1887: Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known to the world as Le Corbusier, is born in the Swiss city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. He will change his name and take French citizenship in his 30s. More importantly, he will help pioneer the International Style of architecture and is one of the most influential proponents of the machine aesthetic.
Jeanneret-Gris’ interest in design and architecture came early in life. He attended the local art school, where he studied under architect Rene Chapallaz, who became a major influence. After moving to Paris in 1907, he toiled for Auguste Perret, an architect renowned for his work in reinforced concrete construction. A few years later he continued on to Berlin, where he became fluent in German and schooled under Peter Behrens, another architect with bohemian predilections esteemed for his industrial designs.
By the time he returned to Switzerland, where he spent the World War I years, Jeanneret-Gris’ guiding aesthetic was well formed.
Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, France. Built 1950-1954. Le Corbusier’s later work, while still in machine-age reinforced concrete, assumed more sculptural forms, as in this hilltop chapel.
Villa Savoye, Poissy-sur-Seine, France. Built 1928.
In adopting the single-name pseudonym Le Corbusier, when he returned to Paris shortly after the war, Jeanneret was following a popular bohemian practice of the time. He took the name, in fact, during a brief period where he abandoned architecture for painting and sculpture. Like his artistic brethren, Le Corbusier was making a symbolic statement that anyone was capable of reinventing himself.
But his estrangement from the drafting table didn’t last long. By 1922, he was back at it, picking up where he had left off, this time in partnership with his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret.
That meant continuing the theoretical development of the style that would come to define not only his own work but an entire school of architecture. If his early years were spent as a provincial architect, his aesthetic was anything but. His formative work, which included a number of private homes and villas, reflected his reverence for the machine aesthetic.
Le Corbusier admired the design of well-built automobiles and the great trans-Atlantic steamships of interbellum Europe. His attitude can be summed up by his most famous quote: “A house is a machine for living in.” (The man was born and raised in a town known for its watchmaking. How Swiss is that?)
Heidi Weber Museum (Centre Le Corbusier), Zurich, Switzerland. Built 1967. This colorful, even playful, building is Le Corbusier’s last, completed two years after he died.
Sainte Marie de La Tourette, near Lyon, France. Built 1957. The concrete monastery is appropriately severe, though still redolent of Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye three decades earlier. This design was a precursor to concrete work by others around the world in a style dubbed the New Brutalism.
His signature buildings, for example the Villa Savoye outside of Paris (built in the late ’20s), embody this architectural style, which he referred to generally as Purism, after the art form that was itself a rejection of Cubism. The lines are clean and sharp (in contrast to the full and curvaceous lines of Streamline Moderne, then very popular), and the interior functions are precise and laid out in a modular way. Villa Savoye is also built on reinforced concrete stilts, another Le Corbusier trademark and one of his “five points of architecture.”
But Le Corbusier didn’t limit himself to the design of single structures. He’s also remembered for his theories on urban planning and renewal, which, again, reflected his rejection of traditional models. Never one to make modest proposals, Le Corbusier tried to interest Parisian officials in bulldozing the Marais and replacing the district with a forest of egalitarian skyscrapers surrounded by tracts of open space. For Le Corbusier, this radical plan represented a complete break with the past, something he continually advocated as necessary for society to advance.
Fortunately for Paris, if not the betterment of society, his idea was rejected.
Frustrated in his dream of becoming the latter-day Baron Haussmann, Le Corbusier looked elsewhere for opportunities to implement his Radiant City urban plan. Eventually, a number of these unités were built around Europe, the first (and most famous) of these in Marseilles. If they bear more than a passing resemblance to Soviet-style architecture, it’s worth noting that Le Corbusier was influenced by his study of an earlier communal project, the Narkomfin Building in Moscow.
Secretariat Building, Chandigarh, India. Built 1953. This state-government building combines the formalism of Le Corbusier’s earlier Purist designs with a generous hint of the muscular, sculptural forms that appeared later.
Church of Saint-Pierre
Church of Saint-Pierre, interior
Like a lot of so-called visionaries, Le Corbusier was an active self-promoter. He authored numerous books on architecture and design and openly courted protégés. Like modern-day Apple devotees slobbering at the feet of Steve Jobs, Le Corbusier’s acolytes worshiped him with blind, near-religious fervor.
His critics, however, were less sanguine. The harshest of them argued that his urban designs, especially, were cold and sterile, and worse, the product of technical incompetence.
Nevertheless, by the time he died in 1965, Le Corbusier’s enormous influence on 20th-century architectural sensibilities was indisputable. He ranks in a select pantheon alongside such worthies as Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright.
An architect designs homes, libraries, museums and other structures or environments. Here are some famous modern architects and their signature creations.
R. Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) Fuller was also an engineer and a poet. He was known for his revolutionary designs that were both innovative and efficient. He developed the Dymaxion principle, which called for producing the maximum while using the least possible amount of material and energy. His most famous creation was the geodesic dome.
Frank Gehry (b. 1929) Many of Gehry's designs are oddly shaped and made from a variety of materials, such as corrugated metal and chain-link fencing. His best-known project is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.
Michael Graves (b. 1934) Graves is known for his postmodernist, often colorful projects. Postmodernism is a playful style of art and architecture that was developed after 1970. He also designs furniture and home accessories. Graves designed the Walt Disney Company headquarters in Burbank, California.
Maya Lin (b. 1959) Lin earned fame when, as a student at Yale, she won a contest to design the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. She also designed the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Alabama.
I. M. Pei (b. 1917) Pei, who was born in China and educated in the United States, has designed landmarks all over the world. He frequently incorporates marble, concrete and glass into his geometrically precise designs. Some of his most famous designs include the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, the expansion of the Louvre in Paris and the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Massachusetts.
Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959) Wright is widely considered the greatest American architect. He developed the prairie style of architecture in Chicago. The prairie style features low horizontal lines, earth-tone colors and protruding overhangs. Although he mostly designed homes and furniture, Wright also designed the Oak Park Unity Temple near Chicago and the Larkin Office Building in Buffalo, New York.
In the Red Blue Chair, Gerrit Rietveld manipulated rectilinear volumes and examined the interaction of vertical and horizontal planes, much as he did in his architecture.
Although the chair was originally designed in 1918, its color scheme of primary colors (red, yellow, blue) plus black—so closely associated with the de Stijl group and its most famous theorist and practitioner Piet Mondrian—was applied to it around 1923.
Hoping that much of his furniture would eventually be mass-produced rather than handcrafted, Rietveld aimed for simplicity in construction. The pieces of wood that comprise the Red Blue Chair are in the standard lumber sizes readily available at the time.
Tuscan architecture combines modern and classic elements that make up pure Old World Europe. The beauty of architecture Tuscan style comes from the typical custom crafted natural stone. This includes limestone, travertine and marble. Terracotta floor and roof tiles are often used to give the antique feel. In Tuscan architecture, wooden beams are often refurbished from Tuscan farmhouses.
Tuscany architecture involves fine Italian building materials that create beautiful marble fireplaces, wrought iron gates and amazing fountains.
Integrating Tuscan elements brings a sense of Old-World charm and mystique to indoor and outdoor aspects of your home.
Exterior architecture typically include:
Tile roof Wrought iron front door entrance Walls covered with vines Crumbling stone walls that outline patios and walkways Beautiful travertine cobblestone driveways Brick or stone set garden paving Tuscan Landscape : Lavender, rosemary and sage can be found surrounding a Tuscan style home. Old lemon pots and antique jars give the feel of a Tuscany garden .
Interior architecture typically include:
Walls: Plaster walls with hand painted wall treatments. Usage of warm colors that represent the rolling hills of Tuscany bring the feel of basking under the Tuscan sun! Mediterranean decor involves subtle earth tones. These are standard in French Country decorating.
Ceilings: Textured richly. Stenciled borders can be found along the ceilings. Paneled or vaulted ceilings are a typical choice in decor as it creates pure Tuscany architectural framework. Wooden or chestnut beams provide a rustic feel to the Old World style home.
Floor: Glass, stone and tile are often used to create amazing mosaic art for flooring, which works well with table tops. Terracotta tiles, marble and ceramic flooring marks true Tuscany home decor . Selection of marbles that blend nicely with your Tuscan color palette.
Tuscany architecture uses pale travertine in home flooring. Marble Chips, stucco and crushed stone are polished nicely creating terrazo floors.
Your home can be so beautiful when choosing architecture Tuscan style!
The finalists for BD’s Architect of the Year Awards 2008 have been announced, with Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, BDP and John McAslan & Partners all gaining four nominations.
Maccreanor Lavington and Shedkm are nominated in two of the 14 categories, both competing with Allford Hall Monaghan Morris for Private Housing Architect of the Year (over 14 units).
The winners will be announced on October 30 at the London Hilton on Park Lane.
BD’s Architect of the Year Awards 2008 shortlist
Affordable Housing Architect of the Year
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
Jestico & Whiles
Levitt Bernstein Associates
Maccreanor Lavington
Stock Woolstencroft
Private Housing Architect of the Year (over 14 units)
Allford Hall Monaghan Morris
Broadway Malyan
Maccreanor Lavington
Richard Murphy Architects
Shedkm
Private Housing Architect of the Year (one to 14 units)
Howard J. Backen cautions against believing the stereotype. “It’s a misconception,” he says, “that an architect’s ego should overwhelm the work. In actual practice, a vital part of any successful project is the collaborative architect-client relationship.”
Northern California-based Backen Gillam Architects (a 40-person firm he leads with his partner, James Gillam) adheres to a design philosophy based on siting a building in harmony with nature and in accordance with the client’s goals.
“I’m interested only in making happen what a particular project wants to happen. I take all the factors involved—the clients’ thoughts and living patterns, site, location, budget—and they tell me what to do. There are no preconceived notions.”
Exhibition will celebrate architect's multidisciplinary approach to design
An exhibition of le Corbusier's work will open on Tuesday in Liverpool as part of the city's European Capital of Culture events.
The show includes models of the architect's most influential buildings, from the arts-and-crafts houses in his native Switzerland to the Ronchamp chapel and his designs for Chandigarh in India.
It will also explore Le Corbusier's multidisciplinary approach to design, combining art and film with urban planning and architecture.
The exhibition will be the first ever staged in the crypt of Liverpool's Roman Catholic cathedral. It will remain there until 18 January, then move to another UK location – the Barbican Arts Centre in London, where it will be on view from 19 February to 24 May.
A new floating home on LakeUnion, Seattle, Washington, designed by Vandeventer + Carlander Architects .
Its one of the eight proposed new floating homes in the home dock located on LakeUnion. To maximize the interior volume & outdoor entertaining space it has the public spaces on the second level & the private spaces on the floating level.
So the floating level accommodates the entry, master bedroom & bathroom, & guest room & bathroom. The translucent staircase connects the two levels.
