Le Corbusier Architecture Quiz

Le Corbusier's Philosophy and Career

• Le Corbusier was a true Renaissance man: he built, wrote, and painted, and had strong opinions on designing the planet at all scales, from chairs to metropolises.
• He was a polarizing figure, an obsessively orderly person with a creative genius, often described as authoritarian and egomaniacal.

Ideal Geometry and Urban Planning

• Le Corbusier believed in the redemptive power of ideal geometry, where a well-designed plan according to universal geometric principles would bring harmony and balance.
• He engaged with diametrically opposite political regimes, as his focus was on realizing the plan, not the politics.
• In his ideal city, the plan would prevail, and everything else was secondary.

Life in Paris

• Le Corbusier moved to Paris in his 30s and lived there for the rest of his life, where the city's shape defined and refined him.
• The city's interplay between exuberant energy and tradition of imposing order in the urban fabric fascinated him.

Technological Innovation and Design

• Le Corbusier's designs often took new technological innovations to their extreme logical conclusion, with style.
• He believed high-rise buildings could multiply a site's capacity, freeing land for green parks.
• Mechanical transportation made traditional streets obsolete, and modern towns should be built around new channels of transportation.

Iconic Plans and the Athens Charter

• From 1922 to 1933, Le Corbusier developed his ideas through three iconic plans, culminating in the Athens Charter, a manifesto on building a good city.
• In 1922, he presented a plan for a contemporary city of 3 million inhabitants, built on a clean slate, with a business center featuring 24 identical 60-story skyscrapers.