LE CORBUSIER
1887 - 1965
After studying Decorative Arts in his hometown of La Chaux-de-Fonds, he turned to architecture at the age of 18.
It is through multiple trips across Europe that he forged his own architectural vision. He then met in France, the architect Auguste PERRET, the master of reinforced concrete, and worked for more than a year in his workshops. This will be a real turning point for him.
Therefore, for him reinforced concrete, metal and glass are the symbols of a new architectural era, the modern movement. He became one of its heralds with, among others, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Alvar Aalto and Theo van Doesburg.
Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret publish their theory for a modern and harmonious architecture:"The 5 points of a new architecture".
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The piles
The floor space is freed up, the living floors are raised. Letting light pass through living spaces.
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The roof terrace
No more sloping roofs, a place for a flat roof, a new floor suitable for outdoor activities.
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The free plan
The post-beam system avoids load-bearing walls, leaving a modular and unconstrained interior layout.
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The long windows
With concrete and freestanding structures, windows can run the length of the structure, bringing more natural light into interior spaces.
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The free facade
The post-beam system relieves the facades of structural constraints, leaving full latitude to the architect as to the choice of positioning and size of the openings.
The Dom-Ino structure
Very quickly, Le Corbusier became interested in the problem of housing. Associated with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, their common idea is to build housing quickly and at reduced cost. They design an industrial prefabrication and reproduction process.
The systemDominois designed as a framework that can be reproduced at will, based on load-bearing columns and beams and a concrete slab. This system abolishes the need for load-bearing walls and thus leaves full latitude to develop this free plan into modular and rational spaces.
He thus leads a theoretical reflection on town planning, with projects which provoked and still sometimes provoke violent polemics.
