corbusier

See: Jeanneret, Charles-Edouard

SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building

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The name of Le Corbusier is synonymous with the International style of modern architecture and city planning, one utilizing functionalist designs carried out in twentieth-century materials with modern methods of construction. Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, born in the watch-making town of La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Jura mountain region, was the son of a watch engraver and dial painter. In the years before 1918 he travelled widely, studying building in many countries. He learned about the use of reinforced concrete in the studio of Auguste Perret and about industrial construction under Peter Behrens. In 1917 he went to live in Paris and spent the rest of his life in France; in 1920 he adopted the name of Le Corbusier, one derived from that of his ancestors (Le Corbesier), and ten years later became a French citizen.

Le Corbusier's long working life spanned a career divided into three distinct parts. Between 1905 and 1916 he designed a number of simple and increasingly modern houses; the years 1921 to 1940 were ones of research and debate; and the twenty years from 1945 saw the blossoming of his genius. After 1917 Le Corbusier gained a reputation in Paris as an architect of advanced originality. He was particularly interested in low-cost housing and in improving accommodation for the poor. In 1923 he published Vers une architecture, in which he planned estates of mass-produced houses where all extraneous and unnecessary features were stripped away and the houses had flat roofs and plain walls: his concept of "a machine for living in". These white boxes were lifted up on stilts, his pilotis, and double-height living space was provided internally, enclosed by large areas of factory glazing. In 1922 Le Corbusier exhibited a city plan, La Ville contemporaine, in which tall blocks made from steel and concrete were set amongst large areas of parkland, replacing the older concept of city slums with the light and air of modern living. In 1925 he published Urbanisme, further developing his socialist ideals. These constituted a major reform of the industrial-city pattern, but the ideas were not taken up at that time. The Depression years of the 1930s severely curtailed architectural activity in France. Le Corbusier designed houses for the wealthy there, but most of his work prior to 1945 was overseas: his Centrosoyus Administration Building in Moscow (1929–36) and the Ministry of Education Building in Rio de Janeiro (1943) are examples. Immediately after the end of the Second World War Le Corbusier won international fame for his Unité d'habitation theme, the first example of which was built in the boulevard Michelet in Marseille in 1947–52. His answer to the problem of accommodating large numbers of people in a small space at low cost was to construct an immense all-purpose block of pre-cast concrete slabs carried on a row of massive central supports. The Marseille Unité contains 350 apartments in eight double storeys, with a storey for shops half-way up and communal facilities on the roof. In 1950 he published Le Modular, which described a system of measurement based upon the human male figure. From this was derived a relationship of human and mathematical proportions; this concept, together with the extensive use of various forms of concrete, was fundamental to Le Corbusier's later work. In the world-famous and highly personal Pilgrimage Church of Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp (1950–5), Le Corbusier's work was in Expressionist form, a plastic design in massive rough-cast concrete, its interior brilliantly designed and lit. His other equally famous, though less popular, ecclesiastical commission showed a contrasting theme, of "brutalist" concrete construction with uncompromisingly stark, rectangular forms. This is the Dominican Convent of Sainte Marie de la Tourette at Eveux-sur-l'Arbresle near Lyon, begun in 1956. The interior, in particular, is carefully worked out, and the lighting, from both natural and artificial sources, is indirect, angled in many directions to illuminate vistas and planes. All surfaces are carefully sloped, the angles meticulously calculated to give optimum visual effect. The crypt, below the raised choir, is painted in bright colours and lit from ceiling oculi.

One of Le Corbusier's late works, the Convent is a tour de force.

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Le Corbusier (1831-1912), Frans architect die veel invloed heeft uitgeoefend op de moderne architectuur

Le Corbusier (1831-1912), beröm fransk arkitekt, poinjär av den moderna stadsarkitekturen

לה קורבוזייה, כינויו של צ'רלס אדוארד ג'נרה (1831-1912), ארכיטקט צרפתי מפורסם, חלוץ הארכיטקטורה המודרנית

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◙ תינרדומה הרוטקטיכראה ץולח, םסרופמ יתפרצ טקטיכרא,(2191-1381) הרנ'ג דראודא סלר'צ לש ויוניכ,הייזוברוק הל◄

See: Jeanneret, Charles-Edouard

1) (physically beneath or below) sotto

2) (less than)

3) (according to)

4) (subordinate to) sotto

5) (in classification)

1) (physically beneath or below something) [crawl, sit, hide] sotto

2) (less) meno

3) (anaesthetized)

4) (subjugated)

5) (below, later in text)

* * *

1) (in or to a position lower than, or covered by: Your pencil is under the chair; Strange plants grow under the sea.) sotto

2) (less than, or lower in rank than: Children under five should not cross the street alone; You can do the job in under an hour.) sotto, meno di

3) (subject to the authority of: As a foreman, he has about fifty workers under him.) sotto

4) (used to express various states: The fort was under attack; The business improved under the new management; The matter is under consideration/discussion.) sotto

- under-

* * *

1) (physically beneath or below) sotto

2) (less than)

3) (according to)

4) (subordinate to) sotto

5) (in classification)

1) (physically beneath or below something) [crawl, sit, hide] sotto

2) (less) meno

3) (anaesthetized)

4) (subjugated)

5) (below, later in text)

under [ˈʌndə^r]

1. preposition

   a. ( = beneath) sous

• under the table/umbrella sous la table/le parapluie

• it's under there c'est là-dessous

• under it dessous

• he went and sat under it il est allé s'asseoir dessous

• under the Tudors sous les Tudor

• he had 50 men under him il avait 50 hommes sous ses ordres

• under the command of... sous les ordres de...

   b. ( = less than) moins de ; (in rank, scale) au-dessous de

• to be under age être mineur

• children under 15 enfants mpl de moins de 15 ans

• the under-15s les moins de 15 ans

• it sells at under £10 cela se vend à moins de 10 livres

• in under two hours en moins de deux heures

   c. (with names) sous

• under an assumed name sous un faux nom

   d. ( = according to) selon

• under French law selon la législation française

• under the terms of the contract selon les termes du contrat

2. adverb

   a. ( = beneath) en dessous

• he stayed under for three minutes ( = underwater) il est resté sous l'eau pendant trois minutes

• he lifted the rope and crawled under il a soulevé la corde et il est passé dessous en rampant

   b. ( = less) moins

• children of 15 and under les enfants de moins de 16 ans

• ten degrees under moins dix

3. prefix

( = insufficiently) sous-

• undernourished sous-alimenté

• underused sous-exploité

* * *

1) ( physically beneath or below) sous

2) ( less than)

3) ( according to)

4) ( subordinate to) sous

5) ( in classification) sous

1) ( physically beneath or below something) [crawl, sit, hide] en dessous

2) ( less) moins

3) ( anaesthetized)

4) ( subjugated)

5) (below, later in text)

under

❢ When under is used as a straightforward preposition in English it can almost always be translated by sous in French: under the table = sous la table ; under a sheet = sous un drap ; under a heading = sous un titre. under is often used before a noun in English to mean subject to or affected by ( under control, under fire, under oath, under review etc). For translations, consult the appropriate noun entry (control, fire, oath, review etc). under is also often used as a prefix in combinations such as undercooked, underfunded, underprivileged and undergrowth, underpass, underskirt. These combinations are treated as headwords in the dictionary. For particular usages, see the entry below.

A prep

1 ( physically beneath or below) sous ; under the bed/chair sous le lit/la chaise ; under it en dessous ; it's under there c'est là-dessous ; to come out from under sth sortir de dessous qch ;

2 ( less than) under £10/two hours moins de 10 livres sterling/deux heures ; children under five les enfants de moins de cinq ans or en dessous de cinq ans ; a number under ten un nombre inférieur à dix ; temperatures under 10°C des températures inférieures à 10°C ; those under the rank of ceux qui ont un rang inférieur à celui de ;

3 ( according to) under the law/clause 5 selon la loi/l'article 5 ; fined under a rule condamné à une amende en vertu d'une règle ;

4 ( subordinate to) sous ; I have 50 people under me j'ai 50 employés sous mes ordres ;

5 ( in classification) do I look for Le Corbusier under ‘le’ or ‘Corbusier’? est-ce que je dois chercher Le Corbusier sous ‘le’ ou ‘Corbusier’? ; you'll find it under ‘Problems’ tu le trouveras à la rubrique ‘Problèmes’.

B adv

1 ( physically beneath or below something) [crawl, sit, hide] en dessous ; to go/stay under [diver, swimmer] disparaître/rester sous l'eau ;

2 ( less) moins ; £10 and under 10 livres sterling et moins ; children of six and under des enfants de six ans et moins ; to run five minutes under [event, programme] durer cinq minutes de moins que prévu ;

3 ( anaesthetized) to put sb under endormir qn ; to stay under for three minutes être endormi pendant trois minutes ;

4 ( subjugated) to keep sb under opprimer qn ;

5 (below, later in text) see under voir ci-dessous.

(1933-)

   Architect of world renown, designer of many public buildings, including the Portuguese Pavilion at Lisbon's Expo '98, Portugal's end-of-the-century world's fair. Born in Matosinhos, near Oporto, from an early age Siza was fascinated with the art of drawing, a lifetime's vocation. Trained as an architect at the Faculty of Architecture, University of Oporto, Siza began to win commissions for various public places, including opportunities to design parks, churches, swimming pools, and residences of various kinds. Following early work in sculpture and watercolor, he devoted his professional efforts solely to creating a new architecture, under the influence of Oporto instructors as well as foreign architects, including the work of the revolutionary Le Corbusier of France. Among his more emblematic, minimalist works is the Church of Marco de Canavezes. The recipient of the most sought-after architectural prizes from various countries, and the architect of Expo '98's impressive Portuguese Pavilion, Siza's greatest professional honor to date is the equivalent of a Nobel Prize in architecture, the coveted Pritzker Prize, from the Hyatt Foundation, in Chicago.

SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building

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During the 1890s Behrens, as an artist, was a member of the German branch of Sezessionismus and then moved towards Jugendstil (Art Nouveau) types of design in different media. His interest in architecture was aroused during the first years of the twentieth century, and a turning-point in his career was his appointment in 1907 as Artistic Supervisor and Consultant to AEG, the great Berlin electrical firm. His Turbine Factory (1909) in the city was a breakthrough in design and is still standing: in steel and glass, with visible girder construction, this is a truly functional modern building far ahead of its time. In 1910 two more of Behrens's factories were completed in Berlin, followed in 1913 by the great AEG plant at Riga, Latvia.

After the First World War Behrens was in great demand for industrial construction. He designed office schemes such as those at the Mannesmann Steel Works in Dusseldorf (1911–12; now destroyed) and, in a departure from his earlier work, was responsible for a more Expressionist form of design, mainly in brick, in his extensive complex for I.G.Farben at Höchst (1920–4).

In the years before the First World War, some of those who were later amongst the most famous names in modern architecture were among his pupils: Gropius, Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret).

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SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building, Domestic appliances and interiors

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Breuer began his student days following an art course in Vienna, but joined the Bauhaus at Weimar, where he later graduated, in 1920. When Gropius re-established the school in purpose-built structures at Dessau, Breuer became a member of the teaching staff in charge of the carpentry and furniture workshops. Much of his time there was spent in design and research into new materials being applied to furniture and interior decoration. The essence of his contribution was to relate the design of furniture to industrial production; in this field he developed the tubular-steel structure, especially in chair design, and experimented with aluminium as a furniture material as well as pieces of furniture made up from modular units. His furniture style was characterized by an elegance of line and a careful avoidance of superfluous detail. By 1926 he had furnished the Bauhaus with such furniture in chromium-plated steel, and two years later had developed a cantilevered chair.

Breuer left the Bauhaus in 1928 and set up an architectural practice in Berlin. In the early 1930s he also spent some time in Switzerland. Notable from these years was his Harnischmacher Haus in Wiesbaden and his apartment buildings in the Dolderthal area of Zurich. His architectural work was at first influenced by constructivism, and then by that of Le Corbusier (see Charles-Edouard Jeanneret). In 1935 he moved to England, where in partnership with F.R.S. Yorke he built some houses and continued to practise furniture design. The Isokon Furniture Co. commissioned him to develop ideas that took advantage of the new bending and moulding processes in laminated wood, one result being his much-copied reclining chair.

In 1937, like so many of the European architectural refugees from Nazism, he found himself under-occupied due to the reluctance of English clients to embrace the modern architectural movement. He went to the United States at Gropius's invitation to join him as a professor at Harvard. Breuer and Gropius were influential in training a new generation of American architects, and in particular they built a number of houses. This partnership ended in 1941 and Breuer set up practice in New York. His style of work from this time on was still modern, but became more varied. In housing, he adapted his style to American needs and used local materials in a functional manner. In the Whitney Museum (1966) he worked in a sculptural, granite-clad style. Often he utilized a bold reinforced-concrete form, as in his collaboration with Pier Luigi Nervi and Bernard Zehrfuss in the Paris UNESCO Building (1953–8) and the US Embassy in the Hague (1954–8). He displayed his masterly handling of poured concrete used in a strikingly expressionistic, sculptural manner in his St John's Abbey (1953–61) in Collegeville, Minnesota, and in 1973 his Church of St Francis de Sale in Michigan won him the top award of the American Institute of Architects.

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SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building

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Loos was the son of a sculptor and trained as a mason before studying architecture at Dresden College of Technology between 1890 and 1893. He then spent three years in America in such diverse areas as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and St Louis. He became a devotee of America and of building there, and he was particularly impressed by the work of Louis Sullivan. He returned to Austria in 1896 and set up practice in Vienna. His early work there was in line with the current Sezessionist mode, but he quickly came to disassociate himself from this trend and increasingly insisted upon very plain and functionalist designs: by 1908 he is quoted as saying that "the evolution of culture marches with the elimination of ornament from useful objects". By this time Loos had become the pace-setter for modern ideas and was designing houses constructed from modern materials in as severe and cubic a style as Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret) was soon to do. Adolf Loos made many designs, but only a small proportion were translated into building. Of his notable interiors the Kartner Bau (1907) in Vienna had pride of place, while his Steiner Haus (1910) there is regarded as the earliest truly modern house in Europe. Cubic in form and with simplified fenestration, this was the forerunner of inter-war architecture. In 1920 Loos was appointed Chief Housing Architect for Vienna, but he resigned two years later. He spent some time in Paris mixing with avant-garde artists and architects and lectured for a time at the Sorbonne. His last commissions, after he had returned to Vienna in 1928, included some of his best work, notably the Muller House (1930) in Prague.

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SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building

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Mies van der Rohe was the son of a stonemason and his early constructional training came from his father. As a young man he gained experience of the modern school from study of the architecture of the earlier leaders, notably Peter Behrens, Hendrik Berlage and Frank Lloyd Wright. He commenced architectural practice in 1913 and soon after the First World War was establishing his own version of modern architecture. His building materials were always of the highest quality, of marble, stone, glass and, especially, steel. He stripped his designs of all extraneous decoration: more than any of his contemporaries he followed the theme of elegance, functionalism and an ascetic concentration on essentials. He believed that architectural design should not look backwards but should reflect the contemporary achievement of advanced technology in both its construction and the materials used, and he began early in his career to act upon these beliefs. Typical was his early concrete and glass office building of 1922, after which, more importantly, came his designs for the German Pavilion at the Barcelona Exposition of 1929. These designs included his famous Barcelona chair, made from chrome steel and leather in a geometrical design, one which has survived as a classic and is still in production. Another milestone was his Tugendhat House in Brno (1930), a long, low, rectilinear structure in glass and steel that set a pattern for many later buildings of this type. In 1930 Mies followed his colleagues as third Director of the Bauhaus, but due to the rise of National Socialism in Germany it was closed in 1933. He finally left Germany for the USA in 1937, and the following year he took up his post as Director of Architecture in Chicago at what is now known as the Illinois Institute of Technology and where he remained for twenty years. In America Mies van der Rohe continued to develop his work upon his original thesis. His buildings are always recognizable for their elegance, fine proportions, high-quality materials and clean, geometrical forms; nearly all are of glass and steel in rectangular shapes. The structure and design evolved according to the individual needs of each commission, and there were three fundamental types of design. One type was the single or grouped high-rise tower, built for apartments for the wealthy, as in his Lake Shore Drive Apartments in Chicago (1948–51), or for city-centre offices, as in his Seagram Building in New York (1954–8, with Philip Johnson) or his Chicago Federal Centre (1964). Another form was the long, low rectangle based upon the earlier Tugendhat House and seen again in the New National Gallery in Berlin (1965–8). Third, there were the grouped schemes when the commission called for buildings of varied purpose on a single, large site. Here Mies van der Rohe achieved a variety and interest in the different shapes and heights of buildings set out in spatial harmony of landscape. Some examples of this type of scheme were housing estates (Lafayette Park Housing Development in Detroit, 1955–6), while others were for educational, commercial or shopping requirements, as at the Toronto Dominion Centre (1963–9).

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SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building

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As early as 1926 Terragni helped to found the gruppo sette, the seven architects who joined the Movimento Italiano per l'Archittetura Razion-ale. These architects enunciated a new architectural theme based upon simplicity, a clean use of quality materials and an end to eclecticism. They were all young, strongly imbued with the ideals of the Bauhaus (see Gropius) and of Frank Lloyd Wright in America. Terragni's best and most typical work is the Casa del Popolo (originally built as the Casa del Fascio) in Como (1932–6), a streamline, simple, high-quality building reminiscent of the contemporary work of Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret). Unfortunately his career was cut short when he was killed in action during the Second World War.

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