Chosen Architect - Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier was born in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland, in 1887 as Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, and was arguably the most influential architect of the 20th century. Trained as an artist, he spent much time during his youth in Paris, absorbing the cultural and artistic life of the city. It was not long before he settled in Paris, and he there formulated his ideas on Purism - an aesthetic based on simple geometric forms. Le Corbusier's early work as an architect was related to nature, but it was not long before he had developed the Maison-Domino, a building prototype with rigid floors and free-standing pillars ideal for mass production.

From 1922, Le Corbusier's ideas began to take physical shape, mainly in the form of houses which featured his famous "five points of architecture", such as the Villa Savoye in Poissy, France. Houses such as this were raised on concrete pillars, had open floor plans, long strip windows, and roof terraces, and established Le Corbusier as a key proponent of the International Style. Le Corbusier aspired to clean, Modernist lines, but went a step further than his contemporaries, using rough-cast concrete that gave much of his work a distinctly expressive quality.

After the Second World War, Le Corbusier's work increasingly rejected his earlier industrial forms and focused on vernacular materials, brute concrete and articulated structure. It was also around this time that Le Corbusier began to implement his city-planning principles, with his government buildings in Chandigarh, India (begun in 1950) being his first large-scale application. Le Corbusier died in 1965, but his lifetime of works, plans and writings continue to inspire later generations of architects. Some of his most famous works include the Carpenter Centre in Cambridge, Massachusets, the Convent of La Tourette in Eveux-sur-Arbresle, France, and the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

References:

- Answers, "Le Corbusier", Answers Corporation, 2010, http://www.answers.com/topic/le-corbusier (accessed 18/8/10).
- Architecture Week, "Great Buildings Collection", 1997-2010, http://www.greatbuildings.com/ (accessed 18/8/10).
- Bio, "Le Corbusier Biography", A&E Television Networks, 1996-2010, http://www.biography.com/articles/Le-Corbusier-9376609 (accessed 18/8/10).