Soviet period Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier in France: the itinerary of the architects of Le Corbusier

IN2015 a monument to the greatest architect of the 20th century, Le Corbusier, was unveiled in Moscow. The monument is installed next to the only building in Russia, designed by him(st. Myasnitskaya, 39). IN30- 1990s, this building belonged to Tsentrosoyuz, under this name it entered the history of architecture. Now Rosstat is located there. So why in Soviet Moscow they built a house designed by a bourgeois architect? Could there be more houses like this?? And what does the building of the Central Union and the usual Khrushchev have in common?

For the Soviet avant-garde, Le Corbusier was like David Bowie for Soviet rock. The comparison is, of course, a stretch, but it gives some idea of the scale of the phenomenon. The 1920s, the first post-revolutionary decade, were the heyday of avant-garde art in the USSR: in painting, design, photography, and architecture. Then many avant-garde figures received official status in the young country, Malevich, Rodchenko, Tatlin, Stepanova and many others were recognized by the new government and called to serve the people. Constructivism was the main avant-garde trend in architecture. Ginzburg, Melnikov, the Vesnin brothers, Leonidov - these are the best of the best who worked in this style.

The main ideas of constructivism - simplicity and functionality - were absolutely in tune with the ideas that Le Corbusier promoted and implemented in European architecture. "A house is a machine for living", - these words of Le Corbusier could belong to any representative of the school of Soviet constructivism.

Villa Savoy in the Parisian suburb of Poissy by Le Corbusier. Photo: Omar Barcena

Le Corbusier became an influential theorist of architecture in his youth. In 1914, twenty-seven-year-old Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris (this is the real name of Le Corbusier), after an internship at the architectural office of the Perret brothers in Paris, opened his own architectural workshop. Even then, he was an ardent supporter of the use of reinforced concrete in construction. For the first time this material began to be used in his projects by his teacher, Auguste Perret. In the same 1914, Corbusier patented the Dom-Ino project, where the idea of \u200b\u200bbuilding a building was first formalized.

In 1919, together with the artist Ozenfant, they begin to publish the magazine L'Esprit Nouveau ("Esprit Nouveau"), where the pseudonym Le Corbusier first appeared as a signature under an article. In this journal, Le Corbusier published a manifesto that brought him European fame. It was called "Five starting points of modern architecture" and contained five principles that soon became known to every progressive architect. Here they are:

The house is built on separate pillars. Car traffic is possible under the house or. The house seems to float above it all.
The roof is made in the form of a terrace, flat. It is possible to use the roof functionally, including laying out a garden on it.
The layout inside the building is free, it becomes possible due to the use of a reinforced concrete frame. Now the walls are no longer load-bearing, so inside the building they play the role of just partitions, they can be moved at will, which provides significant savings in the internal volume of the building, as well as materials.
Windows in the frame architecture of the house can be located along the entire facade with a continuous tape, which increases the functionality of the window and improves illumination.
The facade is relieved of the load, since the supporting columns are moved outside it, inside the house. Thus, the façade is formed from light curtain wall panels and rows of windows, which leads to significant savings in materials and the possibility of further constructive replacement of the façade.

Le Corbusier became a highly successful popularizer of his ideas. In 1922, he opened an architectural office in Paris, and in 1925 he proposed a sensational plan for the reconstruction of the center of Paris - "Plan Voisin", which brought him scandalous fame. Le Corbusier's impudent project called for the demolition of residential areas of a large part of the center of Paris and the construction of a modern business center on this site, consisting of eighteen 50-story towers with infrastructure. The plan was eventually rejected, but the noisy controversy in the press did not subside for a long time.

Prior to that, in 1924, in the suburbs of Bordeaux, according to the project of Le Corbusier, a more modest, but also very significant project for the urban development of those years, was implemented: the village "Modern Houses of Frouges", which consisted of fifty low-rise standard houses - one of the first experiences in the construction of cheap and fast serial housing in Europe.

The activities of Corbusier, who was becoming more and more famous in the world, could not pass by Soviet architects. There was no Iron Curtain then, information about new principles and trends reached the USSR quite quickly. Therefore, most constructivist architects became ardent admirers of the work of Le Corbusier. He was surprisingly related to them in terms of views, and as a theorist and popularizer of modern architecture, he knew no equal. In the late 1920s, Le Corbusier was even a member of the editorial board of the Soviet journal Modern Architecture.

With all this, by the end of the 1920s, Corbusier had no major completed projects. The projects of several villas near Paris in the avant-garde style made of reinforced concrete, in which its five principles were used, as well as the Esprit Nouveau pavilion at the International Exhibition in Paris, which was a model of a residential apartment in a frame house, were embodied. Therefore, Le Corbusier was interested in a major project. And then the competition Tsentrosoyuz building project in Moscow came in handy, and constructivist architects who were well acquainted with Corbusier and sympathetic to him warmly supported the idea of his participation in the competition.

The competition was announced in 1928. It was attended by both leading Soviet and several foreign architects. After three stages of the competition and quite a long debate, the board of the Centrosoyuz decided to commission the final design of Le Corbusier. Not the last role in the decision of the board was played by the appeal of leading constructivist architects.

The construction of the building lasted from 1930 to 1936, it was supervised by the Soviet architect N.Ya. Collie. During the construction process, the project was repeatedly refined in close cooperation with Le Corbusier. The complex, which is now architectural monument of constructivism, consists of three main working buildings of the same height, but of different lengths, located with the letter “H”, and a parabolic-shaped building connected to them into a single unit with a conference room. In the complex, you can easily find the embodiment of all five principles of Le Corbusier.

The buildings rise on pillars, partially, however, hidden by the walls of the facade. , as expected, flat. The windows are no longer tape, but form a continuous glazing. They can even be defined as glass double-layer walls with a vacuum between the layers to improve thermal insulation. The unglazed surfaces of the façade are made of light suspended slabs of pink tuff. The interior layout is free, with large open spaces and interfloor ramps.

Le Corbusier noted that 2,500 workers have all the conditions for work: a conference room, a dining room, wide sloping ramps as stairs and continuous mechanical elevators. In the 1930s, it was indeed the most modern office building with high level comfort. Today, the building continues to function successfully. Truth, appearance its after the recent renovation of the glazing does not match the original.

The building of the Central Union today. Photo: Yuri Virovets

In the future, Corbusier twice offered his projects for implementation in the USSR. But, as they say, no luck. One of these projects was dedicated to global restructuring of Moscow. It appeared after Corbusier was asked to express his opinion on the concept of the socialist city of the architect N.A. Milyutin. Apparently, Milyutin's ideas seemed to Corbusier not global enough. Instead of analyzing Milyutin's project, he writes his "Response to Moscow". The meaning of the answer can be expressed something like this: guys, stop exchanging over trifles, it’s better to do a really large-scale business, here I sketched something for you. The "answer" was accompanied by extensive material from drawings on twenty sheets. In terms of boldness and breadth of conception, the project surpassed even the famous Plan Voisin. Only in this case, the whole of Moscow was offered to the root, except for a small island around the Kremlin. And instead build a completely different city, functionally divided into administrative, residential and industrial sectors. Blocks of skyscrapers, a lot of parks around, and everything that prevents this from being mercilessly demolished - this is Le Corbusier's urban planning concept.

Of course, the chances that this Le Corbusier project would be seriously considered by anyone, and even more so - accepted, were zero. And frankly, thank God. However, the project itself did not disappear without a trace, but served as the basis for the further development of Corbusier's urban planning ideas in the famous Radiant City project, which he later sought to implement around the world.

The second coming of Le Corbusier to the USSR was associated with participation in competition for the design of the Palace of Soviets. It was a grandiose event in the world of architecture. In addition to Corbusier, such luminaries of European architecture as Gropius and O. Perret took part in the competition. The competition was announced in July 1931 and lasted for almost two years in several rounds.

Le Corbusier's project was, as always, innovative and avant-garde. The skeleton of the structure was brought outside, forming a naked structural skeleton, and the internal volumes were suspended from it on steel cables. The large hall for 14,000 seats, with acoustics calculated using light waves, had the shape of a parabola, just like in the Tsentrosoyuz building. This project is considered one of the undoubted creative achievements of Le Corbusier. It is known that at the presentation of the layout before state commission led by Stalin, the master played the Internationale on the double bass. And the last verse was played right on the shrouds of the layout roof, specially made of strings. But Stalin did not appreciate the beauty of the moment and only casually threw to the interpreter: “Can he do Suliko like this?”

Not impressed high commission neither the constructivism of Le Corbusier's project, nor his original presentation. As a result, the project of B. Iofan, made in the spirit of Stalin's Empire style, which was gaining momentum, won.

After this competition, left-wing European architects who sympathized with the USSR received painful blow: their ideas about Soviet power turned out to be quite idealized. Corbusier wrote that the project that won the competition "demonstrates the enslavement of modern technology by spiritual reaction" and "returns to the kingdom the pretentious architecture of former monarchical regimes."

The answer was not long in coming. Pretty soon avant-garde art in general and constructivism in particular were announced in the USSR decadent and alien to the ideals of the proletariat, and Le Corbusier himself is called a fascist and an enemy of the Soviet regime. After that, his name disappeared from everywhere in the USSR for a quarter of a century, including from Soviet textbooks on architecture.

Nevertheless, as Moscow Architectural Institute graduates recall, in the early 60s, Corbusier again became so popular in the architectural environment that every second thesis project then it was made as a direct imitation of him. Therefore, the influence of Corbusier is visible to the naked eye both in the construction of buildings, for example, a multi-storey tower (one of the "panels" - "brezhnevok"), and in urban planning. The same Novy Arbat with its towers-books (which some wit compared with false teeth) is a big hello to Corbusier and his plan for the reconstruction of Moscow. Hello, fortunately, it turned out to be a much more modest scale.

What about standard construction? Reinforced concrete panels, simple building geometry, lack of decor, flat roofs - these are the hallmarks of Corbusier's architecture. So New Cheryomushki, numerous quarters of Khrushchevs - this is also his idea, embodied with a delay of three decades. The implementation, however, let us down with the lack of a flight of thought and stinginess, the desire to save on everything. But in fairness, let's remember that in the master's system of proportions Modulor, the ceiling height of 226 cm was recognized as quite sufficient for housing. And we also honestly admit that many of the so-called residential units of Corbusier do not look very good now, half a century after the construction.

The 17-story Unité d'Habitation complex in Marseille (1945-1952). Photo: Guzman Lozano

Buildings made of glass and concrete have one thing in common: they age quickly. Three or four decades - and now they seem sprinkled with mothballs. And the more, the less pleasing to the eye. Corbusier was a "leftist" and believed that the new typical architecture would help overcome social contradictions. However, in most countries, prefabricated housing blocks were viewed from the outset as housing for the poor. In the USSR, Khrushchevs were also, as you know, people's housing.

Yes, Corbusier's panel cubes did not become the bright future of mankind, but his projects were implemented all over the world: in France, Germany, USA, Russia, Brazil, Japan, India, his architectural ideas have become an integral part of modern architecture, and he continues to be the most revered and most hated architect of the last century.

Alisa Orlova

The personality of Le Corbusier excites the minds of architects and lovers of architecture of the twentieth century. In order to see all the implemented projects of an outstanding modernist, you need to visit a wide variety of countries - Japan, Russia, Switzerland, Germany, the USA, Italy and, of course, India. The most compact and busiest route is offered by France, the country in which the Swiss Le Corbusier spent years of active creative life.

At the request of INTERIOR + DESIGN, the French route, with encyclopedic knowledge, was developed by Natalia Solopova, a practitioner and theorist of architecture, a connoisseur of modernism, who lived in France for many years. A visit to most of Le Corbusier's monuments should be planned in advance, by prior appointment for a tour.

1. Villas La Roche and Jeanneret, Paris

Villa Jeanneret has a very simple facade, three floors, with a clear zoning of the floors. The garage and servants are on the first floor, the bedrooms and boudoir on the second, and the dining room, kitchen and office on the third.

Today, the Jeanneret villa is occupied by the Fondation Le Corbusier.

Architect

Doctor of Architecture (Doctorat en Architecture, Paris-VIII University, France). Worked in the Paris office of ADP. Since 2006, she has been in charge of the "Workshop of Natalia Solopova". Author of private and public interiors. Laureate of the Moscow Prize for the project of the Moscow Theater Center "The Cherry Orchard".

In the west of Paris, in the bourgeois quarter of Auteuil, in 1923-25, Le Corbusier built two villas. A small one - commissioned by his brother, musician Albert Jeanneret, and a larger one - for a collector and banker from Basel, Raul La Rocha. Both villas became a "manifesto" for the architect, the first buildings in which he embodied the ideas of modern architecture.

Villa La Roche. The dining room is located on the second floor, and the bedrooms and library on the third.

Villa La Roche is also three-storey, but more complex in terms of plastic and volumetric solution. A special cylindrical volume was allocated for the collection of paintings, located perpendicular to the residential block. Inside the volume there is a two-height space with a ramp, climbing which one could get acquainted with the collection of paintings hung on the walls. For Le Corbusier, the ramp allowed for an "architectural walk" that involved the viewer in an "architectural spectacle". Maisons La Roche et Jeanneret, 10, 8, Place du Docteur-Blanche, Paris. www.fondationlecorbusier.fr

2. Swiss Pavilion and Brazilian House, Paris

The facade of the hostel for Brazilian students with loggias and colored planes resembles the facade of the Marseille "Housing Unit". The furniture in the students' rooms was designed by Charlotte Perriand.

In 1930, Le Corbusier, being a Swiss by birth, builds a dormitory building for compatriot students - the "Swiss Pavilion". The hostel has forty-two rooms. On the ground floor there is a living room with a marble floor, laid out according to the sketches of Charlotte Perriand. The wall-to-wall fresco was designed by Le Corbusier himself. The students' rooms are treated extremely functionally. A wardrobe-partition divides the room into two zones: a living room with a bed and a desk, and a utility room with a washbasin. The Brazilian student dormitory is located a few meters from the Swiss Pavilion and has 95 rooms. The building has two halls - a concert hall and a dance hall. Pavillon Suisse, Maison du Brésil, Cité universitaire, 7 Le boulevard Jourdan, Paris. www.fondationsuisse.fr

3. Villa Savoy, Poissy, 32 km from Paris

A rare case in the history of architecture - the Villa Savoy was saved from demolition and during the life of Le Corbusier received the status of an architectural monument.

Villa Savoy is one of Le Corbusier's favorite projects, he called it a "little miracle". The architecture of the building is the high point and the end of the period of purism. The villa was built for a socialite couple, Pierre and Eugenie Savoie. In 1928, Madame Savoie sent Le Corbusier the task of designing a country residence. Le Corbusier proposed a summer house that would “stand like an object on the grass without disturbing anything.”

All three floors are connected by a ramp, which is part of a ceremony, an "architectural walk", conceived by the author.

Le Corbusier builds an "air cube", torn off the ground and standing on columns. It embodies important principles of the modernist home, such as the open floor plan, ribbon windows and habitable roof. The first floor is designed as a garage for three cars. The living quarters of the villa are located on the second floor and are lined up with the letter "G" around a large terrace. The living-dining room with large sliding windows opens onto the terrace. Next comes the kitchen, two small bedrooms and Madame Savoie's boudoir with a large bathroom. Villa Savoye, 82 rue de Villiers, Poissy, www.villa-savoye.fr

4. The village of Freuget ("Modern Quarter"), Bordeaux

Roof terraces, long "ribbon" windows, houses "torn off the ground" and standing on columns, bright colors of facades - all this was very different from the usual "rural" architecture of this suburb of Bordeaux.

In 1924, Le Corbusier was given the opportunity to build a residential area near Bordeaux. Initially ambitious in scale, the project for 130 houses undergoes major changes and in 1926 only 51 houses were solemnly opened. The settlement consists of several types of houses that Le Corbusier began to develop in theory long before the project. Types: Dom-ino (1914 - 1915), Citrohan (1920), Monol (1920). Over time, local residents remade windows, built up terraces, repainted facades, and decorated walls with cornices. Le Corbusier took this misunderstanding of his architecture hard, but stubbornly repeated that "life is always right, not the architect." Since 1990, the quarter began to gradually recover. Today it has returned to its original appearance; everything looks just like Le Corbusier intended. Quartiers modernes Fruges, Rue Henry Fruges, Pessac. www.pessac.fr

5. Residential unit, Marseille

A large apartment building in Marseille is one of the most famous projects of the architect. In 1945, the building minister, Raoul Dautry, commissioned Le Corbusier to design a residential building intended for people from the old port quarter, which had been destroyed during the war. Le Corbusier accepts the order with one condition, that the house must not comply with any of the current building codes.

Each apartment has balconies, and built-in wardrobes, pieces of furniture and a very compact kitchen were painted by Charlotte Perriand. The stairs in the apartments are made according to the drawings of Jean Prouvé.

His goal was to create a "residential house - villa", combining the functions of "collective" and "private". He received confirmation of the correctness of his search in 1929 in Moscow, having familiarized himself with the project of Moisei Ginzburg's "House of Narkomfin". He took the layout of the Moscow house with him to Paris. In 1935, Corbusier sketches a “vertical house-garden”, and in 1942, on the pages of the book “A House for People”, he actually completes the idea of a “Housing Unit”.

Residential unit, Marseille, France, 1945–1952. The principle of Le Corbusier's "Living Unit" comes from the architect's earlier studies, which he conducted from 1922.

The architect considered the compact construction of 337 villas-apartments assembled together as an undeniable economic benefit. The infrastructure was supposed to create comfortable conditions for the inhabitants of the house: the project included a supermarket, a bakery, a butcher shop, Kindergarten, concert hall and hotel. According to the architect's idea, two-level apartments allow saving on common house corridors.

The concert hall on the roof is occupied by a contemporary art gallery, which every year invites artists for temporary summer installations. Designer Ora-Ito takes an active part in programming the exhibition activities of the monument.

There are only six corridors designed for the whole house, which Le Corbusier calls "streets". Over time, people of creative professions began to settle in the "Residential Unit", there are offices of architects and designers, a bookstore was opened. In the lobby of the hotel and on its open terrace you can have breakfast or drink coffee. Unité d'habitation, 280 Le boulevard Michelet, Marseille www.marseille-citeradieuse.org

6. Convent of the Virgin Mary, La Tourette

The church is famous for its extraordinary acoustics. Rays of light breaking through the narrow windows emphasize the severity of the architectural form and purposefully fall on the altar, the symbolic center of the cathedral.

In 1953, the Dominican monk Marie-Alan Couturier, the founder of the Sacred Art magazine, which advocated the involvement of contemporary artists in church art, orders Le Corbusier a monastery consisting of a church, cells (about a hundred), halls for work and leisure, a library and a refectory . Giannis Xenakis, later a famous composer, who at that time worked for Le Corbusier as an architect, takes an active part in the development of the project. He uses the dimensions of the famous Corbusian "Modulor" to proportion the monastic ensemble. Couvent Sainte-Marie de la Tourette, Eveux-sur-l "Arbresle, Route de la Tourette, Eveux. www.couventdelatourette.fr

7. Notre Dame du Haut , Ronchamp

Notre Dame du Haut, 1950–1955. The prototype of the chapel is called a shell raised by an architect on a Long Island beach.

When the collector Maurice Jardeau offered to build a new chapel in Ronchamp on the site of the old one, destroyed by the Germans, Le Corbusier answered with a categorical refusal. Only after the members of the "Commission of Sacred Art", which advocated the creation of "modern religious architecture", promised "complete freedom of creativity" and "an extraordinary building site", Le Corbusier agreed.

Le Corbusier "fits" the building of the chapel into the smooth lines of the hills of the valley.

Influenced by the landscape, Le Corbusier for the first time departs from rigid geometric forms, using the plastic, almost organic lines of volumes, with which he experimented early in his sculptures. The interior of the chapel is ascetic and solemn. In this project, Le Corbusier realizes for the first time his dream of "a synthesis of the arts": he combined architecture, sculpture, stained glass, lacquered enamel details. Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut. Colline de Bourlémont, Ronchamp www.collinenotredameduhaut.com

8. Cabanon, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin

The furniture is extremely functional: built-in wardrobes play the role of partitions, a long table is both working and dining. Wooden cubes are used as stools or tables-stands.

On the steep slope of the Cap Martin heading into the Mediterranean Sea, two famous buildings, icons of modernism, are located. "Villa E 1027", built jointly with Jean Badovici in 1929 and a summer house - Cabanon (hut) Le Corbusier, built in 1952. Le Corbusier was a frequent visitor to Villa E 1024. In 1949, in the immediate vicinity of the villa, Thomas Rebutato, a local plumber, opened the Starfish restaurant, where Le Corbusier regularly dined. In 1952, with the permission of Rebutato Corbusier, a room was added to the restaurant, consisting of a living room, a corridor, a bathroom and a shower. The "Hut" is connected by a door to the "Starfish", which becomes the "dining room" for Corbusier and his wife Yvonne. Le Corbusier interpreted Cabanon as a compact polyvalent space that serves as a bedroom, study and living room at the same time.

Le Corbusier also painted two decorative panels: a large one, covering the entire wall of the corridor, masking the door connecting the “Hut” and “ starfish”, and a small one near the window. In a letter to the photographer Brassai, Le Corbusier wrote: "I feel so good in my hut that, without a doubt, I will end my days here." These words became prophetic, in 1966, while swimming in the sea under the Hut, Le Corbusier had a heart attack and died. Cabanon de Le Corbusier, Sentier Le Corbusier, Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, www. capmoderne.com

Le Corbusier is as popular a brand these days as Coca-Cola or Nike. When it comes to architecture, the name Le Corbusier (1885−1965) pronounced as often as the chants of the fans during a football match.

Modern architects are often compared to the master of architecture, his advice is honored and implemented, and mediocre designers are characterized by the phrase "Not Corbusier" (analogue - "Not a cake").

So who is he, this great architect of the early 20th century?

The artist, designer, architect, pioneer of the Art Nouveau style, talented publicist gained popularity all over the world thanks to his signature style: free facade and free plan, blocks floating above the ground, and raw concrete. It was he who gave architects and designers creative freedom, destroyed the framework, allowed to build as “they see”.

“Every great architect is necessarily a great poet. He must be a great original, a translator of his time, his era., - said the American architect.

So, Le Corbusier was just such a poet of his time.

For the study of mathematical orders, Le Corbusier was elected an honorary doctorate from the universities of Zurich, Cambridge, Columbia and Geneva. He was awarded many orders: Knight, Commander, Officer of the highest rank. And he also has as many as four gold medals for various merits.

Le Corbusier, born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, formed his architectural principles in five points. They were called "Five Points of Architecture", and were published in his own magazine, L'Esprit Nouveau.

The first is pillars, something like houses on stilts raised above the surface.
The second is flat roof-terraces on which you can set up a garden.
The third is an open layout, accessible thanks to concrete non-load-bearing walls.
Fourth - ribbon windows that can be stretched from corner to corner.
Fifth - a free facade of a wide variety of materials.

The designer's favorite color is white. He believed that the white cleanses, and by cleaning his home, a person cleanses himself. Harmony is what Le Corbusier strived so hard for in his projects.

Researchers note several periods in the life of an architect: Swiss (1887 - 1917), the Period of Purism (1917-1930), the International Style (30s), the Period of New Plasticism (1950-1965).

Le Corbusier designed his first house when he was less than 18 years old. All his life the architect considered him obscenely terrible. This is Villa Fallet (Villa Fallet, 1905) in Switzerland.

But the fee from the "monstrous house" allowed the young man to travel around Europe for the purpose of education. The style of the great architect was significantly influenced by his teachers. They were Perret, French innovators in reinforced concrete architecture, and the world's first industrial designer, the German Peter Bernes. Le Corbusier worked for them at the beginning of the century.

Another teacher, the painter Amédée Ozenfant, influenced Corbusier the painter. Under the impression of friendship with him, the first picture was drawn.

There is a famous quote by the architect, in which he says that the image prefers the conversation, because it is much more honest. Young people called themselves purists, organized exhibitions of their laconic paintings and published their own philosophical journal.

One of the largest projects in the creative life of the master is the Indian period (1950). By order of the authorities, he created the Assembly Palace, the Palace of Justice and the Open Hand monument, which turned like a weather vane, in the state of Punjab.

Then another landmark project appeared - the so-called "Marseilles residential unit" (1952) or a city within a city. This is an experimental, harmonious residential building, in fact, living in it resembles a commune. Le Corbusier designed not only bedrooms and living rooms, he placed shops, clinics and even a hotel inside the building.

Something similar was in the Soviet large-scale project "Houses on the Embankment" (1931) or "House of Soviets" by architect B.M. Iofana. It also meant hairdressing salons, cinemas and other objects for various purposes. Now this idea has been implemented to some extent in modern elite residential complexes. Incidentally, Le Corbusier has repeatedly visited Moscow, the fact is that it was he who was the author of the bold, but, unfortunately, unrealized project of the Palace of Soviets in Moscow, which won the international competition. In addition, it was he who was the author of the Tsentrosoyuz Building. So the residents of the capital can enjoy his creation without spending much time on the road.

But back to the Marseille block. Outwardly, it resembles the most ordinary high-rise building with faceless square windows, however, painted in different colors. One of the concrete boxes that everyone is now scolding so unanimously. But inside the house is very modern, stylish and bright. Le Corbusier spoke of his creation thus:

“I have the honor, joy and satisfaction to present you with the ideal size living unit, the exemplary model of modern living space”

In fact, the house was just a small particle in the architect's large-scale plans. He dreamed of building an ideal city in which people could live harmoniously and beautifully. He even presented three active projects - "Project for a city of 3 million inhabitants" (1932), "Plan Voisin" (1925) and "Radiant City" (1930).

It is very difficult to tell in one review article about all the projects, thoughts and ideas of one of the most brilliant people of the 20th century. There are so many of them that they become topics for dissertations and entire lecture courses.

I would like to believe that we managed to interest you in the bright and extraordinary personality of Le Corbusier, and that after reading this material you will want to “google” about this amazing person and learn as much as possible about him. And if someone is lucky, be sure to visit the Le Corbusier Foundation in Paris and the Le Corbusier Center in Zurich.

Meta Description: Le Corbusier is the most prominent architect of the 20th century, building in the Art Nouveau style.

Biography(using materials from "One Hundred Great Architects", D. Samin)

The real name of the architect Le Corbusier is Charles Edouard Jeanneret. He was born on October 6, 1887 in Switzerland. He received his education in Vienna, Paris, Berlin, where he studied with famous architects of the 19th century. At the age of 35, he opened his own workshop, where he worked for a long time with his brother.

In the early 1920s, Le Corbusier formulated the principles of housing construction, which took shape under the name of purism. Le Corbusier propagated his position in the magazine Espri Nuovo (New Spirit) published by him in 1920-1926. He formed five principles: the house should be on pillars, with a flat roof, with a flexible internal layout, ribbon windows and a freely organized facade. They express not only material, but also aesthetic aspirations. These principles are reflected in the construction of many buildings of the architect. In particular, the Savoy villas in Poissy near Paris.

The architect also created a number of utopian urban projects for different countries. As for Paris, according to the ideas of the architect, the capital of France was to become a vertically oriented structure, in the tiers of which people lived. At the same time, the city was divided into functional zones. From the outside, it looked like it was about creating a smoothly working mechanism with human cogs. One of these projects was proposed for Moscow. However, it turned out to be too unrealistic. The architect did not take into account the historical type of Belokamennaya building and the specifics of the landscape. But a couple of more "earthly" buildings designed by Le Corbusier did appear in the Soviet capital.

Like his contemporaries, Corbusier was constantly experimenting, striving to master materials to perfection, to find the best ways to use them, to develop the most economical, standardized and industrial designs. Le Corbusier was first and foremost an engineer and could not imagine architecture without engineering. For him, architecture was primarily the realm of precise mathematical calculations. He came to this understanding through his passion for painting cubism and for a long time remained, as he called himself, "an admirer of the right angle." In modern technology, the architect saw the spirit of the times and it was in it that he looked for the foundations for renovating architecture. "Learn from the machines," he proclaimed. A residential building should be a perfect and convenient "machine for housing", an industrial or administrative building - a "machine for labor and management", and modern city should live and work like a well-oiled motor.

Corbusier's projects have been implemented in India, USA, Russia, Switzerland, France, Algeria, Italy, Brazil, Japan. It remains only to be surprised at the productivity of the founder of the new style. After all, in addition to practical work, he created many theoretical works. About 50 articles appeared in journals.

In 1942-1955, Corbusier developed the modulor spiral, a dimensional scale by which all construction can be carried out on a human scale. The architect focused on the movement of a person - how he walks, sits, lies. He himself was in constant motion, dying at the age of seventy-eight, swimming too far on the Côte d'Azur in the Mediterranean.

MATERIALS

The contribution of Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, who worked under the pseudonym Le Corbusier (1887-1965), to world architecture is very great. He is rightfully included in the list of leading architects of the 20th century, literally working on changing the face of residential development in Europe. Le Corbusier has many projects, let's highlight the most significant ones.

Let's start with the smallest house that was built by Le Corbusier - "Cabanon". The architect built this hut for his wife as a summer house, and the project itself was sketched out in just 15 minutes. Corbusier was sure that the house with an area of 3.66 by 3.66 m turned out to be very comfortable. The roof is flat, the ceiling is 2.26 m high. The hut has a bathroom, a dining room, a work area, and enough storage space. But it was decided to abandon the kitchen - there is a restaurant next to the house.

We already mentioned the “Village of Frouge” in Pessac, near Bordeaux, when we wrote about typical urban development. This is a truly landmark project by Le Corbusier, which had a social focus - it was planned to create inexpensive, typical, but at the same time comfortable housing for workers. Over 50 houses were built according to seven main projects, and the customer, a sugar industrialist, insisted on painting the buildings in different colors, to whom the village seemed too gloomy. The local authorities did not accept the project, implemented in 1926, and the settlement of the buildings began only in 1930.

The architect built the Savoy Villa (Poissy, a suburb of Paris) according to his five principles: with a roof-terrace, ribbon windows, concrete columns at the base, an open plan and a free facade. Le Corbusier applied a minimum of decor, the house is very simple, but elegant. Unfortunately, the flat roof, which was supposed to be a recreation area, soon began to leak, the building materials used in the 1920s did not allow it to be more reliable. Because of this, the architect had a dispute with the customer. Now the house is an architectural monument, owned by the French government.

Corbusier worked in different countries world, there is his significant project in Moscow. This is the office building of Tsentrosoyuz, located between Akademika Sakharov Avenue and Myasnitskaya. Now Rosstat is located here. Construction began in 1928 and was completed eight years later. The Tsentrosoyuz building is considered a model of European modernism of the beginning of the last century and is one of Moscow's architectural rarities. One of the first complexes with continuous glazing. It is not surprising that a monument to the architect himself was erected in front of this building.

Kuruchet House, 1949. This relatively small private mansion was proposed by the Argentine government to be included in the UNESCO list, because the building is considered the absolute of ultramodernism and an important milestone in the work of Le Corbusier. The house has four levels, outwardly it turned out to be very light, open, simple. The building, located in the province of Buenos Aires, was built by an architect for a doctor and therefore includes a medical office on the ground floor.

Villa La Rocha. The house, built in 1923 in Paris, includes a gallery and a residential wing. All the principles of Le Corbusier are again noticeable: a flat roof suitable for use, a minimum of decor on the facade, ribbon windows, support columns. The project was innovative for its time, brought fame to the architect, but the customers - the family of a wealthy collector - were not very satisfied and soon set about expensive repairs.

Villa "Le Lac" was built by the architect for his own parents, and he returned to this project more than once, coming to visit Soros in Switzerland. A rather simple house, which became the basis for the "new architecture" of Corbusier, was built in 1923. The three main principles are strip glazing, a flat roof and an open plan. The southern façade overlooking the lake is finished with aluminum, and this had to be done to hide a crack in the wall.

Residential unit in Marseille (France). Another social project of Corbusier, aimed at creating standard buildings and inexpensive housing for workers. The house was built in 1945, right after the war. There are 350 apartments in the building, up to 1.7 thousand people can live at the same time. There is a terrace with a kindergarten, a hotel-restaurant, a shopping street, and the apartments themselves are two-story, overlooking both sides.

Notre Dame du Haut, a chapel whose name means "Madonna on the Heights". An unusual project by Corbusier, who created a pilgrimage church made of concrete in the town of Ronchamp (France). The shape of the roof was inspired by a shell found by the architect, and the building itself fits perfectly into the picturesque landscape. The construction was completed in 1955 and belongs to the late period of Corbusier's work.

One of the most ambitious projects of Corbusier was the development of the city of Chandigarh, the new capital of the state of Punjab (India). In this city, the architect erected several iconic buildings, including the Secretariat, the Palace of Justice, the Museum and Art Gallery, and the Assembly Building. Corbusier also worked on the plan for the city itself, designed for half a million inhabitants and divided into about 60 rectangular residential sectors. This project was implemented from 1951 to 1962. Since Corbusier himself only outlined the plan of Chandigarh and erected the largest, main buildings in the center, his cousin, also an architect, Pierre Jeanneret, did the rest of the work.