Architectural poetry in the machine age
Architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of volumes brought together in light.
-Le Corbusier
Born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, Le Corbusier (1887-1965) adopted his famous pseudonym after publishing his ideas in the review L'Esprit Nouveau in 1920. The few buildings he was able to design during the 1920s, when he also spent much of his time painting and writing, brought him to the forefront of modern architecture, though it was not until after World War II that his epoch-making buildings were constructed, such as the Unite d'Habitation apartment complex in Marseilles, and the chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp.
About the Series:
Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Architecture Series features:
- an introduction to the life and work of the architect
- the major works in chronological order
- information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions
- a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings
- approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts and plans)