As a part of an interesting history subject, we had to study various readings + articles produced by architects in the modern architectural movement. The final assessment item was a critical written review of an article of our choice. I chose to review Le Corbusier's controversial "Architecture or Revolution" article. Here's my response...
Controversy over Le Corbusiers’ influence on the modern architectural movement in the early twentieth century.
Le Corbusier’s revolutionary ideas and abstract designs were at the forefront of Modern architectural innovation. However, they were also subject to much public scrutiny. It is important to remember, that while the works of Le Corbusier do not look out of place within modern society today, at the time of their conception they were deemed extremely radical. Many books have been published showcasing the great works of Le Corbusier, including his own writings, Vers une architecture- Towards an Architecture. But what was it that made these works so evocative and controversial?
To best answer this question it is important to identify the inspiration and influences behind Le Corbusier’s design ideas, how they formed, and manifested into defining characteristics of modernity in the twentieth century. Therefore, this essay aims to explore how the theory of modernity influenced the master’s design thinking and how it manifested in his conceptualisation of new aesthetic and lofty ideas for a utopian society. The purpose of this exploration is to develop a coherent perspective on Le Corbusier’s design principles and their controversial relationship with fundamentals of modernity in the twentieth century.
It is difficult to determine the starting date of modernism as its reach is very broad. According to architect and historian Richard Weston, modernity in architecture emerged from artistic movements in the second decade of the twentieth century, it reflected the era’s technical innovations and was defined by a concern for abstraction, space and transparency.[i] Le Corbusier’s work related to this theory of modernity. Architectural historian, Reyner Banham, also supports this point, stating ‘The Modern Movement was the most dominant style of the 20th century which existed in a period between 1925 and 1970.’[ii] Le Corbusier entered the Modern scene and had the most impact upon it between the early twentieth century and the mid-twentieth century.
‘Le Corbusier’s worldwide influence depended as
much on his talent for presenting his work in words,
drawings and photographs as on the inventiveness
and beauty of his buildings.’
Richard Weston
Le Corbusier’s initial discovery of ideas and forms manifested into defining characteristics of modernity in the twentieth century. These characteristics relate to his affinity for traditional architecture, in particular the Parthenon’s materiality, order and proportion, and according to Le Corbusier, its ‘machine-like’ qualities.[iii] Le Corbusier’s design principles and the way in which they are implemented in the Villa Savoye are also evidence of his controversial impact on the modern movement.
A Brief Modern History
‘ Modern Architecture should proffer a new
set of symbolic forms more directly reflecting
contemporary realities than the rag-bag of ‘historical styles’.’
William J.R Curtis
The revolution and integration of social, philosophical and aesthetic values brought about a reaction that can be termed as modernism. Early in the 20th century Modern Architecture evolved to reconcile an idealized vision of society with the forces of the Industrial Revolution. It should be noted that location played a large role in the early part of the modernist movement. The Industrial Revolution was prevalent in the more industrially advanced nations of the United States and Western Europe. Particularly Germany and France, where Le Corbusier discovered the plastic qualities of concrete, working under reinforced concrete pioneers, Peter Behrens and Auguste Perret.[iv] The Industrial Revolution brought about many changes including mechanization of cities and the new introduction of materials such as iron, glass, steel and reinforced concrete. In terms of production, human labour was traditionally the most viable option, however as the Industrial Revolution gained momentum, increasingly qualitative and quantitative material production processes became cheaper and more affordable. This was an important turn of events, and very controversial as it initiated the swing from hand crafts and trade to more mechanized mass production. Ornately decorated Art Nouveau buildings were beginning to be replaced by glass enveloped buildings like the Werkbund Pavilion by modern architect, Walter Gropius. It is noted in ‘Modern Architecture since 1900’ that Le Corbusier admired this form, and began to realise the necessity for an alliance between art and the machine.[v]
Other notable factors relating to this time were experimental clients and creative architects intent on expressing the new state of material objects in spaces and forms[vi]. Le Corbusier not only fit the mould of the Modern architect he helped define the movement. He also pushed the boundaries in terms of abstract form and innovative material compositions. Le Corbusier’s implementation of materials was similar to that of Frank Lloyd Wright, as Wright declared “Every new material, means a new form, a new use if used according to its nature.”[vii]
Search for ideal forms
‘As for me, I do not contribute to the idea that you
Have to have a position in life by the age of 25…
I feel drawn to a much less tie- down idea of life…
More like a symphony than the ticking of a clock.’
Charles Edouard Jeanereat (Le Corbusier), 1911
Le Corbusier was an architect, painter, sculptor, urbanist, and author, he was even considered as a philosopher. Throughout Le Corbusier’s career his style changed and developed as he was exposed to different forms of art and architecture. It began with Art Nouveau, Idealism, Cubism and then onto his own iconic painting style, Purism. The rationalist and spatial concepts of Purism went on to form a basis for Le Corbusier’s architectural style.
Le Corbusier’s initial style was influenced by mentor and art teacher Charles L’Eplattenier[viii]. This style was Jura Regionalism, an Art Nouveau local vernacular architecture relating to the Swiss Jura, an area where Le Corbusier grew up.
L’Eplattenier encouraged the young Le Cobusier’s study and observation of nature, prompting him to look beyond appearances to the underlying structures of plants and fossils, stressing to him the beauty of simple geometrical forms.[ix] Natural geometric forms similar to the ones L’Eplattenier speaks of are evident in Le Corbusier’s later work. This explains the master’s strong affinity for nature and how its natural order can be related to architecture.
Early travels to European capital cities further exposed a young Le Corbusier to Art Nouveau, Regionalism architecture and also classical architecture[x]. While living in Vienna at the age of twenty, Le Corbusier secured two housing commissions, Jaquemet and Stotzer houses. The controversy of his design thinking is first evident in these house projects. Le Corbusier designed an organic, evocative curved roof for the Villa Stotzer. However, the roof had to be simplified into two straight edges because Le Corbusier’s original idea was too hard to construct.[xi] While this initial style didn’t have a major impact on Modernism, it should be noted that it was considered part of the early Modern movement, American architectural historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock argues in the book, Modern Architecture- since 1900, that “Art Nouveau was actually the start of modern architecture in Europe, if modernism is understood as the total rejection of historicism.[xii]” It certainly show cased Le Corbusier’s early innovative design intent, laying solid foundations for the development of his later works and the similar links they make to nature.
The most notable of Le Corbusiers travel experiences occurred at the Acropolis in Greece. According to William J.R Curtis, an architectural historian whose writings focus on modern architecture in the 20th century, Le Corbusier had a deep affinity for the Parthenon and its architectural history.[xiii] Quite taken by its proportions, Le Corbusier noted that it was ‘an example of ‘supreme mathematics’, and compared its rigorous discipline to that of an automobile.’[xiv] It became evident that LeCorbusier was interested in creating beautiful forms from elements in a project that also served the buildings function.
Curtis describes Le Corbusier as a “utopian with one eye on the future, as he turned to the past for inspiration.”[xv] This characteristic of relating to the historic, defined Le Corbusier’s style, and is also what made him so influential. In order to be influential one must present strong and clear ideas, Le Corbusier’s work did just that.
However progressive and abstract his work may have been, his ties back to rational and systematic classical architecture present a clear design intent, which still emanates today. As Swiss architectural critic Sigfried Giedion stated, “Le Corbusier makes it easy for historians. His development line runs straight, and it is roughly as in the following way:
The idea is engaged with the visionary in its entirety from the beginning. In detail, it technically changed over the years, as it requested implementation and progressive realization. This determination enshrined in the unconscious appears to us at all times one of the characteristics of the brilliant talents.”[xvi]
‘Architecture or Revolution’
It should be noted here that there is controversy over Le Corbusier’s political beliefs and aspirations. These ideas will not be followed in-depth because information surrounding the topic is in-conclusive. There is an argument proposed in the Constantine Report by journalist Xavier de Jarcy, he proclaims, “I discovered he [Le Corbusier] was simply an outright fascist.”[xvii]
However, whatever Le Corbusier’s political stance was, he certainly had opportunities to express these views through his work. It is evident that Le Corbusier cared greatly about the work he produced and the effect it had on society, this point is evident in ‘Architecture or Revolution’ article written by Le Corbusier.
Le Corbusier firmly believed that with the growing technology of the industrial revolution could make everything possible.[xviii] In particular Le Corbusier envisioned affordable mass produced high quality architecture for all classes of society. It is ideas like this that made Le Corbusier highly influential and also evocative.
Looking at Le Corbusier’s proposed ideas through the French Journal L’Esprit Nouveau (1920-1925) it can be surmised that Le Corbusier was intent on creating better living conditions for all classes of people. This is further supported by his creation of the Domino House. A house designed to counteract the housing devastation left by World War One. The structure system of this house was would carry through many of his later projects.
Villa Savoye and Five Points of design
‘Une maison est une machine-à-habiter.’
‘A house is a machine for living in.’
Le Corbusier, Vers Une Architecture, 1923
The Villa Savoye was originally designed as a holiday house for the wealthy Savoye family in 1929. It was a controversial project because it had deep historical roots, the Pilotis it sits on draws comparisons to the columns of the Parthenon. Yet, it was highly innovative, emanating Le Corbusier’s newly formed Five Points of architecture. The project also exuded a number of Le Corbusier’s philosophies and gave poetic expression to his world view.[xix]
After making contact with the German Design organisation, the Werkund, there is a central idea that the young Le Corbusier picked up: ‘Architecture must have a major cultural mission in industrial society through the spiritualization of types for mass-production.’[xx]
This idea is exuded through Le Corbusier’s modern development of architectural points and construction systems. In a society that had mass production thrust upon it, Le Corbusier placed a strong emphasis on quality of human life and attempted to express this ideal through the Villa Savoye.
In the design of the Villa, Le Corbusier achieved this through positing a Utopian order, with its form intensified through proportional expertise and the discoveries of Purist painting.[xxi] To further understand the Villa Savoye it will be beneficial to identify the structural ‘skeleton’ of the building and its relation to Le Corbusier’s earlier Domino house concept. The Domino house, a system first created to address housing shortages after the First World War, it is often presented as an icon of Le Corbusier’s modern architecture.[xxii]
While working for French Architect, Auguste Perret, Le Corbusier learnt about reinforced concrete. Perret, a pioneer of the modern building system, taught a young Le Corbusier about the Skeleton frame on which the concrete slabs were supported. Perret told Le Corbusier, “grasp the skeleton, and you grasp the art.” Le Corbusier definitely “grasped the art,” in fact he further developed a system of his own. The Domino house, a system based around reinforced concrete slabs supported by central concrete columns. However unlike Perret’s system, Le Corbusier pushed the slabs out past their vertical supports which created evocative cantilevers. It is so compelling that Le Corbusier learnt such a modern system of building from Perret and then expanded on it and pushed it even further. This is what made Le Corbusier evocative, the fact that he was always at the forefront of technology, and trying new ideas cemented his place as one of the most influential figures of modernism.
‘From what is emotion born? From a certain relationship
between definite elements: cylinders, an even floor,
even walls. From a certain harmony with the things that
make up the site.From a plastic system that spreads its
effects over every part of the composition.
From aunity of idea that reaches from the unity of materials
used to the unity of the general contour.’ Le Corbusier
Speaking of controversial concepts, The Villa Savoye was the first of Le Corbusier’s buildings to convey a spatial concept in which he termed ‘ineffable space.’ In an article of the same name Le Corbusier refers to this concept as the fourth dimension of architecture.[xxiii] Unlike a Cubist or Purist piece of art that evoked two and three dimensional spatial concepts, the fourth dimension achieved through architecture takes it to another level. It involves time and change affecting ones perception while actually moving through a space. In relation to the Villa Savoye Curtis explains that the form of the building is understood by comparing various scenographic incidents and fitting them together as growing sense of the whole.[xxiv] Proportion of elements in the Villa Savoye have been carefully planned to serve a functional purpose and also contribute to the buildings form. A form which Giedion referred to in Space Time & Architecture as ‘a construction in space-time’ for the very reason that it can only be observed completely from multiple views.[xxv] These comments made by Giedion support Curtis’ observations and also allude to the suggestion that these ‘multiple views’ and ‘various scenographic incidents’ are part of Le Corbusiers equation to achieving ‘ineffable space.’ To complete the equation Le Corbusier employed the plastic means- ‘Five Points of Architecture’ to achieve moments of limitless escape.[xxvi]
The Five Points of architecture outline the foundations for Le Corbusiers modern architectural style. These were the key points that drove Le Cobusier’s innovative designs. According to Curtis, they were the creation of a vocabulary based on reinforced-concrete construction and applicable to all the tasks of modern industrial civilization.[xxvii] The Five points of architecture relate to modernity because they evoked the abstraction of ideas whilst utilising new modern materials like steel glass and concrete. The five points were controversial because firstly they challenged conventional forms of building and secondly they went on to influence modern architecture still today.
Pilotis are the first point, in the Villa Savoye these are the round columns that support the concrete slab floor and internal structure of the building. Pilotis and internal structural skeleton is pivotal in relation to creating the second point, the Free Façade- external walls that bear no load. The Ribbon window, enabled to stretch the entire length of the façade thanks to the Free Facade. This window was initially claimed to let in better quality light but as Richard Weston argues, it was primarily formal, presented to striking a contrast to traditional upright windows.[xxviii] The Free plan is a point allowing new spatial ideas to be conceived without the restrictions of an external load bearing wall. The last point is the Roof Garden, which is achieved by raising the building on Pilotis. As it can be seen here, the five points all relate and even depend on each other. The link to nature is strong embracing gardens in the design process and also allowing the nature environment to flow underneath the main structure. Proportion is also an important factor when looking at Le Corbusier’s work, in this case the Villa Savoye. The building could be totally different, and maybe not so provocative if the proportions of the Five Points weren’t spatially arranged harmoniously.
Conclusion
There is no doubting that Le Corbusier was a controversial figure in Modern Architecture in the early twentieth century. His work and ideas coincided with those of Modernity. His design philosophy and it manifestation in design have been proven as the drivers of the movement at the time. He was deemed controversial because he was always moving forward, creating new ideas and testing new technologies. In terms of professional development, Le Corbusier developed lessons learnt from his mentors into more innovative ideas. The Industrial Revolution also strongly influenced Le Corbusier, in particular the possibility that it could increase the quality of life for everyone.
What set him apart from other figures at the time was his appreciation for the classical and a deep affinity for nature. The Villa Savoye is a prominent project that reflects these ideas. Le Corbusier was at the forefront of the new modern paradigm yet his ideas and design principles had classical links. To finally sum up this argument, Le Corbusier’s impact on Modern Architecture is undeniable. Without the controversy of Le Corbusier’s influence, modern architecture as it is seen today would not be the same.
References
There are no sources in the current document.
[i] Weston, R. (2011). 100 Ideas That Changed Architecture. London: Laurence King. p126
[ii] Banham, R. (1967). Theory and design in the first machine age (2d ed.). New York: Praeger.
[iii] Curtis, W. (1996). Modern architecture since 1900 (3rd ed.). London: Phaidon. p165
[iv] Curtis, W. (1986). Le Corbusier: Ideas and forms. New York: Rizzoli.
[v] Curtis, W. (1996). Modern architecture since 1900 (3rd ed.). London: Phaidon. p165
[vi] Curtis, W. (1996). Modern architecture since 1900 (3rd ed.). London: Phaidon. p33
[vii] Weston, R. (2011). 100 Ideas That Changed Architecture. London: Laurence King. p129
[viii] Curtis, W. (1996). Modern architecture since 1900 (3rd ed.). London: Phaidon.
[ix] Curtis, W. (1996). Modern architecture since 1900 (3rd ed.). London: Phaidon p163
[x] Curtis, W. (1996). Modern architecture since 1900 (3rd ed.). London: Phaidon p13
[xi] Curtis, W. (1986). Le Corbusier: Ideas and forms. New York: Rizzoli.
[xii] Roth, L. (1993). Understanding architecture: Its elements, history, and meaning (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Icon Editions.
[xiii] Curtis, W. (1996). Modern architecture since 1900 (3rd ed.). London: Phaidon.
[xiv] Curtis, W. (1986). Le Corbusier: Ideas and forms. New York: Rizzoli. p34
[xv] Curtis, W. (1996). Modern architecture since 1900 (3rd ed.). London: Phaidon.
[xvi] Sigfried Giedion, (27 July,1932) “Le Corbusier in Genf”, Neue Zürcher Zeitung no.1403, p.2
[xvii] Ames, N. (2015, April 22). Controversy Over Le Corbusier Fascism Claims - The Constantine Report. Retrieved May 16, 2015, from http://www.constantinereport.com/controversy-le-corbusier-fascism-claims/
[xviii] Le Corbusier. (2007) Towards a new architecture: Architecture or Revolution. London: Architectural Press.
[xix] Curtis, W. (1996). Modern architecture since 1900 (3rd ed.). London: Phaidon. p285
[xx] Curtis, W. (1986). Le Corbusier: Ideas and forms. New York: Rizzoli.
[xxi] Curtis, W. (1996). Modern architecture since 1900 (3rd ed.). London: Phaidon. p285
[xxii] Weston, R. (2011). 100 Ideas That Changed Architecture. London: Laurence King. p140
[xxiii] Le Corbusier (1948). New world of space: Ineffable Space. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock.
[xxiv] Curtis, W. (1996). Modern architecture since 1900 (3rd ed.). London: Phaidon. p275
[xxv] Giedion, Sigfried. (1954). Space, Time, and Architecture- The Growth of a New Tradition (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1941. p.531
[xxvi] Le Corbusier (1948). New world of space: Ineffable Space. New York: Reynal & Hitchcock.
[xxvii] Curtis, W. (1996). Modern architecture since 1900 (3rd ed.). London: Phaidon. P176
[xxviii] Weston, R. (2011). 100 Ideas That Changed Architecture. London: Laurence King. 140