Marseilles Block
Colin Jones
Arch 120
Marseilles Block
A city population often grows faster than it can support. Le Corbusier’s idea for a city was like a well oiled machine. He said “A house is a machine for living.” *3 Charles Edouard Jeanneret was born in Switzerland in 1887. After studying arts he explored Europe for three years with sketch book in hand to discover the world. He noted “I went on a journey through several countries, far from school, and, earning my living in practical occupations, I began to open my eyes.” *3 He sketched the mosque towers and domes, church arches and detailed connections. He was influenced by many architects from Frantz Jourdain and Tony Garnier, to Adolf Loss and Frank Lloyd Wright. While working under Auguste Perret, he began to experiment with concrete. Later, during WWI he returned to Switzerland to teach at his old school, where he designed the Domino house. This project became a mass production style for a column and slab structure. This was the start of his career with concrete and town planning.
Art and painting played a very strong role in the life of Jeanneret. He decided to move to the center of the art culture, Paris. There, he started a new movement in Europe called Purism with his friend Amedee Ozenfant, who he later builds a house for. Purism was a variation of cubism, but conceived clearly and exactly without deceits. He later started a new magazine called L’Esprit Nouveau that was used as propaganda toward the purist movement from 1920-1925. This is the point where he assumes his pseudonym Le Corbusier.
In the 1920’s, he opened his studio at 35 Rue de Sevres with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, where his career in buildings started. Vers une architecture a book of his essays published in 1923, and in 1926, he published “Five Points of a New Architecture” which expressed the key features of an ideal structure. 1. The supports are precisely calculated, spaced regularly, and used to elevate the first floor off the damp
Arch 120
Marseilles Block
A city population often grows faster than it can support. Le Corbusier’s idea for a city was like a well oiled machine. He said “A house is a machine for living.” *3 Charles Edouard Jeanneret was born in Switzerland in 1887. After studying arts he explored Europe for three years with sketch book in hand to discover the world. He noted “I went on a journey through several countries, far from school, and, earning my living in practical occupations, I began to open my eyes.” *3 He sketched the mosque towers and domes, church arches and detailed connections. He was influenced by many architects from Frantz Jourdain and Tony Garnier, to Adolf Loss and Frank Lloyd Wright. While working under Auguste Perret, he began to experiment with concrete. Later, during WWI he returned to Switzerland to teach at his old school, where he designed the Domino house. This project became a mass production style for a column and slab structure. This was the start of his career with concrete and town planning.
Art and painting played a very strong role in the life of Jeanneret. He decided to move to the center of the art culture, Paris. There, he started a new movement in Europe called Purism with his friend Amedee Ozenfant, who he later builds a house for. Purism was a variation of cubism, but conceived clearly and exactly without deceits. He later started a new magazine called L’Esprit Nouveau that was used as propaganda toward the purist movement from 1920-1925. This is the point where he assumes his pseudonym Le Corbusier.
In the 1920’s, he opened his studio at 35 Rue de Sevres with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, where his career in buildings started. Vers une architecture a book of his essays published in 1923, and in 1926, he published “Five Points of a New Architecture” which expressed the key features of an ideal structure. 1. The supports are precisely calculated, spaced regularly, and used to elevate the first floor off the damp
Bibliography: 1. Le Corbusier, The Modulor, pp. 25, as cited in Padovan, Richard, Proportion: Science, Philosophy, Architecture (1999), p. 316. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0-419-22780-6 2. Fazio, Michael, Marian Moffett, and Lawrence Wodehouse. Building across Time. 3rd ed. Boston: Mc-Graw-Hill, 2009. Print. 3. Besset, Maurice. WHO WAS LE CORBUSIER. Geneve: Editions D 'Art Albert Skira, 1968. Print. 4. Evenson, Norma. Le Corbusier: The Machine and the Grand Design. New York: George Braziller, 1969. Print. 5. "Le Corbusier : Architect Biography." Le Corbusier : Architect Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2012. 6. "Le Modulor." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Sept. 2012. Web. 11 Dec. 2012. 7. Le Corbusier : Unite d’Habitation “Housing Unity” http://nooshinesmaeili.wordpress.com/2009/10/05/oct-2-le-corbusier-and-form/ Marseille, France, 1947-1952 8. Basulto , David. "Le Corbusier meets Albert Einstein" 07 Sep 2011. ArchDaily. Accessed 11 Dec 2012. http://www.archdaily.com/167240 9. Le Corbusier, Still Life, 1920. Oil on canvas, 31 7/8 x 39 1/4 in. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Van Gogh Purchase Fund. © 2007 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris/FLC. Digital Image © The Museum of Modern Art/Licensed by SCALA/Art Resource, NY