Le Corbusier proudly drew the piling for the Pavilion Suisse of 1933. It is a particularly compelling section, since it represents the breaking of the Palladian wisdom, to load the plan equally to avoid cracking, given new technologies applicable to both surveying and construction. Colin Rowe might have dwelt on this in his magnificent essay 'Mathematics of the Ideal Villa' (1947) but he didn't.
Notwithstanding endless technical innovation, I cannot escape the thought that these days such technical innovation lies rather more in the realm of desire (dating sites) than construction (drilling piles). It is possible to think that with the provision of reasonable toilets, effective thermal insulation and heating etc, the job, architecturally speaking, is already done, and this asks many questions as to the point of the technically orientated view of progress within architecture. We still stand up, then lie down, we still piss, we still shit, we still need to keep warm, we still eat and drink, we cum, we learn things, do things and generally need to be entertained. Worst of all we worry, and I really don't need the equivalent of a spaceship to do it all in. This is a continuity with the ancients I cannot avoid.
He had 3 names. Original name was Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris.
ReplyDeleteLater he operated under the name of his cousin, Pierre Jeanneret. Then he changed to Le Corbusier.
Some said he owed Bornand (his business partner) money after the brick business failure. And that was why he needed to operate as Pierre Jeanneret due to insolvency.
I cannot trust anyone with 3 names.