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    Towards a New Architecture
    Towards a New Architecture
    Towards a New Architecture
    Ebook291 pages2 hours

    Towards a New Architecture

    By Le Corbusier

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    For the Swiss-born architect and city planner Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, 1887–1965), architecture constituted a noble art, an exalted calling in which the architect combined plastic invention, intellectual speculation, and higher mathematics to go beyond mere utilitarian needs, beyond "style," to achieve a pure creation of the spirit which established "emotional relationships by means of raw materials."
    The first major exposition of his ideas appeared in Vers une Architecture (1923), a compilation of articles originally written by Le Corbusier for his own avant-garde magazine, L'Esprit Nouveau. The present volume is an unabridged English translation of the 13th French edition of that historic manifesto, in which Le Corbusier expounded his technical and aesthetic theories, views on industry, economics, relation of form to function, the "mass-production spirit," and much else. A principal prophet of the "modern" movement in architecture, and a near-legendary figure of the "International School," he designed some of the twentieth century's most memorable buildings: Chapel at Ronchamp; Swiss dormitory at the Cité Universitaire, Paris; Unité d'Habitation, Marseilles; and many more.
    Le Corbusier brought great passion and intelligence to these essays, which present his ideas in a concise, pithy style, studded with epigrammatic, often provocative, observations: "American engineers overwhelm with their calculations our expiring architecture." "Architecture is stifled by custom. It is the only profession in which progress is not considered necessary." "A cathedral is not very beautiful . . ." and "Rome is the damnation of the half-educated. To send architectural students to Rome is to cripple them for life."
    Profusely illustrated with over 200 line drawings and photographs of his own works and other structures he considered important, Towards a New Architecture is indispensable reading for architects, city planners, and cultural historians―but will intrigue anyone fascinated by the wide-ranging ideas, unvarnished opinions, and innovative theories of one of this century's master builders.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateApr 9, 2013
    ISBN9780486315645
    Towards a New Architecture

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    Reviews for Towards a New Architecture

    3.5/5

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    • 4/5
      This translation of Towards a New Architecture, originally written in 1923, is prophetic in many ways. Le Corbusier writes of the “machine age” much like someone now might write of the “information age”. But he is somewhat poetic, repetitive and I would not be surprised if Tom Peters (ex-Harvard innovation guru) adopted something of Le Corbusier's style. While many of the architect's ideas were controversial, and may not have functioned as desired, he foresaw many of the things that are happening today in terms of construction materials. Although I do not doubt that the way these materials have been used meet the "cheapness" but not necessarily the "good work" he envisaged (p. 284). My favourite quote: "There is no such thing as primitive man. There are primitive resources. The idea is constant, strong from the start" (p. 70).
    • 2/5
      Le Corbusier gets points for a bombastic and declamatory delivery of his manifesto of sorts, but minus points for too many outdated and wrongheaded conclusions. Towards a New Architecture strikes me as one of those works that will only become less relevant as time and architecture continues on. Could be dead wrong on that though- I'm neither an architect, nor someone that has read very much architectural theory. Occasionally, Le Corbusier does hit on some thoughtful observations (the slow advance of architecture compare to other disciplines, the criminal disuse of rooftop space, etc.). Unfortunately, the interesting bits are overshadowed by his detrimental notions of urban design and particularly erroneous observations on the way we interact with our spaces (i.e. comparing the sidewalk cafe culture of Paris to a cancerous [or was it fungal?] growth on the city).
    • 4/5
      Passionate writing. The rhetoric of the last chapter made me think of Mon Oncle as a reaction. Corbusier does lay it on thickly. As a rural Midwesterner, his appreciation of grain elevators gladdened me. There are lots of ideas for contemplation buried inside.
    • 5/5
      This is a must read for any architect. It explains all of modernism and also gives you a window into its problems. It is also concise which is strange for most architects’ writings.
    • 5/5
      This is a must read for any architect. It explains all of modernism and also gives you a window into its problems. It is also concise which is strange for most architects’ writings.

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