Le Corbusier Redrawn
 - The Houses
By Steven Park


Le Corbusier (1887-1965) was the most significant architect of the twentieth century. "Le Corbusier Redrawn" features all of the self-sufficient and detached single and double-family houses designed by Le Corbusier since 1920.

Using the original drawings from the Le Corbusier Foundation's digital archives, architect Steven Park has beautifully redrawn 130 perspectival sections, as well as plans, sections, and elevations of exterior forms and interior spaces. These remarkable new drawings, which combine the conceptual clarity of the section with the spatial qualities of the perspective, not only provide information about the buildings, they also help students experience specific works spatially as they learn to critically examine Le Corbusier's works. 

 

Maison-Atelier  
Ozenfant (1922)

Paris, France

Drawing courtesy Princeton Architectural Press

Drawing courtesy Princeton Architectural Press

The site for the studio of painter Amédée Ozenfant, Le Corbusier's friend and collaborator, is small and irregular but features an open corner. Internal programs are expressed in the design enclosure systems: a working studio at the top is articulated by sawtooth skylights and double-height windows, and living spacesbelow by long strip windows.
 

Maison Ternisien (1923)

Boulogne-sur-Seine, France

Drawing courtesy Princeton Architectural Press

Drawing courtesy Princeton Architectural Press

The overall building form is influenced by the shape of the triangular site and the interior by the requirementt of merging two different programs: a double height space with a sleeping balcony for the wife's painting studio and a pie-shaped one-story space for the husband's music studio. Despite its small size, the house is an important project in Le Corbusier's body of work because of its masterful resolution of complex programmatic requirements with rich spatial experience.
 

Pavillon de L'Esprit Nouveau (1924)

Paris, France

Drawing courtesy Princeton Architectural Press

Drawing courtesy Princeton Architectural Press

Le Corbusier designed this temporary pavilion for the International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts held in Paris in 1925. With this commission, he wanted to demonstrate how industrial standardization through mass production could create pure forms with an artistic value and how reinforced concrete and steel could be used to produce standardized houses, which he thought could resolve housing shortages and were well suited for a modern life.
 

Villa Cook (1926)
Boulogne-sur-Seine, France

Drawing courtesy Princeton Architectural Press

Drawing courtesy Princeton Architectural Press

Villa Cook was the clearest expression of Le Corbusier's formulation of architectural principles to date, namely his Five Points of New Architecture, developed in 1926; free standing columns (pilotis); roof gardens; a free plan; long, horizontal windows; and a free facade.
 

Villa Savoye (1928)
Poissy-sur-Seine, France

Drawing courtesy Princeton Architectural Press

Villa Savoye synthesized all of Le Corbusier's ideas to date about modern architecture. The pristine white box expresses the industrial machine aesthetic often associated with the modernist movement, and the house is raised on pilotis, freeing the ground floor for vehicular access. The plan is shaped by the turning radius of a car. At the center of the house, a ramp is an organizing element that both divides and connects different parts of the building.

Le Corbusier Redrawn presents the only collection of consistently rendered original drawings (at 1:200 scale) of all twenty-six of Le Corbusier's residential works. The book is an essential tool for comprehending the ideas and work of this pivotal figure in the history of modern architecture.