Le Corbusier: Architect, Urban Planner, and Designer of Modern Furniture PDF

L E C O R B U S I E R Charles-Edouard Jeanneret known as Le Corbusier, was a Swedish-French architect known for his contributions to modernism and international style. His career spanned many years and he built important buildings in Europe, India and Russia. At the same time; he was an urban plan...

L E C O R B U S I E R Charles-Edouard Jeanneret known as Le Corbusier, was a Swedish-French architect known for his contributions to modernism and international style. His career spanned many years and he built important buildings in Europe, India and Russia. At the same time; he was an urban planner, painter, sculptor, writer and designer of modern furniture. He changed, developed and reinterpreted the usual architectural practices. According to Le Corbusier, there are two ways of beauty for architecture: proportional geometry, the relationship between form and function. The architect, who advocated plain and white facades instead of traditional ornaments and decorations, published the book "Towards a New Architecture" in 1923 for the new architecture of which he was the pioneer. Le Corbusier The 5 basic principles that Le Corbusier applied in his buildings and summarize his approach to architecture can be classified as bellow; The Pilotis. The building is raised on reinforced concrete pylons, which allows for free circulation on the ground level, and eliminates dark and damp parts of the house. The Roof Terrace. The sloping roof is replaced by a flat roof; the roof can be used as a garden, for promenades, for sports or a swimming pool. The Free Plan. Load-bearing walls are replaced by steel or reinforced concrete columns, so the interior can be freely designed, and interior walls can be put anywhere, or left out entirely.. The Ribbon Window. Since the walls do not support the house, the windows can run the entire length of the house, so all rooms can get equal light. The Free Façade. Since the building is supported by columns in the interior, the façade can be much lighter and more open or made entirely of glass. There is no need for lintels or other structures around the windows. Le Corbusier Le Corbusier built his buildings, also known as "Ideal Villas" today, based on these basic principles. Villa Savoye, the most famous of Le Corbusier’s designs, is a building consisting of a rectangular prism rising on columns and going beyond the usual villa designs. Its design embodied his emblematic "Five Points", the basic tenets in his new architectural aesthetic. https://turkiyetasarimvakfi.org/tr/blog/75-le-corbusiernin-3-hali Villa Savoye Villa Savoye, which rises on columns on the land within a large grove, has a design that emphasizes the space around it. When looking at the land, first of all, the rectangular mass of the building draws attention. By transferring the load to the columns, the building could be designed with a free planning approach without the need of solid walls. Le Corbusier  The building was designed above the ground and cut off from the ground. The first floor has been moved to an upper level with columns. This principle is called “pilotis”. For this reason, Corbusier designed the ground floor only as a service floor, and the façade was painted green, trying to create the 'floating' effect desired to be achieved with pilotis. https://www.arkitektuel.com/villa-savoye-2/ Le Corbusier  By using the terrace roof, the roof level has been opened for use. In this way, the roof ceased to be just a structural element, gained a function and became a part of the living scenario presented by the architect. The terrace floor is designed as a garden. https://www.arkitektuel.com/villa-savoye-2/ Le Corbusier Ribbon windows were used. Although Le Corbusier claimed that the building received 40% more light in this way, this claim has not been proven. It is planned to increase this effect by painting the reinforced concrete structure with white. https://dergice.com/fransiz-mimar-le-corbusierin-ilgi-uyandiran-sehircilik-planlari Le Corbusier By using the open plan system, the limitations on the plan layout have been removed. However, despite using the open plan system, Le Corbusier tried to seperate the private and common spaces. Since the walls are not load-bearing elements, their placement was completely based on aesthetic and functional concerns. https://www.inexhibit.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Villa-Savoye-Le-Corbusier-Poissy-floorplans.jpg Le Corbusier By separating the façade of the building from the load-bearing elements, it has been possible to design a free façade that is not shaped by the structural system. Le Corbusier  In the two-storey building, circulation is provided by using ramps as well as stairs. As a result of the open plan layout, the ramp that provides more free movement was preferred and access to the roof floor was provided in this way. https://www.arkitektuel.com/villa-savoye-2/ Le Corbusier https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/later-europe-and-americas/modernity-ap/a/corbusier-savoye Le Corbusier https://www.flickr.com/photos/nichitecture/5495529031 Le Corbusier https://www.arkitektuel.com/villa-savoye-2/ Le Corbusier Villa Savoye was inhabited for a short time. In order to create his ideal villa, Le Corbusier ignored most of the Savoye family's requests. Concerning the Villa, it suffered from some structural and functional problems. Water leaks and cracks appeared. The villa was not insulated well and was hard to heat. Also, this concrete block clashed with the environment and the neighbors had a hard time accepting it. It was not adapted to the location, nor to the climate, nor to the inhabitants: because of the building's design, humidity, cracks and water leaks quickly appeared ; it was impossible to heat and the rooms had bad sound proofing. https://www.archdaily.com/84524/ad-classics-villa-savoye-le-corbusier Le Corbusier Unite d’Habitation Unite d'habitation, which means 'Accommodation Unit', is one of the most famous and important mass housing projects in the world. After World War II, the need for housing was at an unprecedented high. The Unite d’Habitation in Marseille, France was the first large scale project for the famed architect, Le Corbusier. In 1947, Europe was still feeling the effects of the https://www.arkitektuel.com/unite-dhabitation/ Second World War, when Le Corbusier was commissioned to design a multi-family residential housing project for the people of Marseille that were dislocated after the bombings on France. Le Corbusier Unite d’Habitation Completed in 1952, the Unite d’ Habitation was the first of a new housing project series for Le Corbusier that focused on communal living for all the inhabitants to shop, play, live, and come together in a “vertical garden city.” The Unite d’Habitation was a first, both for Le Corbusier and the ways in which to approach such a large complex to accommodate roughly 1,600 residents. Especially since Le Corbusier did not have any buildings of such a substantial scale when compared to the villas. https://www.arkitektuel.com/unite-dhabitation/ Le Corbusier Unite d’Habitation Le Corbusier’s idea of the “vertical garden city” was based on bringing the villa within a larger volume that allowed for the inhabitants to have their own private spaces, but outside of that private sector they would shop, eat, exercise, and gather together. Le Corbusier Unite d’Habitation https://lecorbusier-worldheritage.org/unite-habitation/ Le Corbusier  Unite d’Habitation https://lecorbusier-worldheritage.org/unite-habitation/ One of the most interesting and important aspects of the Unite d’Habitation is the spatial organization of the residential units. Unlike most housing projects that have a “double-stacked” corridor (a single hallway with units on either side), Le Corbusier designed the units to span from each side of the building, as well as having a double height living space reducing the number of required corridors to one every three floors. Le Corbusier Unite d’Habitation https://lecorbusier-worldheritage.org/unite-habitation/ Le Corbusier Unite d’Habitation With nearly 1,600 residents divided among eighteen floors, the design requires an innovative approach toward spatial organization to accommodate the living spaces, as well as the public, communal spaces such as shopping, eating,resting or gathering together. https://lecorbusier-worldheritage.org/unite-habitation/ Le Corbusier Unite d’Habitation The roof becomes a garden terrace that has a running track, a club, a kindergarten, a gym, and a shallow pool. Beside the roof, there are shops, medical facilities, and even a small hotel distributed throughout the interior of the building. The Unite d’Habitation is essentially https://www.archdaily.com/85971/ad-classics-unite-d-habitation-le-corbusier a “city within a city” that is spatially, as well as, functionally optimized for the residents. Le Corbusier  Unite d’Habitation https://lecorbusier-worldheritage.org/unite-habitation/ As massive as the Unite d’Habitation is, it begins to resemble the steamship that Corbusier is so intrigued with. The massive volume appears to be floating, the ribbon windows resemble the cabin windows running along the hull, while the roof garden/terrace and sculptural ventilation stacks appear as the top deck and the smoke stacks. Le Corbusier  Unite d’Habitation https://www.archdaily.com/85971/ad-classics-unite-d-habitation-le-corbusier Unite d’Habitation is one of Le Corbusier’s most important projects, as well as one of the most innovative architectural responses to a residential building. So much so, that the Unite d’ Habitation is said to have influenced the Brutalist Style with the use of brut concrete. Unite d’Habitation has since been the example for public housing across the world; however, no venture has been as successful as the Unite d’Habitation simply because the Modular proportions that Corbusier established during the project. Nonetheless, Le Corbusier’s first large scale project has proved to be one of his most significant and inspiring. Le Corbusier Ronchamp Church The Ronchamp church is one of the most unusual projects of Le Corbusier's career. In 1950, Le Corbusier was commissioned to design a new Catholic church to replace the previous church that had been destroyed during World War II. https://www.arkitektuel.com/ronchamp/ Le Corbusier Ronchamp Church Le Corbusier Ronchamp Church https://archi101.com/yapilar/ronchamp-sapeli/ The history of the hill, where this famous Ronchamp Chapel is located today, dates back to Antiquity. Le Corbusier, who initially had a deep suspicion of the Catholic Church, did not accept to design a church project, but due to the deep historical background of the location where the building will be built, he agreed to design the project with the desire to make a unique work here. Le Corbusier Ronchamp Church The Ronchamp district is a holy site for Catholics; For this reason, the church to be built was of great importance. Ronchamp has an aesthetic that is completely opposite of Corbusier's style. In fact, this church, which cannot be attributed to a single style in architecture, has a sculptural form. The inability of Ronchamp to be catogarized in a certain way makes it one of the most important https://www.arkitektuel.com/ronchamp/ architectural examples of the 20th century and Le Corbusier's career. Le Corbusier Ronchamp Church Corbusier wanted the space to be meditative and reflective in purpose. The stark white walls add to this purist mentality that when the light enters into the chapel there becomes this washed out, ethereal atmosphere. The effect of the light evokes expressive and emotional qualities that create https://www.arkitektuel.com/ronchamp/ heightened sensations in tune with the religious activities. Le Corbusier Ronchamp Church The 10 cm gaps between the roof of the church and the thick walls not only increase the impressiveness of the ambience in the interior by allowing a light beam to enter, but also give the shell forming the roof a flying appearance. Another feature of the thick, curved and masonry walls in its structure is that it contains pieces from the chapel that used to be here. By using these old pieces, it is aimed to establish a connection with the old work of the newly built work. Le Corbusier Ronchamp Church The most striking part of Ronchamp is the curved roof that peels up towards the heavens. The curving roof appears to float above the building as it is supported by embedded columns in the walls. https://archi101.com/yapilar/ronchamp-sapeli/ Le Corbusier Modulor The Modulor is an anthropometric scale of proportio devised by the Le Corbusier. This system, which Le Corbusier called "Modulor", introduces a brand new model against the meter and the English measurement system inch-foot (toe-toe), which was valid at that time. Le Corbusier Modulor Based on the dimensions of the human body and the calculation of the Golden Ratio, the architect claims that he built a coherent and consistent measurement system from 226 cm, which is considered to be the height of a "man with his arm raised" (the height a person can reach when he raises his hand), and his series of numbers developed with a certain logic. It was used as a system to set out a number of Le Corbusier's buildings and was later codified into two books. Le Corbusier Modulor The Modulor book has a special importance for readers in Turkey. As a matter of fact, Le Corbusier includes his sketches and various observations for Hagia Sophia, Topkapı and Chora in Istanbul, where he came during his Orient Travel in 1911, in the exemplary drawings he gave to support his argument. Le Corbusier Furniture Design Swivel chair Armchair Chaise Lounge In 1928 Le Corbusier began designing furniture for his buildings, in part collaborating with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand. The team created a series of steel furniture that would later become iconic pieces of the 20th century. The series, titled "Equipment for Living," included swivel chair, armchair, and chaise longue, which Le Corbusier called the "relaxing machine." Le Corbusier LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (27 March 1886 – 17 August 1969) is one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, known for his role in the development of the most enduring architectural style of the era: modernism. Born in Germany, Mies' career began in the influential studio of Peter Behrens, where Mies worked alongside two other titans of modernism, Walter Gropius and Le Corbusier. For almost a century, Mies' minimalist style has proved very popular; his famous aphorism "less is more" is still widely used. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Mies began to develop this style through the 1920s, combining the functionalist industrial concerns of his modernist contemporaries and an aesthetic drive toward minimal intersecting planes—rejecting the traditional systems of enclosed of rooms and relying heavily on glass to dissolve the boundary between the building's interior and exterior. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe  Mies’s entry for the Friedrichstrasse Skyscraper competition of 1921–22 became his first major post-war design and his first opportunity to respond to the changes taking place. He used the competition to break with the past and boldly begin again at the beginning, for him personally and for his architecture. It was his first chance to explore a building type other than the country house and to develop his own ideas about modernization and metropolitan architecture. It was his first engagement with a metropolitan program (the high-rise office building) and a metropolitan building site (which adjoined a major train station), as well as new materials and technologies of construction. http://www.secretcitytravel.com/2016/mies-friedrichstrasse-1921.jpg Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House (1951) Farnsworth house is a historical house designed and constructed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe between 1945 and 1951. The house was constructed as a one-room weekend retreat in a rural setting in Chicago's downtown. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House (1951) The single-story house consists of eight I-shaped steel columns that support the roof and floor frameworks, and therefore are both structural and expressive. In between these columns are floor-to-ceiling windows around the entire house, opening up the rooms to the woods around it. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House (1951) https://www.archdaily.com/59719/ad-classics-the-farnsworth-house-mies-van-der-rohe The windows are what provide the beauty of Mies' idea of tying the residence with its tranquil surroundings. His idea for shading and privacy was through the many trees that were located on the private site. Mies explained this concept in an interview about the glass pavilion stating, "Nature, too, shall live its own life. We must beware not to disrupt it with the color of our houses and interior fittings. Yet we should attempt to bring nature, houses, and human beings together into a higher unity." Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House (1951) Mies intended for the house to be as light as possible on the land, and so he raised the house from the ground, allowing only the steel columns to meet the ground and the landscape to extend past the residence. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House (1951) https://www.dezeen.com/2020/07/22/farnsworth-house-installation- https://en.wikiarquitectura.com/building/farnsworth-house/ replicates-decor-edith-farnsworth/ Aside from walls in the center of the house enclosing bathrooms, the floor plan is completely open exploiting true minimalism. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House (1951) https://www.dezeen.com/2020/07/22/farnsworth-house-installation-replicates-decor-edith-farnsworth/ Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Farnsworth House (1951) A central core made of wood houses the sanitary facilities and creates the separation between the kitchen, two bedrooms and living room. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Barcelona Pavilion As part of the1929 International Exposition in Barcelona Spain, the Barcelona Pavilion, designed by Mies van der Rohe, was the display of architecture's modern movement to the world. Originally named the German Pavilion, the pavilion was the face of Germany after WWI, emulating the nation’s progressively modern culture that was still rooted in its classical history. Its elegant and sleek https://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dosya:The_Barcelona_Pavilion,_Barcelona,_2010.jp design combined with rich natural g material presented Mies’ Barcelona Pavilion as a bridge into his future career, as well as architectural modernism. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe  Farnsworth House (1951) https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/mies-van-der-rohes-barcelona-pavilion- https://www.archdaily.com/109135/ad-classics-barcelona-pavilion-mies-van-der- gets-redecorated-by-another-designer-for-the-first-time rohe Barcelona chair Ludwig Mies van der Rohe