Le Corbusier and Modern Architecture - Essay Example

LE CORBUSIER: Analysis of Villa Savoye & Unit d'Habitation A Brief Introduction Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, later known as Le Corbusier was born in Charles La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland in 1887. He was an architect, urban planner and designer, interior and modern furniture designer, writer, painter and sculptor. His skill in designing modern spaces with minimum ornamentation made him one of the pioneers of the Modern Architecture movement of the early 20th century. In his 30s, he moved his base to France where he changed his name to Le Corbusier. During the five decades of his practising architecture and building design, he travelled around the world giving solutions to housing problems and urban congestion. His marvels can be seen all over central Europe, India, Russia, and North and South America. Early Life From the very beginning of his life, Le Corbusier was interested in art. He studied at the La-Chaux-de-Fonds Art School in Switzerland under Charles L'Eplattenier and architect Ren Chapallaz. The influence of both these people is visible in the earliest works of Le Corbusier. In 1907, after extensively touring Europe, he worked in the office of Augeste Perret, the pioneer of reinforced concrete. Having gained experience there for three years, he moved to the office of Peter Behrens in Germany. During this period, he met a lot of influential architects like Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius, the effects of which can be seen in his works. In 1912, Le Corbusier returned to La Chaux-de-Fonds to teach along with his former teacher L'Eplattenier and to begin his own practice and continued doing this during the course of World War 1. Theoretical Works The first works of Le Corbusier show that he was very close to nature. Before he set out on his travel in 1907, he completed his first project, Villa Pallet. During the World War when he was working in Switzerland, he formulated various theories on modern architecture, emphasizing on structural frame of reinforced concrete. Domino House, 1914-15 This model proposed an open floor plan consisting of concrete slabs supported by a minimal number of thin, reinforced concrete columns around the edges, with a stairway providing access to each level on one side of the floor plan. This became the basic concept for most of his future projects. Le Corbusier envisaged it as an affordable, prefabricated system for the construction of new housing in the wake of World War I's destruction. Developed with the help of partners, Max Dubois and, Perret, the system differed from the then standard Hennibique frame in its idealization of floors as flat slabs without exposed beams. Its columns were perfectly straight posts without capitals, set in from the edge of the slab. This system freed both exterior and interior walls from all structural constraints. Le Corbusier moved to Paris after the war ended. Here he worked concrete structures under government contracts and ran a small brick manufacture, but he dedicated most of his time trying to perfect his skills in the discipline of painting. Purism: The Artistic Movement In 1918, Le Corbusier along with disillusioned Cubist painter, Amde Ozenfant was instrumental in terming the movement Cubism as "irrational and romantic". His book entitled "Apres le cubisme", advocates his stand. Le Corbusier orchestrated a movement called Purism, which called for the restoration of the integrity of the object in art. Ozenfant and Jeanneret established the Purist journal "L'Esprit Nouveau". Between 1918 and 1922, Le Corbusier built nothing, concentrating his efforts on Purist theory and painting. In 1922, Le Corbusier and Jeanneret opened a studio in Paris. "Anyone could reinvent oneself": Pseudonym Adopted In 1920, the name Le Corbusier appeared in his journal, an altered form of his maternal grandfather's name, "Lecorbsier". This change of name reflected his belief that "anyone could reinvent oneself". Initial Projects Maison "Citrohan" Le Corbusier tried to design single-family house models. Le Corbusier proposed a three-floor structure, with a double-height living room, bedrooms on the second floor, and a kitchen on the third floor. The roof would be occupied by a sun terrace. On the exterior Le Corbusier installed a stairway to provide second-floor access from ground level. Here, as in other projects from this period, he also designed the faades to include large expanses of uninterrupted banks of windows. The house used a rectangular plan, with exterior walls that were not filled by windows, left as white, stuccoed spaces. The interior was aesthetically spare, with any movable furniture made of tubular metal frames. Light fixtures usually comprised single, bare bulbs. Interior walls also were left white. Between 1922 and 1927, Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret designed many of these private houses for clients around Paris. Urbanism Le Corbusier had an answer to the growing urbanisation in Paris. He sought efficient ways to house a large number of people in response to the urban housing crisis. He believed that his new, modern architectural forms would provide a new organizational solution that would raise the quality of life of the lower classes. Ville Contemporaine: A "Contemporary City" In 1922, Le Corbusier presented his scheme for a "Contemporary City" for three million inhabitants. A group of sixty-storey, cruciform skyscrapers, steel-framed office buildings encased in huge curtain walls of glass formed the central idea of the design. These skyscrapers were set within large, rectangular park-like green spaces. A huge transportation centre was in the centre, that on different levels included depots for buses and trains, as well as highway intersections, and at the top, an airport. Le Corbusier segregated pedestrian circulation paths from the roadways and glorified the use of the automobile as a means of transportation. As one moved out from the central skyscrapers, smaller low-storey, zigzag apartment blocks set far back from the street amid green space, housed the inhabitants. Five Points of Architecture Through the 1920's, Le Corbusier developed "Five Points of Architecture". 1. The bulk of the structure was lifted off the ground, supported it by pilotis - reinforced concrete stilts to provide structural support. 2. A free faade which is not a structural member giving the architect the freedom to give it any shape. 3. An open floor plan that could be configured into rooms without burdening the supporting walls. 4. Long strips of ribbon windows that allow full view. 5. Roof garden in lieu of the green area consumed by the building and replacing it on the roof. Villa Savoye, 1929 One can say that the Villa Savoy, situated in Poissy in suburb Paris, does complete justice to the "Five Points of Architecture". It represents the culmination of the Purist style of architecture formulated by Le Corbusier in the 1920's. Concept The plan loosely represents the designs of the classical era. Square in planning, the corners are aligned along the cardinal points. In the centre of the hall is a ramp, which has its basis in the promenade architecture as advocated by the architect himself. The so called square of the plan is very subtly disturbed with cantilevers extending on the major axis, breaking the monotony. the ramp revealing this house to be a path the box separating the house from its surroundings Planning Villa Savoye is emblematic of how architecture meets engineering and man meets machines. The entrance is approached via a curving glass screen whose radius was determined via mathematical calculations. The entrance leads to the ramp, the course of which opens up to various views through the ribbon windows that run horizontally. A 360 degree perspective of the site is achieved through windows. The living room on the first floor opens to a 10 meter wide terrace, a full height glazing separating the two spaces which can be slid open with the help of a hand-crank. This clear glass invites the beautiful view of the landscaped greens and also illuminates the living room. The sundeck on the second floor symbolizes, in Le Corbusier's words, "the deck of a ship". Structure While the grid planning symbolizes the rigidity of the classical form, the simplicity in the structure points towards a new era in structural design and framing. First Floor Plan Ground Floor Plan The structural framing of the ramp also breaks the column layout of the hall. Corbusier designed the building to use a flat roof, a move he said was for functionality. Vertical circulation is facilitated by ramps as well as stairs Second Floor Plan Finish Ramp in the Interiors Terrace on Second Floor Exterior Perspective The polychromatic interior contrasts with the primarily white exterior. The sparse furniture and interior finishes respect the finished interiors and exteriors of the house. Living Room on First Floor Living Room on First Floor Ramp From Courtyard View of Terrace Floor Conclusion The classical base with modernist approach is a welcome deviation. While the sparse interiors openly support the mechanization of the system and the style of human living, it also opens up to the nature. Unit d'Habitation, 1952 The severe housing problem after the World War II prompted the urban designers of that time to think about the solutions. The solution provided to this severe housing shortage given by Le Corbusier is considered one of the most apt. The Unit d'Habitation, meaning "Housing Unity" or "Housing Unit" in French, is a modernist residential housing design, principally developed by Le Corbusier, with the collaboration of painter-architect Nadir Afonso as an answer to the housing problem. The concept formed the basis of several housing developments designed by him throughout Europe with this name Concept According to Le Corbusier, "the Unit d'Habitation creates a social space in which the individual and the collective are equally balanced". The central idea of the model is to "build on artificial grounds individual flats that are placed within the logic of a collective structure". The complex emphasises Le Corbusier's vision for communal living with the needs and realities of post-war France. Up to 1600 people live in this single-slab 'vertical village', complete with an internal shopping street halfway up, a recreation ground and children's' nursery on the roof, and a generous surrounding area of park land made possible by the density of the accommodation in the slab itself. Objectives Unit d'Habitation is exemplary for its objectives, which were to provide the perfect residence for a family, while facing the sun, the surrounding space and nature in silence and solitude, and to make the building as machinelike and mechanical as possible. Planning Le Corbusier's "building is a machine" principle reflects in the way the houses are stacked and arranged like wine counters. He makes use of industrial management practices introduced during the two World Wars. The main features as observed in the Unit d'Habitation are as follows: 1. The project has an urban dimension to it, a traditional block structure with a spatial and functional aspect to it. 2. The construction techniques are based on the measures of the Modulor. 3. Use of new materials is introduced, which make the process of fitting and assembling easier. 4. Offers technical solutions to control sound, light and ventilation and to create new uses in living space. The Unit d'Habitation houses about 1,600 residents, 337 lodgings (of 23 different types) and a series of equipments or services such as a nursery school, hotel, shops, offices and gymnasium. The Unit is 137 meters long, 24 meters wide and 56 meters high. It has 18 floors and a sun deck roof-terrace with an unobstructed view of the Mediterranean. Entrance Lobby Structure The structure for the building is very simple. A rectilinear ferroconcrete grid has been created , into which precast individual apartment units, like 'bottles into a wine rack' have been put in. 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 feature. A Self sufficient Building The top floor of the building is well equipped with a gymnasium, swimming pool and a running track. The two floors beneath that are crche and a nursery. Other important facilities like restaurant and shopping complex are also provided. Roof Terrace: Swimming Pool Roof Terrace: Gymnasium Finish The finish of the entire building, the the structure is in concrete. Sculptures in concrete are placed at the entrance and rooftops. Murals and carvings in concrete are a major feature in this building. Front Faade exhibiting the Modulor Man Roof Terrace: Ramp, crche and ventilation stack East Faade: Lift Tower Stilt Area Conclusion Le Corbusier was heavily influenced by the problems he saw in the industrial city of the turn of the century. He thought that industrial housing techniques led to crowding, dirtiness, and a lack of a moral landscape. He was a leader of the modernist movement to create better living conditions and a better society through housing concepts. He has been a pioneer in the "vertical city" and played a major role in advocating the same. Most of the growth of cities and mechanization of the buildings and the building process is because of his efforts. His relentless efforts in organising cities gave birth to the concept of "organised urbanization". Sources 1. Weston, Richard, Plans, Sections and Elevations: Key Buildings of the Twentieth Century (2004). Laurence King Publishing. 2. Sbriglio, Jacques and Corbusier, Le, Le Corbusier: L'Unit D'habitation de Marseille Et Les Autres Units D'habitation Rez-les-Nantes, Berlin, Briey en Fort Et Firminy (2004). Birkhuser. 3. Choay, Franoise, Le Corbusier (1960). George Braziller, Inc. 4. Gans, Deborah, The Le Corbusier Guide (2006). Princeton Architectural Press. 5. Fishman, Robert, Urban Utopias in the Twentieth Century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier (1982). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. 6. Giedion, Sigfried, Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition (1967). Harvard University Press. 7. Davies, Colin. Key Houses of the Twentieth Century: Plans, Sections and Elevations (2006). Laurence King Publishing. 8. Ching, Francis D. K. Architecture: Form, Space, and Order (1979). New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. 9. Trachtenberg, Marvin and Hyman, Isabelle. Architecture, from Prehistory to Post-Modernism (1986). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Read More