HISTORY OF

ARCHITECTURE - V
TOPIC – AR. LE CORBUSIER
SUBMITTED BY –
D H A I R YA K A L R A
ITIKA JAIN
KA RT IK A RO R A
M USK A N C HO WD H ARY
SID DH ART H
INTRODUCTI
ON
 Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, better known as Le Corbusier was Born on
(October 6, 1887 – August 27, 1965).
 He was an architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the
pioneers of what is now called modern architecture.
 He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930.
 In his architecture, he chiefly built with steel and reinforced concrete and
worked with elemental geometric forms.
 His career spanned 8 decades, with his buildings constructed throughout
central Europe, India, Russia, and one each in North and South America.
He was also an urban planner, painter, sculptor, writer, and modern furniture
Name -Charles-Édouard Jeanneret- designer.
Gris Le Corbusier  Grew up seeing the alps – adored cows right from his childhood (inspiration
Nationality -Swiss / French
for chandigarh secratariat)
Birth date -October 6, 1887(1887-10-
06)
 Self made architect
Birth place -La Chaux-de-Fonds,  Gave the world one of the STRONGEST proportioning systems.
Switzerland  Minimalistic approach.
Date of death -August 27, 1965
(aged 77)
Place of death -Roquebrune-Cap-
Martin, France
MODULAR THOERY
 - Le Corbusier explicitly used the golden ratio in his
Modular system for the scale of architectural proportion.

 - Le Corbusier based the system on human

measurements, Fibonacci numbers, and the double unit.

- He took Leonardo's suggestion of the golden ratio in human

proportions to an extreme: he sectioned his model human
body's height at the navel with the two sections in golden ratio,
then subdivided those sections in golden ratio at the knees and
throat; he used these golden ratio proportions in the Modular
system.

 - Le Corbusier placed systems of harmony and

proportion at the centre of his design philosophy, and his
faith in the mathematical order of the universe was
closely bound to the golden section and the Fibonacci
series
 Le Corbusier's 1927 Villa Stein in Garches exemplified
the Modular system's application. The villa's rectangular
ground plan, elevation, and inner structure closely
approximate golden rectangles.
MILL OWNERS
ASSOCIATION
BUILDING
 The building is located on Ashram Road, in
the western part of the city, overlooking the
river Sabarmati in Ahmedabad.
 A ceremonial ramp makes for a grand
approach into a triple height entrance hall,
open to the wind.
 Arrival is on the first floor, where (as per
the original design) the executives’ offices
and boardroom are located.
 The ground floor houses the work-spaces
of the clerks and a separate, single-story
canteen at the rear.
 On the second floor of the Mill Owners’
Building, the lobby is treated as “an open
space defined by harsh, angular forms and
the auditorium as an enclosed space
delineated by soft, curvilinear forms …two
contradictory elements that both need the
other in order to exist.”
 On the third floor is a high, top-lit auditorium with a roof
canopy and a curved, enclosing wall, in addition to a
generous lobby.
 The east and west facades are in the form of sun
breakers or brise-soleil, one of Corbusier’s many formal
inventions, which, while avoiding harsh sun, permit
visual connection and air movement. While the brise-
soleil act as free facades made of rough shuttered
concrete, the north and south sides, built in rough
brickwork, are almost unbroken.
 It’s a brilliant display of classic Corbusier, highlighting
clean lines, warm light and bright spaces with hints of
colour against the textured concrete.
MILL OWNERS ASSOCIATION – AHMEDABAD

ramp and staircases

 VIEWS OF THE BUILDING
PREMISES
 The toilets are two interlocking curves with a service
shaft in between which grows up to the terrace.
 Its form and scale contradicts its surrounding.
 Visual privacy is achieved by virtue of its form.
 Entries are on opposite sides of the curves.
 Ventilators are pulled out of the height and
emphasized.
  Six shaped auditorium.
 Its naturally lit by
skylights which forms a
gallery.
 Cladded by ply for better
acoustics.

 View to the
Sabarmati.
 Subtle transition from
the built to unbuilt.  Second floor
entry door,
 By way of explanation, with a large
Corbusier placed these giant
pivoted
angled louvers on the west side orange door.
of the building in an attempt to
capture the prevailing wind,
directing it through the building
and thereby increasing
ventilation and keeping the
place cool.
Mill Owners Association - Ahmedabad
Mill Owners Association - Ahmedabad
SECTION
CHANDIGARH
 The idea of building Chandigarh was conceived soon after India's independence in 1947,
when the tragedy and chaos of Partition, and the loss of its historic capital Lahore, had
crippled the state of Punjab.
 A new city was needed to house innumerable refugees and to provide an administrative seat
for the newly formed government of re-defined Punjab.
 Chandigarh was regarded as a unique symbol of the progressive aspirations of the new
republic and the ideology of its struggle for independence.
 It aimed to provide a generous cultural and social infrastructure and equitable opportunities
for a dignified, healthy living even to the "poorest of the poor".
 The near vacuum of indigenous expertise needed to realize this dream prompted the search
for Western skill.
 Yet, conscious of the specificities of their situation, the search was narrowed to "...a good
modern architect who was not severely bound by an established style and who would be
capable of developing a new conception originating from the exigencies of the project itself
and suited to the Indian climate, available materials and the functions of the new capital.
 "The Chandigarh Project was, at first, assigned to the American planner Albert Mayer, with
his associate Matthew Nowicki working out architectural details. Le Corbusier's association
with the city was purely fortuitous, a result of Nowicki's sudden death .
 Corbusier continued to be associated with the city as the principal ‘architectural and planning
advisor' for the till his death in1965. 
Corbusier's plan of modern Chandigarh

 Taking over from Albert Mayer, Le Corbusier produced a plan for Chandigarh that conformed
to the modernist city planning principles, in terms of division of urban functions, an
anthropomorphic plan form, and a hierarchy of road and pedestrian networks.
 This vision of Chandigarh, contained in the innumerable conceptual maps on the drawing
board together with notes and sketches had to be translated into brick and mortar.
 Le Corbusier retained many of the seminal ideas of Mayer and Nowicki, like the basic
framework of the master plan and its components: The Capitol, City Centre, besides the
University, Industrial area, and linear parkland.
 Even the neighbourhood unit was retained as the basic module of planning. However, the
curving outline of Mayer and Nowicki was reorganized into a mesh of rectangles, and the
buildings were characterized by an "honesty of materials".
 Exposed brick and boulder stone masonry in its rough form produced unfinished concrete
surfaces, in geometrical structures. This became the architectural form characteristic of
Chandigarh, set amidst landscaped gardens and parks.
 Le Corbusier on site

 The initial plan had two phases: the first for a population of 150,000 and the second
taking the total population to 500,000. Le Corbusier divided the city into units called
"sectors", each representing a theoretically self-sufficient entity with space for living,
working and leisure.
 The sectors were linked to each other by a road and path network developed along
the line of the 7 Vs, or a hierarchy of seven types of circulation patterns. At the
highest point in this network was the V1, the highways connecting the city to others,
and at the lowest were the V7s, the streets leading to individual houses. Later a V8
was added: cycle and pedestrian paths.
 The city plan is laid down in a grid pattern.
 The whole city has been divided into rectangular patterns, forming identical looking
sectors, each sector measures 800 m x 1200 m. The sectors were to act as self-sufficient
neighbourhoods, each wit
 h its own market, places of worship, schools and colleges - all within 10 minutes walking
distance from within the sector.
 The original two phases of the plan delineated sectors from 1 to 47, with the exception of
13 (Number 13 is considered unlucky).
 The Assembly, the secretariat and the high court, all located in Sector - 1 are the three
monumental buildings designed by Le Corbusier in which he showcased his architectural
genius to the maximum.
 The city was to be surrounded by a 16 kilometre wide greenbelt that was to ensure that
no development could take place in the immediate vicinity of the town, thus checking
suburbs and urban sprawl.
 While leaving the bulk of the city's architecture to other members of his team, Le
Corbusier took responsibility for the overall master plan of the city, and the design of
some of the major public buildings including the High Court, Assembly, Secretariat, the
Museum and Art Gallery, School of Art and the Lake Club.
 Le Corbusier 's most prominent building, the Court House, consists of the High court,
which is literally higher than the other, eight lower courts. Most of the other housing was
done by Le Corbusier 's cousin Pierre Jeanerette.
 It continues to be an object of interest for architects, planners, historians and social
scientists.
Corbusier’s works

secretariat
palace assembly

museum
high court
 Open Hand
 Open hand in Chandigarh, India is one
of the most significant monuments of
the city.
 The credit for laying down its plan goes
to Le Corbusier.
 It is located in sector 1 in the Capitol
Complex.
 Chandigarh open hand monument has
been designed in the form of a giant
hand made from metal sheets that
rotates like a weathercock, indicating
the direction of wind.
 This giant hand is 14 metres high and
weighs around 50 tonnes.
 The significance of open hand is that it
conveys the social message of peace
and unity that is "open to give & open
to receive."
 Open hand is the city's official emblem.
High Court

 This structure has a double roof, projecting over

the office block like a parasol or an inverted
umbrella.
 This magnificent outward sweep of the upper roof
is symbolic of protection & justice to the people.
 The 3 vertical piers, rising 60 feet from the floor
and painted in bright colours from the grand
entrance of the building facade. On the rear walls
of the court rooms, hang the giant wooden
tapestries.
 Classic example of cubism.
 Perfectly composed vertical and horizontal lines
wit solids and voids.
High Court

 Access to the upper floors is

through a ramp sheltered by a
portico.
 The gradual climb reveals the vast
expanse and the coloured concrete
volumes of the bldg.
 The rooms are shielded by the sun
breakers from inside.
Secretariat

 The Secretariat is the largest of these edifices in the

Capitol Complex. It is the headquarter of both Punjab and
Haryana governments.
 It is a huge multi-storied linear slab-like structure,
intended as a work place for 4000 people.
 The building is 254 meters long and 42 meters high. It is
composed of 8 storeys.
 The long line of rhythmic sun breakers is relieved by
introducing varied heights and projections, together with
a roof containing towers, funnels, pavilions and a
cafeteria jutting out like an art object placed on a pedestal
 . In the hands of Corbusier, this basically repetitive
framework has been shaped into a work of art.
 Built during 1953-59, it is shaped like an eight - storey
concrete slab, with its distinctive brise-soleil ( louvered
screen ) of deeply sculptured two-storey porticos in the
centre, housing the offices of ministers.
 The cafeteria rests atop the terrace like an art object,
giving a spectacular view of the city .
 Assembly Hall

 The most majestic entrance to the

assembly is reflected in a large pool
of water.
 The main entrance is fitted with a
door made of enamel steel ,a gift
from France to Punjab on which
many of Corbusier’s motifs are
depicted.
 The circular auditorium is crowned
by a frustum which is said to depict
the horn of a cow.

Door designed and

painted by Corbusier.
THANK YOU