Le Corbusier Biography

Le Corbusier is originally a Swiss architect who majorly practiced his architecture in France. He is considered to be one of the greatest architects of all time and is accredited for working on some of the most intricate architectural wonders of the world. His fame is such that even the ones who aren't the biggest fans of architecture have surely heard his name. The pages of history are evidence that proves the fine architecture he contributed to.

Most architecture students idolize the great Le Corbusier architect. He belonged to the first generation of the school of architecture. In this Le Corbusier biography, we will learn about his life story and his masterful architectural wonders.

Who was Le Corbusier? 

Le Corbusier is famous as the best architect to ever live and has contributed to several architectural masterpieces located in Europe. He is often also accredited as the father of architecture. Throughout his lifetime, he was a dedicated architect who constantly worked towards innovating masterful architectural pieces. In his architectural career, he mainly worked with Elementary steel and reinforced concrete to build geometrically rich structures. Le Corbusier also painted often which was all in accordance with his architecture. This le Corbusier biography will brief you more about the life of the great man!

The early years of le Corbusier

Le Corbusier was his adopted name, he was originally born as Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris on October 6th, 1887. Le Corbusier was the second son of an artist, Edouard Jeanneret. His father was a masterful painter too, he worked as a painter who painted dials in the well-known watch industry hailing from the town. His mother was Madame Jeannerct-Perrct, a talented woman herself. She held expertise in music and also gave piano lessons to her students. Since childhood, le Corbusier grew up in a conducive environment that respected and supported art. The family's Calvinism, extreme passion towards art, and high enthusiasm for the Jura Mountains (the region where Le Corbusier's family fled to during the Albigensian Wars of the 12th century.)were all influential factors that shaped up le Corbusier's thought process. From a young age, he was exposed to art and architecture which inculcated a love for art in his mind.

At a tender age of 13, Le Corbusier bid adieu to his primary school and stepped foot into La Chaux-de-Fonds, to attend Arts Décoratifs. Here's where the stepping stone was laid and his interest in art deepened. In La Chaux-de-Fonds, he learned the art of engraving and enameling watch faces. Much like his father, le Corbusier excelled at watchmaking and painting.

The master's teacher!

At the La Chaux-de-Fonds, he met L’Eplattenier for the first time. To Le Corbusier, L’Eplattenier was someone who he could look up to and seek inspiration from. L’Eplattenier is the one Le Corbusier referred to as "my master". Later in his career, he also claimed that L’Eplattenier is his only teacher. L’Eplattenier is the one who taught him the history of art, drawing, and the original aesthetics of art Nouveau. L’Eplattenier was instrumental in deepening Le Corbusier's passion and dedication towards art. Seeking inspiration from L’Eplattenier, le Corbusier decided to extend his education in the field of art. Soon, Le Corbusier left behind his study in watchmaking and began exploring more in art with an intention to become a painter. L’Eplattenier also motivated Le Corbusier to lay his hands on architecture. He also arranged Le Corbusier's first local project which sought le Corbusier his first commission.

A journey around the world

By now, le Corbusier was sure about making a whole career in architecture and he wished to give his all to architecture. His first experience with architecture came in the year 1907 when he was just 20. He successfully planned the architecture of a house. However, le Corbusier did not wish to just settle for planning houses. He wished to make it big. To explore and get exposure to different styles of architecture, Le Corbusier took several trips around central Europe and the Mediterranean. These places included Vienna, Italy, Munich, and Paris. Several of these trips included apprenticeships with other architects, one of the most significant apprenticeships was with the structural rationalist Auguste Perret, one of the pioneers of reinforced concrete construction. Later on, he also toured with the popular architect Peter Behrens. He also worked along with him from October 1910 to March 1911, in and around Berlin.

The initial phase of his career

The apprenticeships and educational tours played a deterministic role in the life of le Corbusier, it had a huge role in shaping up the education of le Corbusier. During the early part of his career, le Corbusier was exuberant, witty, and most of all, hardworking.

 Following were his observations and discoveries.

(1) The contrast between the individual compartmentalized spaces and the large collective spaces, was an observation that paved the way to form the basis for his view of residential buildings which later became a highly influential architectural practice

(2) The prompt proportion of classical Renaissance architecture

3) The influential importance of geometric forms and the use of landscape as a common architectural tool.

Later on, in 1912, Le Corbusier moved to La Chaux-de-Fonds to teach along with L’Eplattenier to open his own school of architecture. Furthermore, he also designed a row of villas and put into implementation the theory of reinforced concrete as a structural frame, a modern technique that brought in a transformation in the style of architecture and brought in modernization. Le Corbusier's philosophy in architecture believed in mankind moving towards modernization.

After world war 1 had come to an end, several cities lay in a devastated state. They needed restructuring and rebuilding to be done. Le Corbusier viewed this as an opportunity and helped build several modernized houses at highly affordable prices. The modern approach adopted by Le Corbusier was much more cost-effective than the contemporary architectural solutions. The proposed plan was enriched with open spaces that avoided structural poles, this helped in freeing the walls from the usual structural constraints. This was the trademark design system of le Corbusier for the years to come.

Le Corbusier book: passing on the legacy 

Le Corbusier believed in sharing his knowledge and passing on his exquisite knowledge about architectural frameworks. Hence, to never let the legacy of Le Corbusier's great architectural ideas be forgotten, several Le Corbusier books were written and printed by him. These books gained widespread popularity and were read by scholars from all around the world to get a better understanding of the concept of architecture. A few famous le Corbusier books include

• Towards a New Architecture

• The City of Tomorrow and Its Planning

• Le Corbusier Talks with Students

• Le Corbusier: Le Modulor and Modulor 2

A few of these books were in English and a few in French. However, the books gained such popularity that they were all translated into multiple languages for students to learn and understand.

Citrohan and the idea of contemporary cities 

Le Corbusier constantly thought of ideas that could change the look of cities and make them more vibrant and accommodative. The contemporary city was the first-ever city proposal by le Corbusier. The proposal included two kinds of house types. One being the Maison Monol and the other one, the more popular of the two, the Maison Citrohan, which he also called “the machine of living". Le Corbusier later visualized prefabricated houses that gracefully imitated the concept of assembly line car manufacturing, for example, The Maison Citrohan portrayed the characters through which the architect could, later on, define modern architecture: pillars meant for support that raised the house above the ground and supported its structure, a roof terrace, and an open flooring plan. The interior design featured the spatial contrast between the bedrooms and the open living spaces.