3. textual heresies le corbusier, palais des congres ......lecture 4: le corbusier, palais des...

Lecture 4: Le Corbusier, Palais des Congres-Strasbourg, France,1962-64

S. Hambright Drawing Canonical Ideas in ArchitectureUofA

3. Textual HeresiesLe Corbusier, Palais des Congres-Strasbourg, 1962-64



“This drawing is an early manifestation of what was to become an evolving obsession: the dialectical and tensioned interplay of the figure with the Cartesian grid, which appears in his earliest Purist paintings and continues throughout his career, evolving from a two-dimensional figures to three-dimensional figures.”

Le Corbusier, Sketch of Parthenon

Can you see the figural / Cartesian elements in the drawing to the left?



“…the human figure no longer presents itself as a discrete, clear form, but rather resides in what can be called an undecidable relationship with the canvas...”

According to Eisenman, what is the difference between figuration and figural?

Francis Bacon



Maison Dom-ino, 1914

“If cubist painting was marked by a tension between the frontal picture plane and spatial depth, Le Corbusier’s architecture strained to both incorporate and overcome the tenets of frontal and flattened cubist space in a three-dimensional matrix.”

Still Life1920

Can you see the cartesian and figured elements in the two images above?



“The primitive foundation blocks in the place of pilotis initiate a critique of architecture’s relationship to the ground...”

Maison Dom-ino, 1914

Le Corbusier’s 5 PointsFree planFree façadeRoof gardenPilotisRibbon windows

What does Eisenman mean when he says ‘critique of architecture’s relationship to the ground?”



Giambattista Nolli, The Nolli Map, 1748, Rome, Italy

“…figure in architecture had always been tied to the ground, so much so that it was defined as a figure/ground relationship.”

Think about the figure/ground relationship in these drawings.



Le Corbusier, Villa Savoy, 1927-30, Poissy, France

“…develop the diagram offered in his ‘Five Points,’ and introduce a more strongly figured condition in the circulation.”

Can you see the ‘figured condition in the circulation” in the right sketch?



“The ramp as a figured element creates and registers a kind of vortex of centrifugal energy.”

Vila Savoy, 1927-30, Poissy, France



Le Corbusier, Villa Stein, Garches, 1927-30

“In these early works, the figured elements are implicated in a dialectical relationship to the abstract grid of the buildings’ plan, facades, and section.”

Can you see the dialectical relationship Eisenman is discussing?



Le Corbusier, Villa Stein, Garches, France, 1927-30

“In these early works, the figured elements are implicated in a dialectical relationship to the abstract grid of the buildings’ plan, facades, and section.”



Ronchamp, France, 1950

“In Ronchamp, the Philips Pavilion, and Chandigarh, fully three-dimensional figures stand out against the grid, yet the grid remains legible.”

Philips Pavilion, Belgium, 1958 Chandigarh, India, 1953-65

How are these buildings fundamentally different from Corbusier’s earlier work?



“The square punctures in the façade register a tension between an implied vertical grid and the sloping wall, as if the holes were tethers maintaining the wall’s curve.”

Le Corbusier, Ronchamp, 1950



“The square punctures in the façade register a tension between an implied vertical grid and the sloping wall, as if the holes were tethers maintaining the wall’s curve.”

Le Corbusier, Ronchamp, France,1950



“If the prewar work demonstrates the linear figure becoming increasingly three-dimensional, it could be argued that Le Corbusier’s postwar work begins with the fully articulated figure, which is increasingly deformed into a series of partial figures.”

Le Corbusier, Parliament Building at Chandigarh, 1953-65

Consider the different figures in the building above.



“…departure from the planar, free façade...’”

How are the facades similar above? How do the facades differ? What are the different readings you can pull from the two?

Le Corbusier, Villa Stein (1927-30) and Parliament Building at Chandigarh (1953-65)



Le Corbusier, Chandigarh, Harvard’s Carpenter Center, and La Tourette

“…departure from the planar, free façade...’”



“La Tourette can also be related to Strasbourg by means of a rotational energy established by the pinwheeling organization of its lower floors.’”

Le Corbusier, La Tourette, France,1950-60

Can you see the rotational energy?



“La Tourette can also be related to Strasbourg by means of a rotational energy established by the pinwheeling organization of its lower floors.’”

Le Corbusier, La Tourette, France,1950-60



“Unlike the rotation on the entry façade of La Tourette…the rotation developed at Strasbourg is no longer dialectical with respect to any frontal plane, but rather registers simultaneously as centripetal and centrifugal in plan and section.”

What are the centrifugal forces in this drawing, or how are they evident?

Can someone point out a drawing in the chapter that gives the sense of centripetal?

Palais des Congres



“Despite the contradictory internal movements at the Carpenter Center…it could be argued that each component is articulated as a separate figure.”

La Tourette, Carpentter Center What of Le Corbusier’s Five Points are still evident in the Carpenter Center?

Palais des Congres



“The centrality of the ‘Five Points’ in Le Corbusier’s prewar work suggests that the points served as a foundational diagram from which each building draws, but inflects differently.”

Villa Savoy and Villa Stein

Explain the statement below using the two buildings above. What is the link between a ‘diagram’ and ‘text’ for Eisenman?



“…on the one hand in its didactic refutation of each of the ‘Five Points,’ and on the other in its movement away from a dialectical relationship between figure and grid.”

Pilotis

Palais des Congres




Ribbon Window

Palais des Congres




Free Plan

Palais des Congres




Free Façade

Palais des Congres




Roof Garden

Palais des Congres



Eisenman says that Corbusiers postwar work questions the ‘wholeness’ of the figure. What does this mean? Where do you see this at Palais des Congres-Strasbourg?

Palais des Congres Third Floor Palais des Congres Fourth and Fifth Floors



“…many of the relationships established in La Tourette and the Carpenter Center are inverted.”

How is the figure/ground relationship inverted?

La Tourette, France

Palais des Congres



“…many of the relationships established in La Tourette and the Carpenter Center are inverted.”How is the figure/ground relationship inverted?

Palais des Congres

Chandigarh, India




How is the free plan/ free façade relationship inverted?

Palais des Congres

Chandigarh, India

La Tourette, France



“…many of the relationships established in La Tourette and the Carpenter Center are inverted.”How is the surface of the roof garden relationship inverted?

Palais des Congres

Carpenter Center




How is the circulation relationship inverted?

Carpenter Center

Palais des Congres




How is the circulation relationship inverted?

Palais des Congres

La Tourette, France



“The figure assumes a different role at Strasbourg in that it is no longer defined in relationship to the grid.”

Can you explain how Strasbourg is a departure from the grid/figure dialectic?

Palais des Congres



“The subject becomes involved not only in the figural ramp but also in the breaching of the container...”

Farnsworth House

What does Eisenman mean by ‘breaching the container?’

Palais des Congres



“…the object is no longer merely contained in the volumetric enclosure but rather a series of forces push the object out through the exterior enclosure of the object, while the movement of the subject continues to circumscribe the volume.”

Palais des Congres



“Strasbourg shifts the idea of understanding from seeing to the experience of movement.”

Palais des Congres

Villa Savoy, France



“What becomes visible in the Strasbourg project as a pivotal development of Le Corbusier’s thought is the new figural condition of the subject’s experience of the object.”

Palais des Congres



“This building offers a missing link between the formal strategies of the high modernist ‘Five Points’ and those apparent in Rem Koolhaas’s Tres Grande Bibliotheque and Jussieu Libraries.”

Palais des Congres

Maison Dom-ino

Koolhaas, Il Jussieu Library Competition



“The discontinuity between successive horizontal plan levels at Strasbourg will ultimately appear in Koolhaas’s Delirious New York and his French library projects.”

Koolhaas, Il Jussieu Library Competition

Palais des Congres

Koolhaas, New York Athletic Club

3. textual heresies le corbusier, palais des congres ......lecture 4: le corbusier, palais des...

Documents