Pierre de Firmini

Location: Firmini, France
Years of construction: 1971-1975, 2003-2006

The Firmini Church is the last major project that was never completed 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 shape is explained by the desire of the architect 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 exalted, so that prayers can breathe in it."

Simple geometry with complex cosmological symbols: kthe structure, which is square at the base, narrows as it rises, losing the severity of form, metaphorically indicating the transition from earthly to heavenly.Tiny round windows dotting the wall like a constellation of stars project the constellations of Orion onto the eastern wall of the church with beams of light.Multi-colored cone windows, symbolizing heavenly bodies, illuminate the room in different ways depending on the season and religious holidays.

Provocative writer, gifted painter, innovator in modern architecture, author of urban planning theories and consummate polemicist of the 20th century - Le Corbusier, whose work can be seen in almost every city in the world.

Le Corbusier: a short biography and the main principles of modern architecture

Le Corbusier, New York, 1947

1887

Charles Édouard Jeanneret-Gris was born in Chaux-de-Fonds (Switzerland)... Later he took the pseudonym Le Corbusier.

1904

Corbusier graduated from the School of Arts and completed his first architectural project for one of the school's councilors. 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 go around him. "

Villa Fallet, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland. 1905

1907

With the money he 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 a trainee draftsman for Auguste and Gustev 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 traditional folk building 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 - home, ino - innovation). It is based on the concept of building from large prefabricated elements. At the time, it was a significant and innovative step in architecture. The architect implemented the concept House - Ino later in many of his buildings.

1917 - 1920

Charles never hid his dislike for his hometown, so when the opportunity arose, he immediately moved to Paris. There he met Amede Ozanfan (Amede Ozenfant) who introduced him to modern painting. At the same time, Corbusier painted his first picture.

“I prefer to paint rather than talk. Drawing is faster and leaves less room for lies. "

Together with Ozenfant, they organized joint exhibitions of paintings, calling them exhibitions of "purists" - supporters of laconicism, fighters against eclecticism and decor. And they created the philosophical and art magazine-review "L'esprit Nouveau" (New spirit).

Issues of the magazine "L'esprit Nouveau"

1925

“Everything in the house should be white. Every citizen is now obliged to replace curtains, bedding, wallpaper and everything else with white things. By cleaning your home, you are cleaning yourself. "

In the same year, Charles created the "Voisin Plan" (Plan Voisin) or "Modern city for 3 million inhabitants" - a plan for the radical modernization of Paris, which he considered "built on 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 aspiration is to get a modern person out of chaos and catastrophes, placing him in a happy atmosphere and harmony."

1928

This year Charles built the Tsentrosoyuz building in Moscow. It has become a new, unprecedented for Europe example of a modern business building solution.

1929

In his magazine L'esprit Nouveau, Corbusier published Five Starting Points of Contemporary Architecture, a set of rules for contemporary architecture.

1. The house must be supported. 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 anywhere: the layout of one floor does not depend on the other. There are no capital walls, instead of them - membranes of any fortress.

3. The facade slides forward from the supporting structure. Thus, it loses its load-bearing properties, and windows can stretch to any length without a direct relation to the internal division of the building.

4. A tape window into which the window openings merge is mandatory. Due to this, not only the lighting of the premises is improved, 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, which "returns" the greenery to the city, which is taken by the volume of the building. Waste pipes are placed inside the house.

Corbusier did not spoil 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 has become a “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.

V Ville La Roche Since 1968, the Le Corbusier Foundation has been located, which is engaged in the preservation and popularization of the architect's heritage.

Villa Savoy the owners left 75 years ago, exhausted by struggling with leaks. Now the villa is an architectural monument.

1940

Reconstruction work began in France, 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 Claude and Duval manufactory building - a four-story block with production and office premises, with solid glazing of the facades.

During the construction, "rise-soleil" were used - special hinged structures that protect the glazed facade from direct sunlight, which Charles himself invented. From that moment on, the sun-cutters became the trademark of Corbusier's buildings. They perform both a service and a decorative role.

1948

Le Corbusier developed the "Modulor" proportioning system based on the golden ratio and proportions of the human body. When developing the system, Charles took three anatomical points: the crown, the solar plexus, and the upper point of the person's raised hand.

The architect himself described it as "a set of harmonious proportions, commensurate with the scale of a person, universally applicable to architecture and mechanics."

"Modulor" Le Corbusier

1950

The Indian authorities of the Punjab state invited Corbusier and other architects to design the new state capital. This project became the most ambitious in his life.

The most complete and original works include the Assembly Palace, the Justice Palace and the Open Hand monument.

Assembly Palace

"Open hand"

Palace of Justice

1952

The beginning of a new period of Corbusier: he moves away from asceticism and purist restraint. Now his handwriting is distinguished by the richness of plastic forms and textured surface treatment.

The "Marseilles block" has become 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 rooftop. 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 "city within a city", is spatially and functionally optimized for its inhabitants.

The project was conceived as an experimental dwelling with the idea of ​​collective living (a kind of commune).

“It is my honor, pleasure and satisfaction to present you with a perfectly sized living block, an exemplary model of modern living space.”

1950 - 1960

Corbusier designs a number of buildings that consolidate his fame as the # 1 European avant-garde architect.

The main ones are:

Ronshan 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.

La Tourette Monastery Complex

The building is built in the shape of a rectangle with a courtyard divided by covered galleries.

Building of the Museum of Western Art in Tokyo

19 years after the completion of the construction, Le Corbusier's student Kunio Makaeva added several additional premises 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 15 sq / m Le Cabanon summer house. 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 Church of Saint-Pierre de Firmini, the plan of which was developed by the great architect back in 1963. Then the lack of money caused the project to be frozen. Jose did not lose hope of completing the work and in the early 1990s he created a fund to raise funds. In 2003, construction began 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 Dr. Curuchet, Argentina, 1949

Villa Sarabhai, India, 1951

House in the village of Weissengof, Germany, 1927

Secretariat Building, India, 1958 (Tomo Yasu), official site

You can catch the parallels between the works of Corbusier and the Russian architect Alexander Zhuk in our article about in St. Petersburg.

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Post of veneration to Le Corbusier
On October 6, 1887, Le Corbusier was born - an architect, artist, author of urban planning theories, a symbol of modernism in the architecture of the 20th century

Le Corbusier created his first architectural project at the age of 17 under the guidance of an experienced teacher. It was a residential building for Louis Fallé, a member of the board of the School of Arts, where Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (real name Le Corbusier) studied arts and crafts. Further in the series: and more about

Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris) and his creations

In 1914, the architect opens his own workshop in his native Swiss town of La Chaux-de-Fonds, and already in 1922 he creates his own office in Paris and settles there. Painting occupied a special place in the life of Le Corbusier. Together with his friend, the artist Amede Ozenfant, they established the term "purism" in the artistic world, the principles of which Le Corbusier also transferred into his architectural projects. Purism rejects the decorativeness inherent in its predecessor, Cubism, and proclaims the image of "purified" reality. In 1920, they created the magazine "Esprit Nouveau" ("New Spirit"), which lasted until 1925. The publication became a platform for discussions about art and architecture, and it was there that Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, under the pseudonym Le Corbusier, published the most important articles for his work, which were then combined into collections "Towards Architecture", "City Planning" and others.

Le Corbusier, like many of his colleagues, became widely known for his private villa projects. In the 1920s, he built several buildings in a modernist style, new and challenging for its time - Villa La Roche / Jeanneret, Villa Stein in Garches, Villa Savoy in Poissy. They began to talk about Le Corbusier as a representative of the architectural avant-garde, because he used fundamentally new techniques in design. Distinctive features of his projects were white smooth facades, simple geometric shapes, volumes floating in the air, horizontal glazing, and reinforced concrete structures.

In 1925, Le Corbusier built a pavilion under the familiar name "Esprit Nouveau" at the International Exhibition in Paris as a kind of manifesto of the architectural avant-garde. The French pavilion was in many ways similar to the pavilion of the USSR, made by our compatriot Konstantin Melnikov.

Le Corbusier started large orders in the early 30s. At the same time, he participates in a competition for the construction of the Tsentrosoyuz building in Moscow and visits the USSR. After World War II, the architect proves himself as a city planner and creates plans for the reconstruction of the French cities of São Dieu and Roshal. It is here that Le Corbusier consistently pursues his famous idea of ​​the "Radiant City", which is still being discussed by urbanists and partially finds its application in megacities. Everything is perfect in his Radiant City: symmetry in the layout, many parks and green areas, a developed transport system and convenient zoning. The architect proposed to build up residential areas with apartment buildings no higher than 50 meters and to accommodate up to 2,000 people in them. These ideas were partially embodied in the famous Marseilles unit, and then in the architect's largest project - the planning of the city of Chandigarh in India.

1. Villa La Roche / Jeanneret in Paris

In 1923, the architect builds a twin house for the banker Raoul La Roche and his older brother Albert Jeanneret. In this project, for the first time, the main features of the author's style of the architect, by which we recognize his works, were manifested: white color, large vertical planes, prismatic shapes. The Le Corbusier Foundation is now operating in the Villa La Roche building.

2. Villa Savoy in Poissy

More recently, the Villa Savoy and the Moscow Melnikov House became twin monuments within the framework of the Russian-French Year of Cultural Tourism 2016–2017. Both of them are deservedly symbols of modernism in architecture. In the project of the Villa Savoy, Le Corbusier embodied all his innovative ideas, which are also called the "five starting points of architecture": piles instead of the usual foundation, white smooth facades, horizontal striped glazing, a flat roof on which a garden can be arranged, free layout of the premises.

3. Tsentrosoyuz building in Moscow

Fortunately for us, a building was also built in Moscow according to Le Corbusier's design. Tsentrosoyuz was built from 1928 to 1935, and during this time the architect came to Moscow more than once, where he met the main figures of the Soviet avant-garde - the Vesnin brothers, Konstantin Melnikov, Moisei Ginzburg. Tsentrosoyuz is absolutely not a typical office building and an example of architectural modernity. For the Russian construction practice, the use of reinforced concrete structures was a completely new experience. With the help of advanced building technology, Le Corbusier was able to apply his favorite open-plan concept, as well as provide an indoor air conditioning system to create a comfortable working environment. Endless staircases-ramps form a unique interior appearance of the building. On October 15, 2015, a monument to Le Corbusier was unveiled in front of the facade of the building on Myasnitskaya Street.

4. Chapel in Ronshan

The architect received an order for the construction of a chapel in Ronshan in 1950. Here he creates an amazing architectural form of the building, unlike its previous geometrically correct volumes. Le Corbusier, inspired by nature, made the roof look like a crab shell or seashell. The inner space of the chapel is illuminated by multicolored reflections from the stained glass windows in the southern wall of the building.

5. Residential unit in Marseille

In this project, the architect realized his dream of a "garden city". Post-war Marseille was in dire need of living space, and Le Corbusier was able to fit 337 apartments into a reinforced concrete frame, while creating comfortable living conditions. The house was erected on powerful supports, inside which were placed pipes of communications. The living space was divided into several levels, connected by "aerial streets". On one of the streets, general supply services and a hotel were organized, and the upper floor acquired a gym and a kindergarten.

For the cladding of the building, Le Corbusier first used "raw" concrete (béton brut), which was then used in the construction of the Assembly Palace in Chandigarh.

6. Monastery of La Tourette in Lyon

The secluded monastery is made entirely in the characteristic style of Le Corbusier. The building is built in the shape of a rectangle with a courtyard divided by covered galleries. The ascetic appearance of the monastery is combined with amazing functionality, borrowed by the architect from the projects of apartment buildings.

The space of the monastery contains cells for 100 monks, a church, a public area with refectories, a library and meeting rooms. As in his other projects, the architect will certainly dilute the gray with colored spots. Here he paints the chapel attached to the church in blue, red and yellow.

7. Indian city Chandigarh project

For Le Corbusier, Chandigarh was the first exceptional opportunity to build an entirely new city. As a result, it turned out that he got the breakdown of the ensemble plan and the construction of the Capitol buildings - the political center of the city. The rest of the projects were commissioned by British and Indian architects. One of the most important projects created by Le Corbusier in Chandigarh is the Assembly Palace. It is recognized as the most original and functional in terms of integrity. The architect accommodated several volumes in a huge internal hall - the hall of the Upper Chamber with a glazed top in the form of a pyramid and a meeting room in the form of a hyperboloid. Externally, the building stands out for its whimsical façade with a curved portico facing the Capitol.