THE FAMILY / Le Corbusier

 

LE CORBUSIER, born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris in 1887 in Switzerland, was an architect, designer, urbanist, and writer, famous for being one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture. His career spanned five decades, with his buildings constructed throughout Europe, India, Japan and America. He was a pioneer in studies of modern high design and was dedicated to providing better living conditions for the residents of crowded cities. In 1918, Le Corbusier met the Cubist painter Amédée Ozenfant. Rejecting Cubism as irrational and "romantic", the pair jointly published their manifesto, 'Après le cubisme' and established a new artistic movement, Purism. They established the Purist journal 'L'Esprit nouveau'.

It was Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye (1929–1931) that most succinctly summed up his five points of architecture that he had elucidated in 'L'Esprit Nouveau' and his book 'Vers une architecture'. By 1927, Le Corbusier was among the world's leading practitioners of the New Architecture. He collaborated with Charlotte Perriand on furniture – including the LC4 – which is still an icon of modern design. Around 1942, he formulated his "Modulor" theory to facilitate architecture on a human scale. In the 1950s, an opportunity to translate the Radiant City on a large scale occurred in the construction of the Union Territory Chandigarh and the first planned city in India. In 1952, the first 'Unité d'Habitation' was completed in Marseille, followed by further modular residential units and the pilgrimage chapel at Ronchamps in 1955 – He died in 1965 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France.