The cultural section of the Annual Report is devoted to the great Le Corbusier, one of the most prolific and influential architects of the twentieth century.
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret was born on 6 October 1887 in the town of La Chaux-de-Fonds. In 1900, his father enrolled him in the local art school. It was there that he met Charles L’Eplattenier, who, recognising his talent immediately – especially when it came to architecture – went on to become his teacher. Having graduated his higher education with flying colours, he embarked on a journey that would take him to Italy, Austria, southern Germany and eastern France, finally arriving in Paris, the city he made his permanent home in 1917.
In was in the French capital that he met painter Amédée Ozenfant, with whom he started the “Ésprit Nouveau” (“new spirit”) magazine, and began signing his articles with the pseudonym “Le Corbusier”.
A relentless experimenter, excellent researcher and yearning to be recognised as an artist in the broadest sense, Le Corbusier challenged himself in many disciplines.
At the end of the 1920s, he joined his cousin Pierre Jeanneret and designer Charlotte Perriand in designing furniture, such as the famous “chaise longue basculante”. His work in this new area would go on to boost his acclaim on the international stage.
In the 1930s, he travelled extensively throughout Europe and the Americas and his trips were often down to important assignments. Although most of his urban development plans never made it off the page – for example his “Plan Voisin” for Paris (1925), “Plan Obus” for Algiers (1930-34) or “Ville Radieuse” (1935) – some of his designs became truly iconic pieces in modern architectural culture.
After a break in his work due to the Second World War, the assignments soon came flooding in again. In the 1950s and 1960s, he worked on the “Unité d’habitation” in Marseille, the Notre-Dame du Haut chapel in Ronchamp, the Sainte-Marie de la Tourette Dominican Order priory in Éveux, France and, most importantly of all, the political and administrative centre of Chandigarh in India.
Numerous studies, research projects and awards have been named after him on the initiative of the Fondation Le Corbusier (Paris), which was conceived by the architect himself in 1957 to carry on his name and memory.
Le Corbusier died on 27 August 1965 in the waters of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin on the French Riviera.
In 2016, UNESCO listed 17 of the buildings and sites designed by the renowned architect as World Heritage Sites.
