Unit -2

Le – Corbusier,
 Le – Corbusier

INTRODUCTION

 Charles edouard jeanneret now popularly known as le corbusier.

 Born on 6th of october’ 1887 at la chaux de fonds in swiss jura
mountains 4 kms from french border.
 He started working under contractor perret, le corbusier’s so called
master.
 He as a child prepared himself for a manual occupation.
 He left his school at the age of 13½ yrs.
 Joined an art school later.
 Le - Corbusier
IDEOLOGY OF HIS THOUGHTS

FIVE POINTS OF
ARCHITECTURE
 The Pilotis
 Roof Garden
 Free Floor Plan
 Elongated Window
 Free Facade
 Le - Corbusier
IDEOLOGY OF HIS THOUGHTS

 THE PILOTIS
• Pilotis means columns.
• It helped to redefine the house as a matter of form and function
• Reinforced concrete gave us the pilotis.
• It raised the building in the air, far from the soil, with gardens
stretching beneath the building
• For e.g villa savoye,poissy in france in 1929
• Pilotis usually served as an element of Dramatization And Visual
Isolation
 Le - Corbusier
IDEOLOGY OF HIS THOUGHTS

 THE ROOF GARDEN

• Usually known as Hanging Garden.
• First realization of this idea was in the small house that the architect
built for his parents on lake Geneva in 1923 is described in a Hymnal
Tone.
• Reinforced concrete made the structurally homogenous roof possible.
• Reason of technique, economy and comfort lead to the adoption of
the roof terrace and the roof garden.
• The roof garden often equipped for sports, emulates the ‘condition of
nature’ in human habitat .
 Le - Corbusier
IDEOLOGY OF HIS THOUGHTS

 THE FLOOR PLAN

• Reinforced concrete brought the innovation of the free plan in
which the interiors were no longer the rigidly determined by the
structural walls, they had become free.
• In Paris, the principle had been beautifully demonstrated by Perret’s
apartment house.
• Le Corbuiser suggested a complete independence of structural support
architectural “infill”.
• He used sliding walls that divided the living room into three bedrooms
at night
 Le - Corbusier
IDEOLOGY OF HIS THOUGHTS

 THE ELONGATED WINDOW

• Le Corbusier’s obsession with the form of the facade long windows
that is totally independency of structure.
• Its no surprise that the architect once again produced a scientific
demonstration in order to prove the superiority of the new
window type.
• For example , on an intimate scale on the upper floor of the villa
vaucresson and in the Jeanerette house on lake Geneva.
 Le - Corbusier
IDEOLOGY OF HIS THOUGHTS

 THE FREE FASCADE

• Pillars retreated from the facade to the inside of the house i.e the
facade became no more than light membrane.
• Consist of isolating windows.
• Facade was now free and the windows could extend without
interruption from one end to the other.
• The real motivation for it was Le Corbusier’s urge to bring his
Olympian statements to the number five.
 Le - Corbusier
IDEOLOGY OF HIS THOUGHTS

 THE MODULAR
• The modular was a system of proportioning worked out by
le Corbusier essentially the modular is a series of proportions not unlike
the golden section used by ancient Greeks.
• Based on the measurements of a six foot man in various
position standing, sitting, lying down etc.
• The modular was both a module of measurement and of scale.
•‘The Modular’ , le corbusier wrote, is a measuring tool based on the
human body and on mathematics. a man with an arm upraised
provides, at the determining points of his occupation of space- foot, solar
plexus, head, tips of fingers of the upraised arm- three intervals which give
rise to a series of golden sections called the Fibonacci series.
 Le - Corbusier

THE TYPICAL SPATIAL POSITIONS OF THE HUMAN BODY

 Le - Corbusier
Example 1: Villa Sav Oye, Poissy , France 1931

 Villa Savoye is related to the whole range of le corbusier’s

architecture and urban planning .
 It is situated on smoothly sloping hill top in midst of fields .
 It illustrates with extreme clarity and is perhaps the most faithful in
its observation of hi five points i.e pilotis, roof garden, free floor plan ,
elongated window, and free façade.
 Palladian grid is followed.
 Golden proportions are analyzed.
 Columns of the buildings are defined by a system of walls independent
of structure.
 Entry to the property is through a gate at one end of high stone wall.
 Le - Corbusier
Example 1: Villa Sav Oye, Poissy , France 1931
 Le - Corbusier
Example 1: Villa Sav Oye, Poissy , France 1931

TURNING RADIUS OF THE CAR FORMING SEMI CIRCULAR

RECEPTION HALL

VIEW FROM INSIDE VIEW FROM OUTSIDE

 Le - Corbusier
Example 1: Villa Sav Oye, Poissy , France 1931

 There is small gate keeper’s lodge at the entrance, the main portion of
the house is raised on the columns which are set on grass plane.
 Second level with open garden terrace, as the extension of the main
rooms of the house is lifted upon columns.
 Living area opens on the south to the garden through large floor to
ceiling sliding glass doors.
 Ground floor is a perfect square and is defined as zone of motion.
 The minimum turning radius of an automobile determined the radius of
the semi circular ground floor that contains an elegant reception hall,
garage and the servant quarters.
 Le - Corbusier
Example 1: Villa Sav Oye, Poissy , France 1931

ROOF GARDEN

SECOND LEVEL
WITH
ROOF GARDEN

LIVING AREA

ABOUT 1/3RD OF
THE SPACE IS
OCCUPIED BY
THE ROOF
TERRACE
 Le - Corbusier
Example 1: Villa Sav Oye, Poissy , France 1931

 From the hall a two stage ramp lead up into

the living area rooms are arranged in l- LIVING ROOM OPENING TOWARDS

shaped.
 About 1/3rd of the surface area is occupied
by an open terrace enclosed by the wall of
the house.
 Corner to corner slits of the elongated
RAMP TOWARDS TERRACE
windows offered a view of the distant
landscape.
 The most striking feature of the villa is ramp
which lead a simple walk on the terrace.
ELONGATED WINDOWS
 Le - Corbusier
Example 2: Unite D Havitation

 It was the time when Europe was rising from the smoldering funeral pyre
of and its newly liberated people were to establish some programme
direction of new life.
 Le Corbusier had a revolutionary event, sun, space and greenery was
developed here.
 It was Le Corbusier’s best contribution to a modern typology of social
housing.
 The building is situated on 9 acre site on the outskirts of Marseille.
 It has an east west orientation.
 It is 450’ long, 80’ wide and 185’ high .
 It follows the theoretical principles of le corbusier’s logic of construction.
 4 lifts each with a capacity of 20 travelling with a speed at 40ft per second
Le - Corbusier
Example 2: Unite D Havitation

 It has skeleton of reinforced concrete and rest on powerful pillars which

leaves the ground free.
 All piping passes through these pillars (pilotis).
 All apartments are built in two levels.
 The northern façade is blank, while the other facades are animated with
glass walls and sun break loggias of living area.
 The plan is not completely free ; the partition walls between the
apartments are load bearing.
 Strong sound proofing between apartments.
 It is 9 storey's high.
 They are divided into twenty three different types of apartments .
 337 apartments in all & Recreational rooms are on the roof.
 Le - Corbusier
Example 2: Unite D Havitation

GLASS WALL OF
12’ X 16’

DOUBLE HEIGHT LIVING

ROOM WITH GLASS CONCRETE HUGE PILOTIS
WALL AS NOBLE LEAVING THE
MATERIAL GROUND FREE
 Le - Corbusier
Example 2: Unite D Havitation

 The living room has double height of 16’ and glass wall of 12’ x 16’.
 Other rooms are 8’ high.
 The terrace roof has been provided with number of facilities for
collective use : day nursery, kindergarten, gymnasium for adults , open air
theatre
,and three hundred meter race track.
 Concrete is used as noble material.
 Few disadvantages of this building are as follow:
• The forest of pilotis on the ground floor is simply lugubrious
• The individual cells are too narrow
• Shopping
• He implemented most of his radical ideas.
• It had a rough concrete finish to the complex.
 Le - Corbusier
Example 2: Unite D Havitation

ROOF NURSERY

COLOURFUL
WALLS IN
BALCONIES

OPEN
TERRACE NARROW ROOMS
( 8’ HIGH ROOMS)
 Le - Corbusier
Example 3: Notre Dam Du Haut

 Notre-dam-du-haut is situated on southern foothills of the vosages.

 Le Corbusier tackled the problem first of all as a matter of “pure” space .
 In this context, Le Corbusier himself spoke of landscape acoustics thus
creating an echo in the hall.
 The form he finally came up with equal justice to the practical purpose of
sanctuary and the evocative challenge of the land.
 It is covered with mushroom shaped roof .
 Following the shape of hill , the nave of the church is inclined towards
east.
 The roof is independent of walls.
 A thin strip of daylight is revealed between the chapel walls and the roof .
 It creates a strong tension between the indoors and out doors .
 Le - Corbusier
Example 3: Notre Dam Du Haut
MASS VOID APPEARANCE
 The main hall has a capacity of
200 people.
 It was this chapel that he first
formulated the idea architecturally
in the form of periscope light
shafts capturing the sunlight and
spilling it over the altars of the
three sided chapel.
 He played with mass and void on
the exteriors of the walls
IRREGULAR VOIDS

INTERIOR OF THE CHAPEL

 Le - Corbusier
Example 4: 1930-32, swiss Students Hostel, 7 Boulevard Jourdan, cite ,paris

 Le Corbusier encountered many difficulties in

working with the committee as a client, hence this
accounted for many of the odd features of this
building.
 It marks a new phase in his work.
 There were difficulties in finding firm soil for the
foundation.
 Pilotis of reinforced concrete were used, was left
bare with shuttering marks displayed.
 The super-structure was of steel.
 The curved wall of the common room was of random
rubble.
 Le - Corbusier
Example 4: 1955 Mrs. Manorama Sarabhai’s House, Ahmedabad, India

 The house was sited and designed to

catch the winds in summer, but to be

penetrated by the sun in winter.

 The structure, rough brick walls coated

with white, supporting concrete beams

and, consisting of vaults.

 Cradle vaults of flat tiles set in plaster

without formwork coupled with a row of

bricks cast roughly in cement.

 Le - Corbusier
Example 5:1956 Shodhan House, Ahmedabad, India

 The simple structure is of exposed

reinforced concrete.
 The shuttering for the walls and vertical
surfaces being of timber, that for the ceilings
of metal sheeting.
 The ceilings and a few other selected areas
were to have been brightly painted.
 A characteristic element is the ramp which
leads to the mezzanine and to the main level.
 The accommodation are disposed in the
space of a ‘hanging garden’ on several
levels constituting 3 apartments, separate and
yet in contact with one another.
 Le - Corbusier
Example 6: Chandigarh

 CHANDIGARH was the first planned city after

independence from British rule in 1947. It is the capital
city of the states of Punjab and Haryana. The city is
located at the picturesque junction of foothills of the
Himalayas Mountain range and the Ganges plains. It
houses a population of 1,054,600 inhabitants (2001)
and is one of the richest cities of the nation.

 American architects Albert Mayer and Mathew

Novicki were the first architects to be appointed for
the project. After the death of Novicki in 1950,
Le Corbusier was commissioned.
 Le - Corbusier
Example 6: Chandigarh

INITIAL PROPOSALS

FAN- SHAPED MASTER PLAN PROPOSED

GRID-IRON MASTER PLAN PROPOSED
BY ALBERT MAYER
BY LE-CORBUSIER
 Le - Corbusier
Example 6: Chandigarh

Basic Planning Concept

 The city plan was conceived as post war ‘Garden City’ wherein vertical
and high rise buildings were ruled out, keeping in view the living habits of
the people.
 Le Corbusier conceived the master plan of Chandigarh as analogous to
human body, with a clearly defined
 Head (the Capitol Complex, Sector 1),
 Heart (the City Centre Sector-17),
 Lungs (the leisure valley, innumerable open spaces and sector greens),
 Intellect (the cultural and educational institutions),
 Circulatory system (the network of roads, the 7Vs) and
 Viscera (the Industrial Area)
 Le - Corbusier
Example 6: Chandigarh

•v1 connects other cities to chd

•v2 are the major avenues of
the city e.g Madhya Marg
etc
•v3 are the corridors streets
for vehicular traffic only
•v4…..v7 are the roads
within the sectors.
Chandigarh has been planned
on the scientific principles
and to apprise the coming
generation of these principles
the main feature of this edict
are its-
Human Scale
Self Sufficient Sectors
Roads System
Areas Of Special Interest
 Architectural Control
 Le - Corbusier
Example 6: Chandigarh
The primary module of city’s design is a
Sector, a Neighbourhood Unit of size 800
meters x 1200 meters. Each SECTOR is a
self-sufficient unit having shops, school,
health centres and places of recreations and
worship. The population of a sector varies
between 3000 and 20000 depending upon
the sizes of plots and the topography of the
area.

Layout Of Typical Residential

Sector
View Of Typical Roads And Round Abouts In The City
 Le - Corbusier
Example 6: Chandigarh

Sector Concept
• Taking Chandigarh as an example, we may see at once the democratic
idea which allows us to devote an equal care to housing all classes of
society to seek new social groupings, new patterns of education and
public welfare, and made more possible by practical applicatoin of the
scientific idea which through industrialism, gives us such benefits as
piped water, Electricity and cheap transport.

• Each sector is designated by number, the capital complex being number

1,with the remaining sectors numbered consecutively beginning at the
north corner of the city.

• At present there are 30 sectors in Chandigarh,of which 24 are residential.

• The sectors at the upper edge of the city are of abbreviated size.
 Le - Corbusier
Example 6: Chandigarh

Sector Concept
 Le - Corbusier
Example 6: Chandigarh
 As the most economical and readily available material for building at
Chandigarh was locally made brick.
 This became the material of construction.
 The flat roof was employed through out in Chandigarh housing because
of its usefulness as a sleeping area.
 70% of the building would be private in all the sectors.
 Residential plots ranging in dimensions from 75 sq. Yards to 5000 sq
yards.
 In the program presented to the architects,13 categories of houses were
specified, each corresponding to a level of government employment.
 Small windows openings have been consistently employed.
 The Projects Le-Corbusier handled were capitol complex, housing,
museum, city plaza etc
 Le - Corbusier
Example 6: Chandigarh
HIERARCHY of GREEN AREAS

A Hierarchy of Green Spaces can be observed in both the layout ranging

from Public Greens at City Level to Semi-Private to Private Green Areas.

1. City Level Public Green Space with

Artificial Water Body.
2. Free- Flowing Green Space,
connecting the entire site.
3. Semi-Private Green Areas
for neighbourhood
pockets.
4. Private Green Areas for Residential
Units.
 Le - Corbusier
Example 6: Chandigarh
LEISURE VALLEY, CHANDIGARH

 The Leisure Valley is a green Images of various

sculptures and
sprawling space extending North- Public Green Areas
East to South-West along a seasonal in the Leisure Valley

river let gradient and was conceived

by Le Corbusier as the lungs of
the city. Apart from large Public
Parks and special Botanical Gardens,
it houses series of Fitness Trails,
amphitheatres and spaces for open-
air exhibitions.
 Le - Corbusier
Example 6: Chandigarh
CENTRAL PUBLIC COMPLEX

The Central Sector of the city,

Sector 17, is the main Public
Congregation area of the city. It
houses all major Shopping
Complexes, Sports Facilities and
Congregation Spaces.
 Le - Corbusier
Example 6: Chandigarh

BUILDING TYPOLOGIES

The Basic Building Typology is

observed as extremely Rectilinear
with similar proportions. In both the
developments the smaller
individual Residential Units are
arranged around central common
Green Spaces, although the shapes
are different.
 Le - Corbusier
Example 6: Chandigarh

The Capitol Complex The Secretariat The Assembly Hall

The High Court Complex

The Sukhna Lake