To what extent was Le Corbusier's Plan Voisin an original urban planning concept and what sources of inspiration did Le Corbusier draw on in creating it?
Plan Voisin - Le Corbusier1
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Le Corbusier, Plan Voisin, Paris, France, 1925, [online photograph], http://www.fondationlecorbusier.fr/corbuweb/morpheus.aspx?sysId=13&IrisObjectId=6159&sysLanguage=en -en&itemPos=2&itemCount=2&sysParentName=Home&sysParentId=65, (accessed 18 January 2017).
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Introduction Le Corbusier's Plan Voisin is an influential urban plan which has inspired countless architects and urban planners, yet considering the immense collective works discussing Le Corbusier's influence, there are limited sources dedicated to understanding Le Corbusier's inspiration. This essay explores the inspiration behind Le Corbusier's Plan Voisin; it first details the components of and reasoning behind Plan Voisin and Le Corbusier's justification of these. It then focuses on his changing opinion of the relationship between architecture, nature and geometry, analysing the influence of Charles L'Eplattenier's teachings and Le Corbusier's insight gained from visiting the Parthenon. This essay investigates Le Corbusier's opinion of Georges-Eugène Haussmann and others who have implemented alterations to Paris' built fabric and significant figures who have impacted his early life and during his travels, including his parents, the Perret brothers and Peter Behrens. Key primary sources include Le Corbusier's book Urbanisme and some of his other works, as well as Nicholas Weber's biographical account, Le Corbusier A Life. Due to readily available analytical works on these subjects, this essay does not consider his fascination with modern inventions including aeroplanes, cruise ships and automobiles, nor does it assess Le Corbusier's response to the condition of cities at the beginning of the twentieth century. Plan Voisin To investigate the sources of inspiration and context leading to Le Corbusier's Plan Voisin, first the proposal itself must be investigated. Le Corbusier outlined his radical urban plan for Paris, the Plan Voisin, first in his pavilion, a 'house for everybody', L'Esprit Nouveau at The International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts (1925), then fully in his book Urbanisme in the same year.2 All aspects of urban planning for Plan Voisin follow four principles Le Corbusier outlined: '1. We must de-congest the centres of our cities. 2. We must augment their density. 3. We must increase the means for getting about. 4. We must increase parks and open spaces.'3 Le Corbusier believed these principles to be fundamental in creating better cities; as cultural historian Weber explained, by outlining these principles Le Corbusier 'was convinced that he was the saviour of humanity'.4 Another theme of equal importance to the four principles that Le Corbusier outlined, is geometry; he declares geometry 'eternal', 'the very essence of Architecture'.5 He discusses geometry in Urbanisme in relation to Plan Voisin on thirteen occasions, more frequently than he discusses some of the four principles.6 Favre, architectural historian, summarises Plan Voisin as 'a city compartmentalised': immense skyscrapers with a minimal footprint surrounded
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Le Corbusier in conversation with the architects-in-chief to the exhibition, cited in Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, p.231. 3 Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, p.170. 4 N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.216. 5 Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, p.65, p.175. 6 Ibid, p.25, p.60, p.65, p.93, pp.133-134, p.168, p.175, p.177, p.178, p.212, p.236, p.273, p.282.
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by vast garden spaces, connected by an extensive gridded road network.7 Art historian Besset explains that it is this geometric network which makes the otherwise isolated 'super-skyscrapers' into 'integrated urban unit[s]', validating the plausibility of the urban scheme.8 Geometry and Nature Le Corbusier's relationship with nature has changed over time; he expresses its importance in Plan Voisin, dedicating a fundamental principle to securing ample amounts of green space in his proposal. Lemonier argues that the inclusion of nature is a 'fundamental principle of the Corbusian city'.9 His teacher, L'Eplattenier, helped develop Le Corbusier's ideas about the importance of nature in architecture, building on his existing fascination with the natural environment which he developed with his father exploring the Alps. Le Corbusier's understanding of the relationship between architecture and the natural environment developed through key events in his travels, namely visits to the Charterhouse of the Valley of Ema in Florence and the Parthenon in Athens. Le Corbusier's urban planning ideas are therefore centred around nature, with these ideas being cemented in one of his four principles. Le Corbusier argues, that to improve cities 'We must plant trees!' Calling his proposal 'an immense park' with the tree being 'an element essential'.10 Le Corbusier acknowledges the need for human scale in architecture and concedes that it is not provided by the skyscrapers he proposes; he propositions that trees themselves provide the human scale, with the skyscrapers becoming merely a 'tremendous silhouette'.11 The concept of bringing nature into cities is intrinsically linked to the removal of typical 'corridor streets', these being streets between adjacent buildings; by creating skyscrapers surrounded by green space, the whole concept of a street is rewritten.12 Childhood For most of his childhood Le Corbusier, rather Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, his birth name, lived in a cluttered fifth floor attic apartment, removed from nature. Weber notes Le Corbusier would later design for others what he lacked as a child, homes with proximity to nature; a correlation cannot, however, be drawn so simply.13 Le Corbusier was not disconnected from nature, as a child he would often go rambling with his father. Discussing his adolescence in his 1925 The Decorative Art of Today, he wrote, 'I knew flowers... birds... I understood how a tree grows'. 14 Weber concedes this, explaining the apparent connection only 'hints' at Le Corbusier's inspiration.15
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M. Favre, 'The L'Esprit Nouveau Pavilion, Manifesto for a Corbusian System' cited in: O. Cinqualbre and F. Migayrou (eds.), Le Corbusier the Measures of Man, Zurich, Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess 2015, p.35. 8 M. Besset, Le Corbusier, London, The Architectural Press Limited, 1987. 9 A. Lemonier, 'The City Laid Bare' cited in: O. Cinqualbre and F. Migayrou (eds.), Le Corbusier the Measures of Man, Zurich, Verlag Scheidegger & Spiess 2015, p.209. 10 Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, p.78, p.174 p.237. 11 Ibid, p.77, p.240. 12 Ibid, p.75. 13 N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.29. 14 Le Corbusier, The Decorative Art of Today, trans. J. Dunnett, London, The Architectural Press , cited in Le Corbusier, Essential Le Corbusier: L'Espirit Nouveau Articles, (eds. various), Reed Educational and Professional Publishing Limited, 1998, p.194. 15 N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.27.
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Charles L'Eplattenier At a young age Le Corbusier's interest in nature was broad and intense, Weber labels aspects of his fascination with nature an 'obsession'.16 His passion for the natural environment meant that Charles L'Eplattenier, his teacher at L'Ecole d'Art, quickly became a 'hero figure' to Le Corbusier.17 The fundamentals of L'Eplattenier's teaching was to present 'an underlying attitude toward nature and art', he taught 'that one must penetrate beneath the superficial appearance of nature and seek out the ideal, universal reality.'18 His understanding that 'art based on nature could exceed nature'19 may have permitted Le Corbusier in his later life to consider man as 'master of the environment'20 as he explains in Plan Voisin and secured his belief in the importance of geometry. Le Corbusier understood (through L'Eplattenier's teaching) geometry to be the art, based on nature, that has itself exceeded nature's beauty. He alludes to this understanding of the world around him in justifying Plan Voisin as 'geometrical shapes... brought together in' a city which 'is an immense park'.21 He later claims Paris must undergo surgery 'to create [architecture] geometrically... in the midst of nature'.22 Le Corbusier's understanding of geometry being the purest form of nature23 leads him to the conclusion that geometry is 'the fundamental basis on which our minds can work'.24 Le Corbusier justifies the use of geometry in Plan Voisin in Urbanisme in several secondary ways, including the ease of mass production of elements and efficient navigation. However these augments are secondary to conclusions drawn in his interoperation of L'Eplattenier's teachings.25 As the individual who first encouraged Le Corbusier to pursue architecture and partly shaped Le Corbusier's understanding of nature and geometry, L'Eplattenier may have been the individual with the greatest influence on Le Corbusier's developing ideology. Charterhouse of the Valley of Ema The importance Le Corbusier gave to nature in architecture is evident from his writings during his travels. In 1930 Le Corbusier visited the Charterhouse of the Valley of Ema, a fifteenth-century Carthusian monastery, then six kilometres from Florence. Writing in Details Concerning the Present State of Architecture and Urbanism, Le Corbusier claims to 'have never encountered such a joyous version of habitation' and discusses the influence of the intelligent spatial organisation on his projects.26 Weber subsequently argues that this is the single most influential piece of architecture in Le Corbusier's life, and nature subsequently 'governed Le Corbusier's approach to architecture'27
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N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.33. Ibid. 18 P. Turner, 'The Beginnings of Le Corbusier's Education, 1902-07',The Art Bulletin, vol.53, no.2, 1971, p.215. 19 N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.34. 20 Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, p.164. 21 Ibid, p.236, p.180. 22 Ibid, p.273. 23 Ibid. 24 Ibid, p.93. 25 Ibid, p.75, p.177 26 Le Corbusier, 'Une cellule à l'échelle humaine', in Précisions sur un état présent de l'architecture et de l'urbanisme, Paris, Crès, 1930, pp.91-92, cited in N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.47. 27 N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.49. 17
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The Parthenon Four years after his inspiring visit to the Valley of Ema, Le Corbusier visited the Parthenon, Athens. His attitude towards this ancient monument changed over the duration of his stay as he climbed the Acropolis to visit the Parthenon daily for twenty-one consecutive days in September 1911. In visiting the Parthenon, Le Corbusier's existing preconceptions about the natural world initially remained unchanged: architecture should express the natural world. As his stay in Athens lengthened, Le Corbusier became discontent with this interpretation and instead placed architecture above the beauty of the natural environment.28 Le Corbusier wrote in his documentation of his travels, Journey to the East, that he felt, when experiencing the relationship between air, water, light and architecture at the Parthenon, 'overpowered'.29 Weber explains this experience led Le Corbusier 'now more than ever' to long to create architecture that would bestow an emotional response akin to what he himself experienced at the Parthenon. 30 This initial emotional response does not, however, summarise Le Corbusier's experience; so intense was the emotional response, Le Corbusier described his later visits to his old teacher, L'Eplattenier, explaining the Parthenon 'crushes you until you're ground to dust'.31 In Journey to the East, Le Corbusier recognised the intrinsic geometric properties of the Parthenon and began to interoperate its setting in the natural environment as overpowering, as opposed to complimentary; this relationship was exacerbated by the landscape appearing, in Le Corbusier's opinion, increasingly 'torpor'.32 Le Corbusier's relationship with nature changed in the years leading to the development of Plan Voisin. His disposition from childhood to adore the natural environment was first strengthened by his teacher then, with his suggestion of a form of art found in nature that itself could surpass it, Le Corbusier's ideas surrounding the importance of geometry in architecture came to fruition. His visits to monasteries assured Le Corbusier of the importance of nature, but his perception of the relationship between nature and architecture at the Parthenon gave rise to his idea that architecture (with geometry) can surpasses the natural environment in terms of beauty. People Several people have influenced Le Corbusier, irrespective of Le Corbusier's willingness to confess such influencers. L'Eplattenier has been discussed, the other notable figures include Georges-Eugène Haussmann and others who implemented significant alterations to the urban fabric of Paris, his parents, architects he worked for, and met during his travels. Haussmann and urban planners of Paris Le Corbusier greatly admired past remodellings of Paris, describing those who had implemented such alterations in Urbanisme as clear-sighted geniuses33, explaining because of their ingenuity
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N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.34. Le Corbusier, Journey to the East, London, The MIT Press, 1987, pp.211-212. 30 N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.95. 31 Le Corbusier, letter to L'Eplattenier, October 15, 1911, Rome, cited in N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.95. 32 Le Corbusier, Journey to the East, London, The MIT Press, 1987, p.235. 33 Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, p.266. 29
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Parisians now reap 'the fruits of invention and foresight'.34 Le Corbusier praises these historic alterations as 'medicine', claiming these interventions were so critical to Paris' subsequent development that without them, Paris 'would have been unable to exist'.35 Haussmann, under Napoleon III, greatly remodelled Paris from 1853 to 1870 through the creation of new boulevards, an improved road network, the introduction of city centre green spaces and the extension of the boundary of Paris. Haussmann implemented a 'radical reconstruction'; across three phases of work, he introduced one hundred and sixty-five kilometres of new road in avenues including Place de L'Etoile, cutting through dense medieval parts of the city.36 He extended the urban area of Paris by almost two hundred and twenty percent, and in creating Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes, provided over one thousand, seven hundred hectares of public town park. Furthermore, he created twenty four Parisian public gardens and improved the city's water supply and sewage system. 37 During this process, Haussmann received violent criticism, but despite the forced expulsion from Paris of the 'least favoured classes'38 and the ulterior motive of creating a 'means to suppress the revolutions that had defined the previous century of French history',39 his implemented ideas are credited with dramatically improving the lives of Parisians in the nineteenth century40 and his boulevards are considered by many to be typically iconic of Paris.41 So significant were these new boulevards that when France invited the world to Exposition Universelle in 1878 (following the completion of Haussmann's scheme), Peets wrote in Town Planning Review, 1927, that 'it was to a new Paris'.42 Furthermore Lecoin, writing more than sixty years after Le Corbusier produced Plan Voisin, asserts that Haussmann's boulevards and avenues remain 'functionally and aesthetically the basic structure of today's Paris'; this was certainly, therefore, true at the time of Le Corbusier outlining Plan Voisin.43 Le Corbusier admired the remodelling of Paris and projects implemented by several individuals; these include the malls, new public spaces created by J. B. Jaillot in 1775; new straight, wide boulevards crated by Colbert in 1840; the Rue de Rivioli, a seventy-footwide avenue commissioned by Napoleon I and Napoleon III's straightening and widening of the Boulevard SĂŠbastopol.44 The historic remodelling of Paris, most notably Haussmann's transformation of Paris, brought about changes comparable to Le Corbusier's proposed changes in Plan Voisin. The boulevards themselves
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Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, p.261. 35 Ibid, p.267. 36 P. Lecoin, Paris and the Ile de France, cited in, H, Cammen, (ed.), Four Metropolises in Western Europe, Amsterdam, Van Gorcum and Camp, 1988, p.92 37 Ibid 38 Ibid, p.93 39 R. Stott, 'Boulevards in Paris: A Mathematical Success?', ArchDaily, no. 416761, Jan 2017, http://www.archdaily.com/416761/boulevards-in-paris-a-mathematical-success, (accesses 17 January 2017) 40 E. Peets, 'Famous Town Planners: I Haussmann', The Town Planning Review, vol.12, no.3, June 1927,p.184. 41 Paris Property Group, Haussmannian buildings: the signature architecture of Paris, [website], 2103, http://parispropertygroup.com/blog/2013/haussmannian-buildings-signature-architecture-paris/, (accessed 18 January) 42 E. Peets, 'Famous Town Planners: I Haussmann', The Town Planning Review, vol.12, no.3, June 1927,p.183. 43 P. Lecoin, Paris and the Ile de France, cited in, H, Cammen, (ed.), Four Metropolises in Western Europe, Amsterdam, Van Gorcum and Camp, 1988, p.92 44 Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, pp.259-263.
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allowed the congested centre of Paris to be bypassed,45 greatly improving 'the means for getting about'.46 Haussmann also introduced new public parks, and although he did not directly increase the density of the city, by altering the city boundary he facilitated a large population increase over the subsequent decades. One of the most important alterations by Haussmann was a central North South and East - West axis; similarly, Le Corbusier proposed in Plan Voisin 'arterial roads for fast oneway traffic' running North to South and East to West.47 Furthermore, although not in plan, geometry is paramount in the regular repeating faҫade's lining the boulevards and avenues Haussmann created.48 Le Corbusier's four principles and ideas outlined in Plan Voisin are inspired by the proposals of the men he admired who remodelled Paris before him. Le Corbusier expresses his admiration for seven individuals, whom he lists in Urbanisme, who reshaped Paris between 1677 and 1853.49 He is essentially proposing, through Plan Voisin, to bring about the same improvements these individuals did. Namely, to improve transportation in the city, de-congest the centre and create more open green spaces. Rather than creating new boulevards or widening existing avenues, Le Corbusier extrapolated this concept, proposing to widen the street until it no longer exists. He propositions Plan Voisin will do these three things alongside the supplementary motive of densifying the population, all with geometry as a basis. Finally, all the historic alterations of Paris have been long lasting, most notably those executed under Haussmann's instruction; Le Corbusier strived for a legacy and longevity, he believed he, like those who had previously remodelled Paris, were able to change the world and would be remembered for it.50 Le Corbusier's Parents As previously discussed Le Corbusier's father, in particular, was responsible for inspiring the then young boy's love of nature, a love that would ultimately influence the fundamental principles for urban design that he established in creating Plan Voisin. In addition to this, Le Corbusier's desire to better his parents, raising their social status in the community in which he was brought up, and his aspiration to outshine his brother, influenced his desire to create architecture that would become world renowned. Le Corbusier's parents, particularly his mother, were always satisfied with the choices and development of Le Corbusier's older brother, Albert. His career always seemed to progress in a manner which pleased them; whilst Le Corbusier's choices and career path, on the other hand, were not favoured or congratulated by his immediate family. Notably, his parents were disapproving of his decision to undertake a lengthy journey through several countries to gain a broader understanding of architecture; on hearing his youngest son's plan, his father's 'rage grew all the more intense' as
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R. Stott, 'Boulevards in Paris: A Mathematical Success?', ArchDaily, no. 416761, Jan 2017, http://www.archdaily.com/416761/boulevards-in-paris-a-mathematical-success, (accesses 17 January 2017) 46 Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, p.170. 47 Ibid, p.168. 48 C, Certomà, 'Expanding the ‘dark side of planning’: Governmentality and biopolitics in urban garden planning', Planning Theory, vol.14, no.1, 2015, pp.35-36. 49 Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, pp.258-264. 50 N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.717.
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the family were, at the time, struggling financially.51 Family tensions often heightened, sometimes becoming open disputes between the brothers, which were 'often intense', like their rivalry.52 Indeed, even when the boys were still at infant school, their father wrote in his journal that, Albert, 'the dear child gives us great pleasure, whether in his musical or scholarly studies...His brother is usually a good child, but has a difficult character, susceptible, quick-tempered, and rebellious; at times he gives us reason for anxiety.'53 This opinion of their youngest son was set to continue throughout Le Corbusier's life, thus it could not fail to impact upon his developing ideas and ideologies, ultimately influencing his conclusions reached about architecture and urban planning. Such rivalry arguably influenced Le Corbusier greatly, as he designed buildings with visual impact to impress, like the home for his parents (discussed below), as well as Plan Voisin, which is deliberatively provocative in its impact and scale. The unprecedented scale of each aspect of the urban plan, the skyscrapers that were to reach a height of almost seven hundred feet and a central axis that would run straight for literally miles through the centre of the city, alongside the devastating range of demolition proposed, demonstrate the scale of the impact Le Corbusier was intending to make in showcasing this scheme.54 These elements of Plan Voisin show, therefore, an architect wanting to stand out, to make provocative statements in his planning, with the hope of notoriety and arguably, the acknowledgement, if not the approval, of his parents. Le Corbusier's desire to better the social standing of his parents stemmed from an interest in his family's past, which showed some aspects of his heritage to have included members of the Swiss nobility and skilled craftsmen. Weber argues that he 'made much of the qualities that endowed him with intrinsic abilities', which he felt he inherited from these ancestors.55 Le Corbusier loved and admired his parents, he strove to better their standard of living, as he aimed to do so for the world.56 He was able to attempt this following the tragic yet opportune fire which destroyed his parent's home, seeing the event as the perfect way in which to improve their social status and living conditions through personally designing their new home. The home Le Corbusier designed and had built did indeed improve their standard of living. In doing so it embodied many of the modernist values Le Corbusier was developing and it contained generous rooms with plentiful natural daylight and utilised a perfect site in the Swiss Alps, providing unparalleled views. For these attributes his parents were very grateful, however the new residence isolated them from the community they had known all their lives. It also almost bankrupt them, as their son was keen to include every design element which he felt was necessary to enhance the house, seemingly disregarding the huge financial pressure it caused for them. This new country dwelling, therefore, raised their social status materialistically, while simultaneously disconnecting them socially as they were estranged from the microcosm in which they had previously socialised. As Weber asserts, 'not only had he [Le Corbusier] encumbered his parents financially but he had 51
N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.39. Ibid, p.22. 53 G. Jeanneret-Gris, quoted in, H. Brooks, Le Corbusier's Formative Years: Charles-Edouard Jeanneret at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1997, p.13, cited in, N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.31. 54 Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, p.188. 55 N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.26. 56 Ibid, p.225. 52
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foolishly established them away from the city and their neighbours.'57 It can be argued therefore, that in taking advantage of the devastating circumstance in which his parents found themselves, Le Corbusier designed them a home which demonstrated their influence upon him: his desire to better their social standing.58 This influence he, perhaps, did not realise they exerted over him as they were not of a noble class, unlike the ancestors whom he tenuously attributed his talents to. His desire to raise his parents social status inadvertently inspired Le Corbusier to design a house which was over and above what his parents required, perhaps, therefore, also later subconsciously inspiring his similarly ostentatious urban plan for Paris, Plan Voisin. In summary, Le Corbusier's parents influenced his ideals and motives which subsequently influenced Plan Voisin. His need for approval from his parents, while growing up alongside a brother whom he viewed as disproportionately receiving his parents approval, inspired heightened ambition in Le Corbusier, which manifested itself in his profound architecture and radical urban planning ideas. In addition, his parent's unwitting influence over Le Corbusier with regard to their social status caused him to design a home which would improve this status, no matter how ostentatious or expensive. These excessive design elements (here relative to his parent's wealth and needs), are replicated to the extreme in Plan Voisin's grandioseness. Furthermore, Le Corbusier's desire to improve the living conditions of a few can be seen in his later ambitions to do so for the many. Le Corbusier's contemporaries During his travels Le Corbusier worked for, met and read many of his contemporaries. Prior to his travels, Le Corbusier's main influence aside from L'Eplattenier, was John Ruskin. In Paris, Frantz Jourdain facilitated a meeting with Eugène Grasset, who introduced Le Corbusier to reinforced concrete. On Grasset's recommendation, Le Corbusier successfully applied to work for the Perret brothers who embraced this new technology in their practice. Later Le Corbusier worked for the established functionalist architect Peter Behrens, in Berlin. Le Corbusier had closely studied Ruskin's book, The Seven Lamps of Architecture; it justified his existing rejection of ornament and through admiration, 59 Ruskin's architectural 'candor[sic]... frankness... and aesthetic became his own'. 60 It was the teachings of this book that inspired Le Corbusier to travel and experience great works of architecture first-hand.61 After declining work offered by Jourdain, which Le Corbusier deemed 'beneath him',62 he met with Grasset, a pioneer of Art Nouveau, whose book Method of Ornamental Composition had 'obsessed' him in school.63 Grasset provided momentum to Le Corbusier's developing ideas, telling him to peruse architecture created with reinforced concrete to create 'pure forms'.64 Weber argues Le 57
Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, p.111. 58 Ibid, pp.95-112. 59 J. Ruskin, The Seven Lamps of Architecture, New York, John Wiley, 1849, pp.25-56. 60 N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.38. 61 Ibid. 62 Ibid, p.60. 63 N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.60. 64 E. Grasset, quoted in, M. Gauthier, Le Corbusier ou l'architecture au service de l'homme, Paris, Editions DenoĂŤl, 1944, p.27, cited in N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.61.
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Corbusier perceived Grasset as an 'oracle' upon hearing his advice, and the extent of Grasset's influence on Le Corbusier's developing ideas was especially significant as the advice he gave was so readily followed; he directed Le Corbusier to peruse work under the Perret brothers and encouraged the use of reinforced concrete in Le Corbusier's subsequent projects.65 'Auguste and Gustave Perret believed that the design and appearance of a building should honour its function'.66 To Le Corbusier, Weber argues, this was 'the voice of truth'.67 Working, implementing his developing ideas, while learning the new technology of reinforced concrete, Le Corbusier 'was at home as never before'.68 He worked closely alongside Auguste Perret for fourteen months and left the practice assured that new architecture should follow the principles expressed by the Perret brothers projects. After leaving Paris and continuing his travels, Le Corbusier pursued work in Berlin. Initially unsuccessful, Le Corbusier secured a job in Behren's office due to his persistence. Behren, famed for designing the AEG Turbine Factory, had developed a 'streamlined functionalism', 69 distinctly different from past architectural traditions. 70 Le Corbusier admired his willingness to 'embrace industrialisation' as a means to produce good design for the masses.71 It was in Behrens practice Le Corbusier worked alongside Mies van der Rohe, who was developing his own modernist ideas about architecture at the time. Le Corbusier's Plan Voisin consists of unornamented, mass produced buildings made from reinforced concrete. 72 These ideas are expressed to different degrees by Ruskin, Grasset, the Perret brothers and Behrens. Weber writes, Le Corbusier 'espoused these ideals', ideas and concepts he had developed while learning from those he met and worked for.73 It can be argued, therefore, that the lessons learnt from these architects influenced Le Corbusier's ideas about architectural design and the technical means of producing this form of architecture. Conclusion Le Corbusier was undoubtedly a man of many original and innovative ideas, no one before him had imagined such immense changes to the way cities should be organised and the architecture they are composed of. However, three of the four principles Le Corbusier outlined that form the basis for his Plan Voisin can be traced beyond Le Corbusier. Le Corbusier's fundamental principles for Plan Voisin: 'We must de-congest the centres of our cities' and 'We must increase the means for getting about'74 were also fundamental ideals held by Haussmann and others when remodelling Paris. Le Corbusier's
65
N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.61. Ibid, p.62. 67 Ibid. 68 Ibid. 69 N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.74. 70 Art Directory, Peter Behrens, [website], 2017, http://www.behrens-peter.com/, (accessed 18 January 2017) 71 Mies van der Rohe Society, Mies joins the staff at Peter Behrens' atelier, [website], 2012, http://www.miessociety.org/events/mies-joins-the-staff-at-peter-behrens-atelier/, (accessed 18 January) 72 Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, p.75, p.150 73 N. Weber, Le Corbusier a life, New York, Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, 2008, p.74. 74 Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, p.170. 66
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fourth principle: 'We must increase parks and open spaces'75 was shared by Haussmann, but it is intrinsically linked to L'Eplattenier's teaching's, which also contribute to Le Corbusier's love of geometry and its implementation in Plan Voisin. His parents played a key role though inspiring him to aim for greatness in seeking their approval over his favoured brother, and the elevation of their social standing. Finally, the technology fundamental to constructing such enormous skyscrapers was introduced to Le Corbusier by Grasset and learnt from the Perret brothers. Le Corbusier's Plan Voisin is an original planning concept, but the ideas and ideals Le Corbusier held when creating the urban plan were inspired, in part, by the world around him and a collection of individuals.
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Le Corbusier, The City of To-Morrow and its Planning, trans. F. Etchells, Urbanisme, 8th edn., New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1987, p.170.
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