Important works of le corbusier

1. It is necessary to understand history, and he
who understands history knows how to find
continuity between that which was, that
which is, and that which will be”.

2.  Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 1887 – 27 August 1965), known
as Le Corbusier was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban
planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded
as modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French
citizen in 1930. His career spanned five decades, and he designed
buildings in Europe, Japan, India, and North and South America.
 was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer,
and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture.
He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930. His
career spanned five decades, and he designed buildings in Europe, Japan,
India, and North and South America.
 Arguably the most brilliant and controversial architect of the 20th
century, he achieved colossal success in his field. Revered by architects
the world over, Le Corbusier designed more than 300 buildings and wrote
24 books, he was also a keen writer, a theorist, sculptor, furniture
designer, and painter.

3.  His designs rejected superfluous ornamentation (an early example of the
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe phrase, ‘less is more’), and are characterized
by their geometric forms, asymmetrical compositions, and horizontal
planes with open floor plans.
 Other features of Modern architecture include the use of industrial
materials—concrete, steel, and glass for natural light, as well as a
tendency towards grey, white, or neutral color palettes.
 Whatever project he worked on, be it private villas, mass social housing
complexes, churches, or public monuments, his designs were always
original.

4.  Villa Savoye
 ‘Villa Savoye’ is located at 82 Rue de
Villiers, Poissy, France.‘Villa Savoye’,
originally designed by Le Corbusier
and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret as a
weekend retreat for the Savoye
family. The villa is pioneering because
it clearly encapsulates Le Corbusier’s
five points of new architecture
formulated in 1927
1. Pilotis’, or columns, used to lift up
the base of buildings
2. The absence of internal supporting
walls
3. Long, horizontal ‘ribbon’ windows
4. A facade that is free from the load-
bearing structure
5. A flat roof that can function as a
garden or terrace.

5.  This monumental structure is
part of the Capitol Complex, a
government compound
comprising three buildings in
northern India, including the
Secretariat and the High Court.
 The mammoth, 250-meter-long
building consists of eight storeys
of rough cast concrete,
backdropped by the Himalayan
mountains. ‘Palace of Assembly’
puts Le Corbusier’s Modernist
theories into play on an immense
scale.

6.  Also known now as ‘Maison
La Roche’, is a pair of semi-
detached houses, built for Le
Corbusier’s brother Albert
Jeanneret, and Raoul La
Roche, a Cubist art collector
and close friend of the
architect.
 The project is widely
regarded as the first
genuinely Modernist house,
with its unusual geometric
forms, minimalist aesthetic,
and muted color palette.
 The villa now operates as a
museum and exhibition space
for the Fondation Le
Corbusier.

7.  The last major work of Le
Corbusier, the design of which
began in 1960, this concrete
church in a tiny French town was
completed 41 years after his
death.
 The church is situated in an old
mining and industrial area, which
explains the logic behind its
shape—the building appears
more like a crooked power plant
than it does a place of worship.
While designing the building, Le
Corbusier stated that the church
must be “vast so that the heart
may feel at ease, and high so
that prayers may breathe in it”.

8.  Due to extensive bombing, Berlin
endured a major housing crisis post-
World War II. As a direct response, Le
Corbusier designed a high-rise social
housing project consisting of 530
apartments spread across multiple
floors—a symbol of Germany’s
modernization after the destruction
of the war.
 The ‘Unité d’Habitation’ concept was
successful first in Marseille; the
building there was labeled the most
influential example of Brutalism of all
time.
 ‘Unité d’Habitation’ was realized in
Berlin’s Westend a few years later in
1959, to create better living
conditions for its residents. In 1979,
‘Unité d’Habitation’ was turned into
owner-occupied apartments

9.  Located in central Tokyo, this
public art gallery has become a
hallmark of Brutalism in Japan.
‘The National Museum of
Western Art’ is made from
precast reinforced concrete
panels resting on steel brackets,
with the central galleries laid
out in a square plan.
 According to a review by The
New York Times, the building
itself presented an “artistic
significance and beauty” which
rivaled the paintings inside—
including those by artists such as
Picasso, Manet, and Pollock.

10.  Added to UNESCO’s World
Heritage List in 2016, this
Dominican monastery in France
was designed as a self-contained
residence for a community of
monks.
 The complex building comprises
many different spaces: one
hundred individual bedrooms for
solitary worship and rest, a
communal library, a rooftop
cloister, a church, and
classrooms.
 Every one of the hundred
bedrooms features an outward-
facing balcony, with horizontal
strips of windows intended to
provide equal light and views of
the surrounding nature.

11.  This cultural center, located in
Firminy nearby the Saint-Pierre
Church, was completed the year
of Le Corbusier’s death.
 The 112-meter-long building was
constructed on an artificial hill
and features an asymmetrical
curved roof that joins the sloped
western facade; allowing for
tiered seating inside the center.
 Within the ‘Maison de la Culture’
is an auditorium, music room, a
theatre, and an art room.
Exterior windows are
interspersed by sporadic
primary-colored panels.

12.  Also known as ‘Le Corbusier
House’, this project was
commissioned by interior
designer Heidi Weber as a home
for herself and for her own
collection of Le Corbusier’s
artwork.
 The building is located on a
grassed area by the shore of
Lake Zürich, and is made entirely
from glass and steel.
 Characterized by its floating
roof and Rubik’s Cube-esque
colored panels, the residence
represents an extensive change
from Le Corbusier’s original 1931
Polychromie Architecturale, his
framework for using only Purist
color schemes.

13.  One of Le Corbusier’s more
radical designs of his later life,
this Roman Catholic chapel
marks a departure from the
functionalist style of his earlier
works.
 The chapel was built on a pre-
existing pilgrimage site that was
completely destroyed during the
Second World War.
 A billowing concrete roof is
supported by thick curvilinear
walls, which feature an
arrangement of irregularly
shaped windows.