Biography

Biography Le Corbusier

Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris (better known under the pseudonym Le Corbusier) was born on 6th October, 1887 in
La Chaux-de-Fonds in Switzerland.

He is the son of Georges-Edouard Jeanneret, engraver and enameller of watches, and Marie Charlotte Amélie Jeanneret-Perret, musician. He is a man of many talents (urban planner, sculptor, painter, designer, writer, architect), he worked on projects on a worldwide scale.

Throughout his life, Le Corbusier travels to acquire new techniques and perfect his knowledge by drawing inspiration from the countries visited. It is during his travels that he will find inspiration for the artistic, architectural and urban elements that will form the basis of his work.

As a representative of the modern movement, he introduced new ideas such as functionalism, purism and the link between nature and architecture. For Le Corbusier, a modern architecture is defined in five points: the piles, the window-banner, the free plan, the free facade and the roof-terrace. These are the principles that he will apply in his achievements.

Le Corbusier died on 27th August, 1965 in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, during a swim in the Mediterranean Sea.

 

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The works

78

Buildings

11

Different countries

400

Architectural projects

Le Corbusier built 78 buildings in 11 different countries and worked on nearly 400 architectural projects.

The value of the heritage work of Le Corbusier lies in the fact that it is a living heritage, whose buildings have retained their original private or public use.

Le Corbusier has published nearly 40 books and has written hundreds of essays, some of which are among the most influential texts of modern cultural thought.

The Modern Movement

After four centuries of architecture based on the imitation and interpretation of architectural styles inherited from Greco-Roman antiquity and a century of historical revival, the architects of the Western avant-garde of the 20th century broke completely with these styles from the past. They reject the vocabulary, the rules of composition, the decor, the design methods, the site practices. They invent modern architecture.
The architectural work of Le Corbusier, whose impact is amplified by his publications and conferences, represents a fundamental contribution, and of a unique magnitude, in the service of the invention of modern architecture.
The selection of the constituent elements within the architectural work of Le Corbusier led to the selection of those which, all brought together in a group, contribute significantly to the attributes which constitute the Outstanding Universal Value of the Property. The architectural work of Le Corbusier provides an exceptional set of answers to the major questions that the Modern Movement has been asking itself over half a century. The architectural work of Le Corbusier does not claim to represent the Modern Movement on its own, but it has sufficient integrity to embody an exceptional contribution over nearly half a century of its existence.


Source:

nomination file for the inscription p.81 II-(b)/History and development of the Property/p.232 III-1(c)/Integrity of the Property


https://lecorbusier-worldheritage.org/en/documents/

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