Le Corbusier

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret is the grandfather of the modern and brutalist architecture movements, better known under his pseudonym Le Corbusier. ⁠⁠
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He is widely regarded as the most important architect of the 20th century. As a gifted architect, provocative writer, divisive urban planner, talented painter, and unparalleled polemicist, Le Corbusier was able to influence some of the world’s most powerful figures, leaving an indelible mark on architecture that can be seen in almost any city worldwide.⁠⁠
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After WW1 he moved to Paris and it was where he met Amédée Ozenfant, a French cubist painter with whom he developed the manifesto of “Purism,”. It was in L’Esprit Nouveau that Jeanneret first adopted the pseudonym of Le Corbusier, following the fashion among Parisian artists of the time. It was also in L’Esprit Nouveau that Le Corbusier first developed his famous “five points of architecture,” which can be briefly summarised as follows:⁠⁠
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- Raise the building on “pilotis,” freeing the walls of their structural function.⁠⁠
- With the walls freed of their structural role, a free plan should be employed.⁠⁠
- Similarly, the facade should be designed freely.⁠⁠
- The horizontal ribbon window, enabled by the free facade, should be used to light rooms evenly.⁠⁠
- The roof should be flat and host a roof garden, replacing the ground space that is occupied by the building.⁠⁠
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He has a broad portfolio of work that ranges from his own flat in Paris right up to an entire city in India. With this incredible range and big picture thinking it is easy to see how he has has influenced generations of architects. ⁠⁠
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Who are your favourite architects and their work? Let us know in the comments below.⁠⁠