Kickstarter Campaign Seeks Funds To Produce Film About Eileen Gray
As we’ve mentioned before, Irish designer Eileen Gray was undoubtedly one of the most influential, and most overlooked, designers of the 20th century. However, a new Kickstarter campaign aims to put that right once and for all. The campaign is seeking funds to help renovate Gray’s seminal house, E-1027, for the production of a feature film about the architect.
AD Classics: Swiss Pavilion / Le Corbusier
In 1930, Le Corbusier was tasked with designing a dormitory that would house Swiss students at the Cité Internationale Universitaire in Paris. At first the architect and Pierre Jeanneret, his partner at the time, refused to take on the project due to tensions with the Swiss after their handling of the architects’ proposal for the League of Nations competition. Eventually, however, they agreed to see it through and worked on a very limited budget, which led the building to become a summation of Le Corbusier’s modern principles, forcing him to focus on dwelling before all else.
Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse Rooftop to Host Contemporary Art Center
When the gym and solarium on the 20-century’s most famous rooftop terrace – elevated 18-stories above Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse - went up for sale in 2010, French designer Ito Morabito of Ora-ïto immediately jumped on the opportunity and purchased the space. With the support of the Foundation Le Corbusier, Ora-ïto initiated a campaign to restore the 1950‘s structure to its original state, by removing an addition that blocked the spaces 360-degree views of the city, and transform it into a contemporary art center, named the MAMO for “Marseille Modulor” – as a nod to New York’s MOMA.
More about MAMO after the break…
LE CORBUSIER REDRAWN: The Houses / Steven Park
Le Corbusier (1887-1965) was the most significant architect of the twentieth century. Every architecture student examines the Swiss master’s work. Yet, all too frequently, they rely on reproductions of faded drawings of uneven size and quality. Le Corbusier Redrawn presents the only collection of consistently rendered original drawings (at 1:200 scale) of all twenty-six of Le Corbusier’s residential works. Using the original drawings from the Le Corbusier Foundation’s digital archives, architect Steven Park has beautifully redrawn 130 perspectival sections, as well as plans, sections, and elevations of exterior forms and interior spaces.
Le Corbusier: The Patron Saint of Skateboarders
We here at ArchDaily are big fans of Roman Mars’ radio program 99% Invisible, and just had to share the latest show: “In and Out of Love.” In it, Mars explores the changing face of Philadelphia’s JFK Plaza (more commonly known as LOVE Park), why its Modernist characteristics made it perfect for skateboarding (although city officials certainly didn’t feel that way), and why Le Corbusier truly is the patron saint of skateboarders (more about the episode at 99% Invisible).
And, if you like this, check out Why Skateboarding Matters to Architecture, and follow the jump for some very cool, very innovative skate-friendly homes, stores, and parks…
MoMA presents ‘Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes’
Mark your calendars! MoMA has plans for the new exhibition, Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes which will be centered around Le Corbusier‘s worldview of architecture. It explores both his most famous architectural projects, as well as the means by which he was able to realize them. Through a collection of early watercolors, drawings and photographs, curator Jean-Louis Cohen provides a peak into Le Corbusier’s journeys and developments as an architect, revealing how he explored the world and what he drew from his travels and observations.
More on ‘Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes’ after the break.
Le Corbusier Makes Waves In Miami
Nearly 50 years have passed since his death, but Le Corbusier can still make waves in the design world.
Corbu has become the talk of the Design Miami showrooms. Not only has a 1:1 model of Le Corbusier’s 1952 seaside villa, the Cabanon, been one of the most popular exhibits at the show (by Italian furniture company Poltrona Frau and the Le Corbusier Foundation), but another Corbu exhibit has also been one of the most hotly-contested.
Event-goers have cried foul at the Galerie Patrick Seguin, a gallery that sold chairs, tables, and sofas from Corbu’s government complex in Chandigarh (the Indian city Corbu helped design and plan) as part of its exhibition. While the gallery claims all the furniture (designed by Corbu and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret) had been neglected in India and now rescued, scholars are less than pleased that the furniture pieces have been removed from their intended buildings. As one scholar, Jean-Louis Cohen, an architectural historian and a curator for MOMA, told Architecture Record, “I’m revolted.”
Story via Architecture Record.
Giveaway Winner: ACME Studio’s new series based on Le Corbusier
Last week, thanks to the courtesy of ACME Studios, we gave you the chance to win a pen and card case based on Le Corbusier’s 1947 Modulor theory.
All you had to do to participate was become a registered user (if you’re not one already) and answer the following question in our comments:
Le Corbusier used his Modulor in many buildings. Name three.
After more than 200 comments, we now have the winner: Danielle Jones. Congratulations to the winner, you will be contacted through your email. Thanks everyone for participating and stay alert… more giveaways to come!
Giveaway: Win ACME Studio’s new series based on Le Corbusier
Thanks to the courtesy of ACME Studio, we are giving you the possibility to win a pen and card case based on Le Corbusier’s 1947 Modulor theory. Le Modulor, accentuates Le Corbusier’s theory on a black background with silver imagery and Ronchamp, an architect’s pencil features his signature drawing of a hand, a sign of “peace and reconciliation”.
All you have to do to participate is become a registered user (if you’re not one already) and answer the following question in our comments:
Le Corbusier used his Modulor in many buildings. Name three.
You have until Tuesday 30 to submit your answer. Winners will be announced and contacted next Wednesday 31. Good luck!
14 Facts You Didn’t Know About Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887 – August 27, 1965) will forever be known as an icon of Modernism, but did you know that the man who changed the face of architecture led quite the colorful personal life?
In honor of his 125th birthday, take a moment to check out some Corbu classics (perhaps Convent of La Tourette, Ronchamp, Villa Savoye, Unite d’Habitation, or Villa Roche) and read on to learn more about the man behind the myth – Charles-Édouard Jeanneret.
Fun Facts About Le Corbusier (including what Salvador Dalí had to say about him. It isn’t pretty) after the break!
Rare images of Le Corbusier by Willy Rizzo, in color
It’s hard to imagine Le Corbusier – the bespectacled legend of 20th century Modernism, known for his ultra-clean aesthetics – as living in the everyday, messy world that we all inhabit. Which is why the Fondation le Corbusier‘s decision to display rare color photographs of Le Corbusier is such a treat for us all.
The photographs were taken for the magazine Paris Match in 1953 by Willy Rizzo, a fashion photographer better known for his shots of 1950s stars and starlets. The images depict the then 66-year-old Corbusier in various spots about Paris: the Musée National d’Art Moderne, his apartment, in front of a blackboard (sporting a sketch of Unité d’Habitation).
In her Fast Company article, Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan explains that these images give us a glimpse of the man behind the myth: “Even the way we talk about him now, as Le Corbusier, refers to an idea as much as a person. Captured 12 years before he drowned in the Mediterranean at his beloved summer home, Rizzo’s photographs give us a glimpse of the pre-sainted man–aka Charles-Édouard Jeanneret.”
The photographs will be on display at the exhibit “Le Corbusier by Willy Rizzo” at Le Corbusier’s Maison La Roche, in Paris, until December 15th.
Story via Fast Company, Photos © Willy Rizzo
Check out more images of Le Corbusier, after the break…
Win Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye from LEGO® Architecture
Last night, ArchDaily indulged in building our very own LEGO® Architecture Villa Savoye. As one of the most influential buildings in the International style of architecture, it is no surprise that architecture and LEGO fanatics rejoiced last month when LEGO® announced Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye as the newest addition to their architecture series. Now, thanks to LEGO® Architecture, five of our readers will win their very own.
We want to know what building should be the next in the LEGO® Architecture series and why. All you have to do is become a registered user at ArchDaily and leave us your answer in the comments below by Sunday, September 23rd! (More information on LEGO® Architecture’s Villa Savoye, designed by architectural artist Michael Hepp, can be found here.)
Official rules:
The five winners will be chosen at random from entries received between Monday, September 17th and Sunday, September 23rd 11:59 EST. You must leave a comment as a registered user at ArchDaily. Open to anyone in the world. One entry per person. ArchDaily will enforce verification and remove duplicated ones before choosing the winner.
Good luck!
UPDATE: And, the winners are….
- Seth Ellsworth
- Wonyeop Seok
- Daniel Bollard
- Makoto Shibuya
- Mark Kitchens
Congrats! You can expect an email from us shortly.
“Lost” Le Corbusier Building Sparks Preservation Movement in Iraq
In Upstate New York, residents are clamoring to raze down their Government Center, Paul Rudolph’s classic 1970 example of brutalist design. Ostensibly, this is due to flood-damage. But it can’t hurt that, as one resident was quoted in The New York Times as saying, it’s “a big ugly building.”
In Minnesota, city officials would rather tear down M. Paul Fiedberg’s Peavey Plaza, a “Modernist gem” completed in ’73, than spend the time, money, and effort to revitalize it.
In Baghdad, on the other hand, a gymnasium completed in 1982, suffering the signs of decades of violence, poverty, and ill-executed renovation, has sparked a small preservation movement, reawakening a country to its neglected cultural heritage.
The architect behind this Iraqi endeavor? None other than Le Corbusier himself.
Read More on the “forgotten” Le corbusier in Baghdad, after the break…
The Iconic U.N. Headquarters Makeover
Planned for completion in 2014, the iconic United Nations Headquarters (UNHQ) is in the middle of a $1.876 billion refurbishment project, known as the Capital Master Plan, which seeks to update the aging building with a more safe, modern and sustainable work environment. Located on the 18-acre site that was donated by John D. Rockefeller in the 1950s, the Manhattan UNHQ was designed by an international team of eleven architects who worked together in a post-World War II world to create an landmark building through collaboration rather than competition.
Continue reading for more details on the Capital Master Plan.
Fire Update and Interior Tour of Le Corbusier’s Unité d’ Habitation in Marseille
In an article originally published on Plataforma Arquitectura, Guillermo Hevia Garcia describes his experience when visiting the Unité d’ Habitation in Marseille, France, also known as Cité Radieuse. On February 9th, the building was overcome by a large fire that was said to have been started due to a heating problem. The blaze took hundreds of firefighters nearly a day and a half to put it out. Eight residential units and four hotel rooms were destroyed, and approximately 35 other units were severely damaged by smoke or action relief. Most residents have returned home to the Unité d’ Habitation, Le Corbusier‘s thesis on domestic life, as they continue to live the communal life that the renowned architect dreamt up.
Read on for more after the break.
Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse damaged by Fire
Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse has been severely damaged fire. The nine-story “vertical village” in Marseille, France became a historic monument in 1995 and serves as one of the most important postwar landmarks of modernist architecture.
The fire began Thursday afternoon in a first floor duplex. Firefighters fought over 12 hours to tame the blaze and were able to bring it under control earlier this morning. Many reports state at least eight to eleven homes were destroyed and twenty to thirty were damaged by smoke. All residents were evacuated late on Thursday. Thankfully, no one was critically injured and only five people were treaded in the hospital for minor injuries.
Le Corbusier built the social housing complex between 1947 and 1951. About 1,600 people live it its 334 famous duplex apartments. Some residents have resided in the complex since its inauguration. Many of the inhabitants include middle-class teachers and architects.
It remains unclear on how the fire was started.
Find more information on Unite d’ Habitation here on ArchDaily.
Reference: Le Huffington Post, The Guardian
Iconic Houses by Grant Snider
Curbed lead us to Colorado-based webcomic Grant Snider and his clever blog Incidental Comics. Snider uses the classic “glass houses” proverb in his own unique depiction of midcentury “Iconic Houses”, highlighting The Glass House by Philip Johnson, Farnsworth House by Mies Van der Rohe, Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier and Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Curious about the red beavers gnawing at the Farnsworth House? Snider clears up the confusion stating, “In an earlier draft of this comic, it appeared the Farnsworth house was being gnawed by ordinary beavers. My architect brother informed me that Mies van der Rohe was known for his innovations in steel and glass, not wood. So just to clarify: those are MUTANT beavers.”
Video: Le Corbusier’s Chapel Notre-Dame du Haut
A well known architectural classic by Le Corbusier, the Notre Dame du Ronchamp, or more commonly referred to as Ronchamp, is featured very elegantly in this video by italian architect Franco Di Capua. The curved roof that peels up towards the heavens, the curving walls, and the the sporadic window placement on the walls are just a few of the architectural elements that make this project such a marvel.
Winners of the Architect’s Eye Photography Competition
Since 2006, the International Art Consultants (IAC) has celebrated architects’ passion for photography through the Architect’s Eye Awards. Simon Kennedy won the Architecture and Place category this year with his image of the ‘Heygate Estate’, while Revti Halai’s photo of the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion received runner-up. The Architecture and People category was won by Neil Dusheiko’s photograph of ‘Unite d’Habitation’, and Chris Drummond’s ‘Ghosts of the Underground’ received runner-up.
View the four winning photographs after the break.
Video: Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye
Onnis Luque, an architectural photographer based in Mexico City, shared with us one of his productions on video, Le Corbusier’s classic Villa Savoye. Completed in 1929, Villa Savoye is a modern take on a French country house that celebrates and reacts to the new machine age. The house single handedly transformed Le Corbusier’s career as well as the principles of the International Style; becoming one of the most important architectural precedents in the history. Situated in Poissy, a small commune outside of Paris, this project marks one of the most significant contributions to modern architecture in the 20th century.
The Plato Effect in Architecture: Designing for Human Diversity
The idea that a diverse population needs a diverse environment to succeed seems easy enough to grasp. Certainly, it is easier to comprehend than a one-size-fits-all design philosophy. Why then, in the name of universal design and equality, do architects continue to design uniform one-size-fits-all environments? Answering that is not so simple. Some may suggest that construction methods, costs, and site restrictions make diverse environments economically and physically infeasible. Others may fault the lack of courses architects take in human biology and psychology. This might make it impossible for them to understand the diverse range of people their buildings affect. Even more may fault the ever increasingly abstract design process. This may hinder architects’ ability to identify with real future occupants. All of these conceivably play a role, but the most likely culprit is Plato’s philosophy of essentialism for the same reason biologist Ernst Mayr felt it caused evolution’s insufferably late discovery; essentialism has and continues to fundamentally shape how we see and deal with diversity.[1]
