LE CORBUSIER
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris LE CORBUSIER
Name
Le Corbusier
Nationality Swiss / French
Birth date October 6, 1887(1887-10-06)
Birth place La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland
Date of death August 27, 1965 (aged 77)
Place of death Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France
•Le Corbusier was an architect, designer, urbanist, writer and also painter, who
is famous for his contributions to what now is called Modern architecture.
•His career spanned 8 decades, with his buildings constructed throughout
central Europe, India, Russia, and one each in North and South America. He
was also an urban planner, painter, sculptor, writer, and modern furniture
designer.
•Died in the mediterranean
•Dad was watchmaker
•Grew up seeing the alps – adored cows right from his childhood (inspiration for
chandigarh secratariat)
•Self made architect
•Gave the world one of the STRONGEST proportioning systems.
MODULAR THOERY
- Le Corbusier explicitly used the golden ratio in his
Modular system for the scale of architectural proportion.
- Le Corbusier based the system on human
measurements, Fibonacci numbers, and the double unit.
- He took Leonardo's suggestion of the golden ratio in
human proportions to an extreme: he sectioned his
model human body's height at the navel with the two
sections in golden ratio, then subdivided those sections
in golden ratio at the knees and throat; he used these
golden ratio proportions in the Modular system.
- Le Corbusier placed systems of harmony and
proportion at the centre of his design philosophy, and
his faith in the mathematical order of the universe was
closely bound to the golden section and the Fibonacci
series
Le Corbusier's 1927 Villa Stein in Garches
exemplified the Modular system's
application. The villa's rectangular ground
plan, elevation, and inner structure closely
approximate golden rectangles.
VILLA SAVOYE
Situated at Poissy, outside of
Paris, it is one of the most
recognisable architectural
presentations of the International
Style.
The Villa Savoye was designed
as a weekend country house and
is situated just outside of the
small village of Poissy in a
meadow which was originally
surrounded by trees.
The polychromatic interior
contrasts with the primarily white
exterior.
Vertical circulation is facilitated by
ramps as well as stairs.
The house fell into ruin during
World War II but has since been
restored and is open for viewing.
•The house was emblematic of Le Corbusier
work in that it addressed “THE FIVE
POINTS", his basic tenets of a new
aesthetic of architecture constructed in
reinforced concrete:
•The pilotis, or ground-level supporting
columns, elevate the building from the damp
earth allowing the garden to flow beneath.
•A flat roof terrace reclaims the area of the
building site for domestic purposes,
including a garden area.
•The free plan, made possible by the
elimination of load-bearing walls, consists of
partitions placed where they are needed
without regard for those on adjoining levels.
•Horizontal windows provide even
illumination and ventilation.
•The freely-designed facade, unconstrained
by load-bearing considerations, consists of
a thin skin of wall and windows.
VILLA SAVOYE (1928 –
1931)
GROUND LEVEL PLAN UPPER LEVEL PLAN
•Austerely functional on the outside, its volume is supported by
pilotis above a large expanse of lawn.
•Direct access for cars, parked between the pilotis, beneath the
house.
•Once through the glass wall, visitors have two access options –
stairway and ramp.
•In Le Corbusier’s eyes, the stairway “separates” whereas the ramp
“links”.
•Ramp – stretches from the lawn to the sky, like a majestic
“architectural promenade”, extending from the entrance through the
apartment on the second floor to the roof terrace.
•The dwelling is arranged in the form of an “L” that cleanly separates
the public areas from the bedrooms.
•Two-thirds of the living room – patio.
•Access to the three bedroom – via corridors isolating the main
bathroom.
PLANS, SECTIONS & ELEVATIONS
MILL OWNERS
ASSOCIATION
BUILDING
•The building is located on Ashram Road, in
the western part of the city, overlooking the
river Sabarmati in Ahmedabad.
•A ceremonial ramp makes for a grand
approach into a triple height entrance hall,
open to the wind.
•Arrival is on the first floor, where (as per
the original design) the executives’ offices
and boardroom are located.
•The ground floor houses the work-spaces
of the clerks and a separate, single-story
canteen at the rear.
•On the second floor of the Mill Owners’
Building, the lobby is treated as “an open
space defined by harsh, angular forms and
the auditorium as an enclosed space
delineated by soft, curvilinear forms …two
contradictory elements that both need the
other in order to exist.”
• On the third floor is a high, top-lit auditorium with
a roof canopy and a curved, enclosing wall, in
addition to a generous lobby.
•The east and west facades are in the form of sun
breakers or brise-soleil, one of Corbusier’s many
formal inventions, which, while avoiding harsh
sun, permit visual connection and air movement.
While the brise-soleil act as free facades made of
rough shuttered concrete, the north and south
sides, built in rough brickwork, are almost
unbroken.
•It’s a brilliant display of classic Corbusier, highlighting clean lines, warm light
and bright spaces with hints of colour against the textured concrete.
mill owners association
ahmedabad
ramp and
staircases
VIEWS OF THE BUILDING PREMISES
•The toilets are two interlocking curves with a
service shaft in between which grows up to the
terrace.
•Its form and scale contradicts its surrounding.
•Visual privacy is achieved by virtue of its form.
•Entries are on opposite sides of the curves.
•Ventilators are pulled out of the height and
emphasized.
•Six shaped auditorium.
•Its naturally lit by skylights which
forms a gallery.
•View to the Sabarmati. •Cladded by ply for better acoustics
•Subtle transition from
the built to unbuilt.
By way of explanation, Corbusier placed
these giant angled louvers on the west
side of the building in an attempt to
capture the prevailing wind, directing it
Second floor entry door,
through the building and thereby with a large pivoted orange
increasing ventilation and keeping the door.
mill owners association
ahmedabad
mill owners association
ahmedabad
CHANDIGARH
chandigarh
•The idea of building Chandigarh was conceived soon after India's independence in
1947, when the tragedy and chaos of Partition, and the loss of its historic capital
Lahore, had crippled the state of Punjab.
•A new city was needed to house innumerable refugees and to provide an
administrative seat for the newly formed government of re-defined Punjab.
•Chandigarh was regarded as a unique symbol of the progressive aspirations of the
new republic and the ideology of its struggle for independence.
•It aimed to provide a generous cultural and social infrastructure and equitable
opportunities for a dignified, healthy living even to the "poorest of the poor".
•The near vacuum of indigenous expertise needed to realize this dream prompted the
search for Western skill.
• Yet, conscious of the specificities of their situation, the search was narrowed to "...a
good modern architect who was not severely bound by an established style and who
would be capable of developing a new conception originating from the exigencies of the
project itself and suited to the Indian climate, available materials and the functions of
the new capital.
•"The Chandigarh Project was, at first, assigned to the American planner Albert Mayer,
with his associate Matthew Nowicki working out architectural details. Le Corbusier's
association with the city was purely fortuitous, a result of Nowicki's sudden death .
•Corbusier continued to be associated with the city as the principal ‘architectural and
Corbusier's plan of modern Chandigarh
•Taking over from Albert Mayer, Le Corbusier produced a plan for Chandigarh
that conformed to the modernist city planning principles, in terms of division of
urban functions, an anthropomorphic plan form, and a hierarchy of road and
pedestrian networks.
•This vision of Chandigarh, contained in the innumerable conceptual maps on
the drawing board together with notes and sketches had to be translated into
brick and mortar.
•Le Corbusier retained many of the seminal ideas of Mayer and Nowicki, like
the basic framework of the master plan and its components: The Capitol, City
Centre, besides the University, Industrial area, and linear parkland.
• Even the neighbourhood unit was retained as the basic module of planning.
However, the curving outline of Mayer and Nowicki was reorganized into a
mesh of rectangles, and the buildings were characterized by an "honesty of
materials".
• Exposed brick and boulder stone masonry in its rough form produced
unfinished concrete surfaces, in geometrical structures. This became the
architectural form characteristic of Chandigarh, set amidst landscaped gardens
Le Corbusier on site
•The initial plan had two phases: the first for a population of 150,000 and the
second taking the total population to 500,000. Le Corbusier divided the city into
units called "sectors", each representing a theoretically self-sufficient entity with
space for living, working and leisure.
•The sectors were linked to each other by a road and path network developed
along the line of the 7 Vs, or a hierarchy of seven types of circulation patterns.
At the highest point in this network was the V1, the highways connecting the city
to others, and at the lowest were the V7s, the streets leading to individual
houses. Later a V8 was added: cycle and pedestrian paths.
•The city plan is laid down in a grid pattern. chandigarh
•The whole city has been divided into rectangular patterns, forming identical
looking sectors, each sector measures 800 m x 1200 m. The sectors were to
act as self-sufficient neighbourhoods, each wit
•h its own market, places of worship, schools and colleges - all within 10
minutes walking distance from within the sector.
• The original two phases of the plan delineated sectors from 1 to 47, with the
exception of 13 (Number 13 is considered unlucky).
•The Assembly, the secretariat and the high court, all located in Sector - 1 are
the three monumental buildings designed by Le Corbusier in which he
showcased his architectural genius to the maximum.
•The city was to be surrounded by a 16 kilometre wide greenbelt that was to
ensure that no development could take place in the immediate vicinity of the
town, thus checking suburbs and urban sprawl.
•While leaving the bulk of the city's architecture to other members of his team,
Le Corbusier took responsibility for the overall master plan of the city, and the
design of some of the major public buildings including the High Court,
Assembly, Secretariat, the Museum and Art Gallery, School of Art and the Lake
Club.
Le Corbusier 's most prominent building, the Court House, consists of the
High court, which is literally higher than the other, eight lower courts. Most of
the other housing was done by Le Corbusier 's cousin Pierre Jeanerette.
•It continues to be an object of interest for architects, planners, historians and
social scientists.
Open hand
•Open hand in Chandigarh, India is one
of the most significant monuments of
the city.
•The credit for laying down its plan goes
to Le Corbusier.
•It is located in sector 1 in the Capitol
Complex.
•Chandigarh open hand monument has
been designed in the form of a giant
hand made from metal sheets that
rotates like a weathercock, indicating
the direction of wind.
•This giant hand is 14 metres high and
weighs around 50 tonnes.
•The significance of open hand is that it
conveys the social message of peace
and unity that is "open to give & open to
receive."
chandigarh Corbusier’s
works
secretariat
palace assembly
museum
high court
high court
•This structure has a double roof, projecting over
the office block like a parasol or an inverted
umbrella.
• This magnificent outward sweep of the upper
roof is symbolic of protection & justice to the
people.
•The 3 vertical piers, rising 60 feet from the floor
and painted in bright colours from the grand
entrance of the building facade. On the rear walls
of the court rooms, hang the giant wooden
tapestries.
•Classic example of cubism.
•Perfectly composed vertical and horizontal lines
secretariat •The Secretariat is the largest of these
edifices in the Capitol Complex. It is the
headquarter of both Punjab and Haryana
governments.
• It is a huge multi-storied linear slab-like
structure, intended as a work place for 4000
people.
• The building is 254 meters long and 42
meters high. It is composed of 8 storeys.
•The long line of rhythmic sun breakers is
relieved by introducing varied heights and
projections, together with a roof containing
towers, funnels, pavilions and a cafeteria
jutting out like an art object placed on a
pedestal
•. In the hands of Corbusier, this basically
repetitive framework has been shaped into a
work of art.
•Built during 1953-59, it is shaped like an
eight - storey concrete slab, with its distinctive
brise-soleil ( louvered screen ) of deeply
sculptured two-storey porticos in the centre,
housing the offices of ministers.
• The cafeteria rests atop the terrace like an
high court
•Access to the upper floors is
through a ramp sheltered by a
portico.
•The gradual climb reveals the
vast expanse and the coloured
concrete volumes of the bldg.
•The rooms are shielded by the
sun breakers from inside.
assembly hall
•The most majestic entrance to
the assembly is reflected in a
large pool of water.
•The main entrance is fitted with
a door made of enamel steel ,a
gift from France to Punjab on
which many of Corbusier’s
motifs are depicted.
•The circular auditorium is
crowned by a frustum which is
said to depict the horn of a cow.
Door designed and painted by
Corbusier.
UNITE D’HABITATION
ARCHITECT: LE CORBUSIER
LOCATION: MARSEILLES, FRANC
YEAR OF
CONSTRUCTION: 1946-1952
BUILDING TYPE: MULTIFAMILY HOU
CONSTRUCTION
MATERIAL: CONCRETE
•Le Corbusier‘ s most influential late work
was his first significant postwar
structure—the UnitÈ d'Habitation in
Marseilles of 1947-52.
•The giant, twelve-story apartment block
for 1.600 people is the late modern
counterpart of the mass housing schemes
of the 1920s, similarly built to alleviate a
severe postwar housing shortage.
• structurally it is simple: a rectilinear
ferroconcrete grid, into which are slotted
pre cast individual apartment units, like
'bottles into a wine rack' as the architect
put it.
•Through ingenious planning, twenty-three
different apartment configurations were
provided to accommodate single persons
and families as large as ten, nearly all with
double-height living rooms and the deep
balconies that form the major external
•Inside, corridors run through the centre of the long
axis of every third floor of the building, with each
apartment lying on two levels, and stretching from
one side of the building to the other, with a balcony.
•In the block's planning, the architect drew on his
studies of early Soviet Communal houses such as
the Narkomfin Building.
•Appropriately, unlike many of the inferior system-
built blocks it inspired, which lack the original's
generous proportions, communal facilities and
parkland setting, the Unité is popular with its
residents and is now mainly occupied by middle-
class professionals.
•The building is constructed in béton brut (rough-
cast concrete), as the hoped-for steel frame proved
too expensive in light of post-War shortages.
•The replacement material influenced the Brutalist
movement, and the building inspired several
housing complexes including the Alton West estate
in Roehampton, London and Park Hill in Sheffield.
•The Unité d'Habitation , literally,
"Housing Unity" or "Housing Unit) is the
name of a modernist residential housing
design principle developed by Le
Corbusier (with the collaboration of
painter-architect NadirAfonso).
•Probably his most famous work, it proved
enormously influential and is often cited as
the initial inspiration of the Brutalist
architectural style and philosophy.
•The Marseille building comprises 337
apartments arranged over twelve stories,
all suspended on large piloti.
•The building also incorporates shops,
sporting, medical and educational facilities,
and a hotel.
•The flat roof is designed as a communal
terrace with sculptural ventilation stacks
and a swimming pool.
PLAN, SECTIONS & ELEVATION OF UNITE D’HABITATION
FURNITURE DESIGN BY LE CORBUSIER
Le Corbusier began experimenting with furniture design in 1928 after inviting the
architect, Charlotte Perriand, to join his studio. His cousin, Pierre Jeanneret,
also collaborated on many of the designs.
AN ASSIGNMENT BY:
M.JYOTHIRMAYEE
KRANTHI
P.PRIYADARSHINI
M.REVATHI
K.SUMATHI
P.SURYAPRABHA
