Les Cahiers de la recherche architecturale, urbaine et paysagère, Sep 10, 2020
Historical documents present many kinds of difficulty to the researcher. Legibility is the first ... more Historical documents present many kinds of difficulty to the researcher. Legibility is the first obstacle. It is not only the medieval and ancient palaeographers who have difficulty deciphering manuscripts. I have worked on the 36 personal diaries ("agendas" ) that the architect Le Corbusier (1887-1965) owned, spanning the interwar years 1 . Why study this material? The diaries are of particular interest because they record daily events, conversations and intentions for which no other evidence is available. The Le Corbusier archive is of interest beyond the biography of the architect. It presents a very complete record of architectural practice in the twentieth century, allowing for detailed analysis of successful and failed building projects. But it also contains a mass of material on the economic and cultural life of Paris and the many places Le Corbusier visited in his lifetime. For example, there are over one thousand letters and documents pertaining to the unsuccessful industrial and commercial undertakings that occupied Le Corbusier's time and energy from 1917 until his bankruptcy in 1923 2 . This documentation provides insights into the recession in France in the early 1920s and the problems posed by the war reparations clauses in the Treaty of Versailles. There is also a mass of documentation of Le Corbusier's attempts to lobby international leaders and opinion formers to support his project for the Palace of the League of Nations which reveals many of the diplomatic fractures that undermined the attempts to establish a stable world peace. Among the sources available to scholars are Le Corbusier's sketchbooks and the little notebooks that he took with him everywhere and in which he noted things of interest and made sketches. These have been extensively studied, as have been his collections of postcards and photographs 3 . Many scholars have consulted the diaries in pursuit of Insights into the daily life of Le Corbusier: the agendas in the Fondation Le...
... Tim Benton, insegna History of Art and Architecture alla Open University di Milton Keyns in I... more ... Tim Benton, insegna History of Art and Architecture alla Open University di Milton Keyns in Inghilterra. ... dal classicheggiante Quinlan Terry (16), al tecnologico e modernista Richard Rogers (17), dal giornalista Jonathan Glan-cey (18) al conservatore Jonathon Porritt (19) e all ...
Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes eBooks, 2012
Le Corbusier included the roof terrace in the 'Five Points for a New Architecture', publi... more Le Corbusier included the roof terrace in the 'Five Points for a New Architecture', published in 1927, as a demonstration of the structural rationalism of reonforced concrete construction. As time passed, however, Le Corbusier re-discovered the roof terrace in his own constructions as a source of wild nature. Using archival sources, I trace his increasing fascination with the plants seeded by birds and surviving in an absolutely untended soil, which survived on the roof of his mother's house at Vevey and on the roof of his own apartment.
Introduction The world of Purism Villa Berque, Auteuil Villa Ker-Ka-Re, Vaucresson Atelier Ozenfa... more Introduction The world of Purism Villa Berque, Auteuil Villa Ker-Ka-Re, Vaucresson Atelier Ozenfant, square Montsouris The architectural promenade Villas La Roche and Jeanneret, Auteuil House projects for Marcel, Casa Fuerte and Mongermon, Auteuil Complex programmes Lipchitz-Miestchaninoff studios, Boulogne-sur-Seine Ternisien house, Boulogne-sur-Seine Villa Church, Ville-d'Avray Planeix house, boulevard Massena 'Classic' houses Villa Meyer, Neuilly-sur-Seine (and Ocampo project) Villa Cook, Boulogne-sur-Seine Villa 'Les Terrasses' (Stein-de Monzie), Vaucresson Villa Savoye, Poissy De Beistegui apartment, avenue des Champs Elysees Appendices Project chronologies Synoptic table of villa projects Table of craftsmen and builders Table of fees Catalogue of drawing.
An investigation of contradictory influences on Art Deco architecture and design in Italy in the ... more An investigation of contradictory influences on Art Deco architecture and design in Italy in the 1920s and 1030s
About the book: This volume presents a series of essays by leading critics on art, design, archit... more About the book: This volume presents a series of essays by leading critics on art, design, architecture and culture. All are inspired by the revolutionary work of Reyner Banham, who continues to be one of the greatest influences on Design and Architecture today. Integrating the study of pop art, industrial design and material culture for the first time, Banham's brilliant analyses of subjects - such as automobile styling, mobile homes, science fiction films, and our fondness for gadgets - anticipated many of our contemporary preoccupations.
Deco Japan introduces Japanese art in the art deco style through nearly two hundred works of meta... more Deco Japan introduces Japanese art in the art deco style through nearly two hundred works of metal, ceramics, lacquer, glass, furniture, textiles, painting, prints, and graphic design. While exhibiting spectacular craftsmanship and sophisticated design, these works convey the complex social and cultural tensions in Japan during the Taisho and early Showa epochs (1912-1945). Including essays by an international team of a dozen scholars, this book investigates how Japanese deco signaled the nation's unique history and cosmopolitanism. The era's diverse vitality is expressed in its most ubiquitous subjects-the moga, or modern girl, the emblem of contemporary urban chic, and nationalist icons including dragons, phoenixes, and heavenly lions. Signaling the expanding realms of artistic creation and consumption, the objects here range from fine art objects made to impress the public at national art exhibitions to goods mass produced for the modern home.
Archival research on the development of Le Corbusier's highly effective lectures between 1923... more Archival research on the development of Le Corbusier's highly effective lectures between 1923 and 1929. This is completely new research on the origins of the lectures which Le Corbusier delivered all over the world until his death in 1965. The book analyses the nature of Le Corbusier's logic and rhetoric, his use of images and drawings executed during the lectures.
Le Corbusiers development was inextricably connected to the rise of the centurys most popular vis... more Le Corbusiers development was inextricably connected to the rise of the centurys most popular visual medium: photography. Marking the 125th anniversary of the architects birth in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, this remarkable book traces the many ways in which he used photography to define and disseminate his work and ideas around the world. This unique portrait presents the architect and his work in six chapters, each by an expert in a particular facet of Le Corbusiers work: a photographic biography; his secret travel photographs; the ways in which the architect used photography for promotion; an examination of his approach to the printed page; an overview of his use of large-scale imagery in his buildings and exhibitions; and contemporary photographic interpretations of his work. Because Le Corbusiers buildings are usually shown in a documentary manner, the candid, personal, artistic and often unexpected images that appear in this volume offer new insights and ways to appreciate ...
The study of collaborative work by architects and designers can present difficulties. The princip... more The study of collaborative work by architects and designers can present difficulties. The principal biographers of Eileen Gray asserted that she played the key role in the design of the houses that her friend Jean Badovici (1893-1956) acquired and transformed in Vézelay between 1926 and 1934 and that this work contributed to the design of her other buildings. This claim is worth investigating because the Vézelay houses present innovative and distinctive features, and because Jean Badovici's qualities as architect have been insufficiently studied. A method is presented here for distinguishing between different hands based on the forensic analysis of individual words and letters. This approach could be of use in many contexts but particularly in the case of close collaboration between architects and designers. Applied initially to drawings for Badovici's houses at Vézelay, the method can be applied to the many other drawings in the archives of the V&A, the Pompidou Centre, the Eileen Gray archive in the National Museum of Ireland, and the Badovici archive in the Getty Research Institute. The evidence from this analysis is set alongside other arguments for evaluating Gray's involvement in the design of the Badovici houses at Vézelay. The aim of this essay is not to challenge Gray's collaboration in the design process but to test claims of her sole or principal role in the design of these houses.
Des sa jeunesse, Le Corbusier est persuade qu’il appartient a la culture classique de la mediterr... more Des sa jeunesse, Le Corbusier est persuade qu’il appartient a la culture classique de la mediterranee. Convaincu que ses ancetres etaient des heretiques albigeois, persecutes par l’eglise et exiles dans les hautes vallees des Jura suisses, il trouve les preuves dans l’architecture vernaculaire autour de La Chaux-de-Fonds. Dans La Ville Radieuse (1935) il publie une photo d’une ferme pres de Toulouse, ou il discerne des similarites avec les maisons des hautes vallees du Jura. Analyses Le Corbusier's fascination with the Mediterranean, as well as some of his projects: the Villa Baizeau (1928), two projects for summer houses in Roqubrune (Roq and Rob) 1949-54 and the lsmall cabin ('cabanon') where he spent every summer from 1951 until his death in 1965
The study of collaborative work by architects and designers can present difficulties. The princip... more The study of collaborative work by architects and designers can present difficulties. The principal biographers of Eileen Gray asserted that she played the key role in the design of the houses that her friend Jean Badovici (1893–1956) acquired and transformed in Vézelay between 1926 and 1934 and that this work contributed to the design of her other buildings. This claim is worth investigating because the Vézelay houses present innovative and distinctive features, and because Jean Badovici’s qualities as architect have been insufficiently studied. A method is presented here for distinguishing between different hands based on the forensic analysis of individual words and letters. This approach could be of use in many contexts but particularly in the case of close collaboration between architects and designers. Applied initially to drawings for Badovici’s houses at Vézelay, the method can be applied to the many other drawings in the archives of the V&A, the Pompidou Centre, the Eileen ...
Le Corbusier's views about functionalism and Dutch modern architecture. Detailed analysis of ... more Le Corbusier's views about functionalism and Dutch modern architecture. Detailed analysis of his lecture tour in Amsterdam and Rotterda
Le Corbusiers development was inextricably connected to the rise of the centurys most popular vis... more Le Corbusiers development was inextricably connected to the rise of the centurys most popular visual medium: photography. Marking the 125th anniversary of the architects birth in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, this remarkable book traces the many ways in which he used photography to define and disseminate his work and ideas around the world. This unique portrait presents the architect and his work in six chapters, each by an expert in a particular facet of Le Corbusiers work: a photographic biography; his secret travel photographs; the ways in which the architect used photography for promotion; an examination of his approach to the printed page; an overview of his use of large-scale imagery in his buildings and exhibitions; and contemporary photographic interpretations of his work. Because Le Corbusiers buildings are usually shown in a documentary manner, the candid, personal, artistic and often unexpected images that appear in this volume offer new insights and ways to appreciate the facets of the man behind his works.
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 2017
Tous a la plage! Villes balneaires du XVIIIe siecle a nos jours Cite de l'Architecture et du ... more Tous a la plage! Villes balneaires du XVIIIe siecle a nos jours Cite de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris 19 October 2016–12 February 2017 This was a satisfying exhibition, to the extent that it defined its own story effectively and unfolded in a way that was at once predictable and surprising. Beginning with the theme of health, the visitor was led through the rise of middle-class leisure and seaside urbanism in Europe to the arrival of mass tourism, the seaside summer camps, and the megaprojects of the 1960s and 1970s. A variety of media were well exploited: paintings, posters, models, and films were supported with more personal documents such as photographs, letters, and postcards. This impressive collection of images, documents, and models was first given impetus by Maurice Culot, who in 1980 helped to found the Institut Francais de l'Architecture, the incorporation of which into the Musee des Monuments Francais created the Cite de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine. Like most modern exhibition catalogues, the book published in conjunction with Tous a la plage! includes many of the show's most striking images and some informative articles, but it is no substitute for having visited the exhibition itself. The exhibition space at the Cite de l'Architecture is not easy. An endless banana of windowless tunnel in the basement of the wing of the old Trocadero exhibition building, the space takes no hostages. True to the theme, Tous a la plage! was colorful and well …
Les Cahiers de la recherche architecturale, urbaine et paysagère, Sep 10, 2020
Historical documents present many kinds of difficulty to the researcher. Legibility is the first ... more Historical documents present many kinds of difficulty to the researcher. Legibility is the first obstacle. It is not only the medieval and ancient palaeographers who have difficulty deciphering manuscripts. I have worked on the 36 personal diaries ("agendas" ) that the architect Le Corbusier (1887-1965) owned, spanning the interwar years 1 . Why study this material? The diaries are of particular interest because they record daily events, conversations and intentions for which no other evidence is available. The Le Corbusier archive is of interest beyond the biography of the architect. It presents a very complete record of architectural practice in the twentieth century, allowing for detailed analysis of successful and failed building projects. But it also contains a mass of material on the economic and cultural life of Paris and the many places Le Corbusier visited in his lifetime. For example, there are over one thousand letters and documents pertaining to the unsuccessful industrial and commercial undertakings that occupied Le Corbusier's time and energy from 1917 until his bankruptcy in 1923 2 . This documentation provides insights into the recession in France in the early 1920s and the problems posed by the war reparations clauses in the Treaty of Versailles. There is also a mass of documentation of Le Corbusier's attempts to lobby international leaders and opinion formers to support his project for the Palace of the League of Nations which reveals many of the diplomatic fractures that undermined the attempts to establish a stable world peace. Among the sources available to scholars are Le Corbusier's sketchbooks and the little notebooks that he took with him everywhere and in which he noted things of interest and made sketches. These have been extensively studied, as have been his collections of postcards and photographs 3 . Many scholars have consulted the diaries in pursuit of Insights into the daily life of Le Corbusier: the agendas in the Fondation Le...
... Tim Benton, insegna History of Art and Architecture alla Open University di Milton Keyns in I... more ... Tim Benton, insegna History of Art and Architecture alla Open University di Milton Keyns in Inghilterra. ... dal classicheggiante Quinlan Terry (16), al tecnologico e modernista Richard Rogers (17), dal giornalista Jonathan Glan-cey (18) al conservatore Jonathon Porritt (19) e all ...
Presses polytechniques et universitaires romandes eBooks, 2012
Le Corbusier included the roof terrace in the 'Five Points for a New Architecture', publi... more Le Corbusier included the roof terrace in the 'Five Points for a New Architecture', published in 1927, as a demonstration of the structural rationalism of reonforced concrete construction. As time passed, however, Le Corbusier re-discovered the roof terrace in his own constructions as a source of wild nature. Using archival sources, I trace his increasing fascination with the plants seeded by birds and surviving in an absolutely untended soil, which survived on the roof of his mother's house at Vevey and on the roof of his own apartment.
Introduction The world of Purism Villa Berque, Auteuil Villa Ker-Ka-Re, Vaucresson Atelier Ozenfa... more Introduction The world of Purism Villa Berque, Auteuil Villa Ker-Ka-Re, Vaucresson Atelier Ozenfant, square Montsouris The architectural promenade Villas La Roche and Jeanneret, Auteuil House projects for Marcel, Casa Fuerte and Mongermon, Auteuil Complex programmes Lipchitz-Miestchaninoff studios, Boulogne-sur-Seine Ternisien house, Boulogne-sur-Seine Villa Church, Ville-d'Avray Planeix house, boulevard Massena 'Classic' houses Villa Meyer, Neuilly-sur-Seine (and Ocampo project) Villa Cook, Boulogne-sur-Seine Villa 'Les Terrasses' (Stein-de Monzie), Vaucresson Villa Savoye, Poissy De Beistegui apartment, avenue des Champs Elysees Appendices Project chronologies Synoptic table of villa projects Table of craftsmen and builders Table of fees Catalogue of drawing.
An investigation of contradictory influences on Art Deco architecture and design in Italy in the ... more An investigation of contradictory influences on Art Deco architecture and design in Italy in the 1920s and 1030s
About the book: This volume presents a series of essays by leading critics on art, design, archit... more About the book: This volume presents a series of essays by leading critics on art, design, architecture and culture. All are inspired by the revolutionary work of Reyner Banham, who continues to be one of the greatest influences on Design and Architecture today. Integrating the study of pop art, industrial design and material culture for the first time, Banham's brilliant analyses of subjects - such as automobile styling, mobile homes, science fiction films, and our fondness for gadgets - anticipated many of our contemporary preoccupations.
Deco Japan introduces Japanese art in the art deco style through nearly two hundred works of meta... more Deco Japan introduces Japanese art in the art deco style through nearly two hundred works of metal, ceramics, lacquer, glass, furniture, textiles, painting, prints, and graphic design. While exhibiting spectacular craftsmanship and sophisticated design, these works convey the complex social and cultural tensions in Japan during the Taisho and early Showa epochs (1912-1945). Including essays by an international team of a dozen scholars, this book investigates how Japanese deco signaled the nation's unique history and cosmopolitanism. The era's diverse vitality is expressed in its most ubiquitous subjects-the moga, or modern girl, the emblem of contemporary urban chic, and nationalist icons including dragons, phoenixes, and heavenly lions. Signaling the expanding realms of artistic creation and consumption, the objects here range from fine art objects made to impress the public at national art exhibitions to goods mass produced for the modern home.
Archival research on the development of Le Corbusier's highly effective lectures between 1923... more Archival research on the development of Le Corbusier's highly effective lectures between 1923 and 1929. This is completely new research on the origins of the lectures which Le Corbusier delivered all over the world until his death in 1965. The book analyses the nature of Le Corbusier's logic and rhetoric, his use of images and drawings executed during the lectures.
Le Corbusiers development was inextricably connected to the rise of the centurys most popular vis... more Le Corbusiers development was inextricably connected to the rise of the centurys most popular visual medium: photography. Marking the 125th anniversary of the architects birth in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, this remarkable book traces the many ways in which he used photography to define and disseminate his work and ideas around the world. This unique portrait presents the architect and his work in six chapters, each by an expert in a particular facet of Le Corbusiers work: a photographic biography; his secret travel photographs; the ways in which the architect used photography for promotion; an examination of his approach to the printed page; an overview of his use of large-scale imagery in his buildings and exhibitions; and contemporary photographic interpretations of his work. Because Le Corbusiers buildings are usually shown in a documentary manner, the candid, personal, artistic and often unexpected images that appear in this volume offer new insights and ways to appreciate ...
The study of collaborative work by architects and designers can present difficulties. The princip... more The study of collaborative work by architects and designers can present difficulties. The principal biographers of Eileen Gray asserted that she played the key role in the design of the houses that her friend Jean Badovici (1893-1956) acquired and transformed in Vézelay between 1926 and 1934 and that this work contributed to the design of her other buildings. This claim is worth investigating because the Vézelay houses present innovative and distinctive features, and because Jean Badovici's qualities as architect have been insufficiently studied. A method is presented here for distinguishing between different hands based on the forensic analysis of individual words and letters. This approach could be of use in many contexts but particularly in the case of close collaboration between architects and designers. Applied initially to drawings for Badovici's houses at Vézelay, the method can be applied to the many other drawings in the archives of the V&A, the Pompidou Centre, the Eileen Gray archive in the National Museum of Ireland, and the Badovici archive in the Getty Research Institute. The evidence from this analysis is set alongside other arguments for evaluating Gray's involvement in the design of the Badovici houses at Vézelay. The aim of this essay is not to challenge Gray's collaboration in the design process but to test claims of her sole or principal role in the design of these houses.
Des sa jeunesse, Le Corbusier est persuade qu’il appartient a la culture classique de la mediterr... more Des sa jeunesse, Le Corbusier est persuade qu’il appartient a la culture classique de la mediterranee. Convaincu que ses ancetres etaient des heretiques albigeois, persecutes par l’eglise et exiles dans les hautes vallees des Jura suisses, il trouve les preuves dans l’architecture vernaculaire autour de La Chaux-de-Fonds. Dans La Ville Radieuse (1935) il publie une photo d’une ferme pres de Toulouse, ou il discerne des similarites avec les maisons des hautes vallees du Jura. Analyses Le Corbusier's fascination with the Mediterranean, as well as some of his projects: the Villa Baizeau (1928), two projects for summer houses in Roqubrune (Roq and Rob) 1949-54 and the lsmall cabin ('cabanon') where he spent every summer from 1951 until his death in 1965
The study of collaborative work by architects and designers can present difficulties. The princip... more The study of collaborative work by architects and designers can present difficulties. The principal biographers of Eileen Gray asserted that she played the key role in the design of the houses that her friend Jean Badovici (1893–1956) acquired and transformed in Vézelay between 1926 and 1934 and that this work contributed to the design of her other buildings. This claim is worth investigating because the Vézelay houses present innovative and distinctive features, and because Jean Badovici’s qualities as architect have been insufficiently studied. A method is presented here for distinguishing between different hands based on the forensic analysis of individual words and letters. This approach could be of use in many contexts but particularly in the case of close collaboration between architects and designers. Applied initially to drawings for Badovici’s houses at Vézelay, the method can be applied to the many other drawings in the archives of the V&A, the Pompidou Centre, the Eileen ...
Le Corbusier's views about functionalism and Dutch modern architecture. Detailed analysis of ... more Le Corbusier's views about functionalism and Dutch modern architecture. Detailed analysis of his lecture tour in Amsterdam and Rotterda
Le Corbusiers development was inextricably connected to the rise of the centurys most popular vis... more Le Corbusiers development was inextricably connected to the rise of the centurys most popular visual medium: photography. Marking the 125th anniversary of the architects birth in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, this remarkable book traces the many ways in which he used photography to define and disseminate his work and ideas around the world. This unique portrait presents the architect and his work in six chapters, each by an expert in a particular facet of Le Corbusiers work: a photographic biography; his secret travel photographs; the ways in which the architect used photography for promotion; an examination of his approach to the printed page; an overview of his use of large-scale imagery in his buildings and exhibitions; and contemporary photographic interpretations of his work. Because Le Corbusiers buildings are usually shown in a documentary manner, the candid, personal, artistic and often unexpected images that appear in this volume offer new insights and ways to appreciate the facets of the man behind his works.
Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 2017
Tous a la plage! Villes balneaires du XVIIIe siecle a nos jours Cite de l'Architecture et du ... more Tous a la plage! Villes balneaires du XVIIIe siecle a nos jours Cite de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine, Paris 19 October 2016–12 February 2017 This was a satisfying exhibition, to the extent that it defined its own story effectively and unfolded in a way that was at once predictable and surprising. Beginning with the theme of health, the visitor was led through the rise of middle-class leisure and seaside urbanism in Europe to the arrival of mass tourism, the seaside summer camps, and the megaprojects of the 1960s and 1970s. A variety of media were well exploited: paintings, posters, models, and films were supported with more personal documents such as photographs, letters, and postcards. This impressive collection of images, documents, and models was first given impetus by Maurice Culot, who in 1980 helped to found the Institut Francais de l'Architecture, the incorporation of which into the Musee des Monuments Francais created the Cite de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine. Like most modern exhibition catalogues, the book published in conjunction with Tous a la plage! includes many of the show's most striking images and some informative articles, but it is no substitute for having visited the exhibition itself. The exhibition space at the Cite de l'Architecture is not easy. An endless banana of windowless tunnel in the basement of the wing of the old Trocadero exhibition building, the space takes no hostages. True to the theme, Tous a la plage! was colorful and well …
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