Le Corbusier (World of Art)

Excellent

excellent

When India achieved independence from Britain in 1947, almost a million people would die, as the country was partitioned into Pakistan and India. The “breadbasket” of British India, the Punjab, was divided between the two new independent countries, with its capital, Lahore, becoming part of Pakistan. The Indian government contracted the Swiss/French architect, Le Corbusier, to plan a new capital for the Indian portion of the Punjab. It would be called Chandigarh. In 1971 I would walk across the border between Pakistan and India (the only method of crossing that was permitted at the time) and chose Chandigarh as my first destination. I was not particularly impressed, as many other are not, by artificial, “master-planned” cities, with Brasilia being another example of a city that “looks great on paper”… but living there is something else. The enduring impression that I retain of Chandigarh is volumes of dreary grey concrete arranged in artful shapes.Le Corbusier was the name adopted by a Bauhaus-schooled Swiss architect, né Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris. I purchased this 1970-issued book shortly after my return to the United States in order to learn more about him. No question, he had elements of genius, and has had a lasting impact on building design. His “five points” of architectural design, as described on p. 13 are as follows: “the replacement of cellars and foundations by piles; the use of roof gardens; the point loading of floor supports to free internal planning; the change from windows to strips of glass (‘repetitive mechanical elements’) running from wall to wall, and thus –logically- the creation of a curtain-wall façade which would no longer carry load. Much of his fame, even today, rests on his seminal work  Vers Une Architecture (French Edition)  which has been issued in English as  Le Corbusier Towards a New Architecture .War and its aftermath. Not only in the Punjab, but also in Europe. Central governments are faced with a serious housing shortage, as well as a substantial amount of substandard housing (also called slums). Cheap mass-produced housing has an enormous appeal to those central planning committees. Le Corbusier was a strong advocate of mass-produced housing (all those “housing units” piled on top of one another, as he literally said). Dreary concrete again, in the form of “HLMs” (Habitation à Loyer Modéré) that dominate “les banlieues” of the larger cities of France and Switzerland, and have not only become hotbeds of crime, but also that particular subset known as terrorism. The bottom line remains: dreary concrete is not home-like, it is the stuff of prisons.Thanks to this book, I learned that Le Corbusier was also responsible for creating master plans for both Algiers, as well as St. Dié, in the Vosges, neither of which were implemented. The majority of this volume is black and white photos of his buildings and housing units, none of which I find appealing, all due to that leaden, aforementioned heavy gray concrete look. “The Secretariat” in Chandigarh, as pictured in plate 58, is simply dreadful.Le Corbusier’s influence endures, and I am glad that some of his concepts have been utilized by others in airy, lighter building, utilizing material other than concrete. As for the book, and its equally depressing photos: 3-stars.

ISBN: 0671206923 and ISBN: 0500580049 ONLY! This hardcover 10.25" x 8" (26 cm x 20 cm) survey of 16 major works from 1929 to 1964 on only 136 pages is mostly in black & white, is comprised almost exclusively of 98 illustrations, and was published in English in 1970 by Simon & Schuster in US (Thames & Huston, London in Masters of Modern Architecture series) following the first edition in Japan in 1967 by Bijutsu Shuppan-sha, Tokyo. The introductory part on 12 pages by Martin Pawley is followed by 98 pages of illustrations - mainly photos, as well as hard line plans and sections in B&W. Several pages at the end of book contain a list of works, biographical notes, and a bibliography. Of 98 illustrations, 75 are photos (64 in B&W and 11 in color) by Yukio Futagawa of excellent quality, well balanced, crisp, and legible. Like all from the Library of Contemporary Architects/Masters of MODERN Architecture series, it is very good among architectural monographs, and superior to the Masters of WORLD Architecture/Makers of Contemporary Architecture series (ISBN: 08076*), or Studio Paperback series published by Birkhauser Verlag under ISBN: 37643* (Basel)/08176* (Boston) or Artemis Verlag under ISBN: 37608* (Zurich)/18740* (London).CONTENTS:Introduction 7The Plates 21Notes on the plates 123Chronological list: projects and events 131Select bibliography 133Index 135

Our son is doing a mini project on Le Corbusier and has been using this book. Great info'. Pics are in B&W only and there are so many of them...amazing. Good delivery and packaging.

Perfect

Zum Inhalt gibt es nichts negatives zu sagen. Sehr traurig ist nur der Druck. Unscharf und unpräzise, wirklich grottenschlechte Qualität. Tragisch!