Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier's principal focus in The City of To-Morrow and Its Planning is on the necessity for the urban architecture of the twentieth century to behave functionally and logically, in line with the fact that in the current period the machine and industry are decisively triumphant and that they reflect man's passion for order and manageability in an otherwise chaotic world. Additionally, Le Corbusier conceives of an urban architecture that responds to the fact that the 20th century is an age of speed, whether in travel or in the conduct of business. Unfortunately, he believes, the congested environment of the urban dweller contributes to the chaos, when it ought to provide comfort and peace so that man can respond more effectively to whatever chaos he may encounter. Accordingly, Le Corbusier proposes a radical restructuring of the idea of what a city should look like, with logically conceived architecture as the means to that end: "Throughout the world we see . . . emerging from the chaos, ordered and logical aspirations, and we feel that they are in harmony

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that variety and vitality of human experience should come from within the human organism itself and not be imposed on human experience by the uncontrolled unpredictability of the physical setting of the city. Le Corbusier rejects the view that architecture should have great variety and that cities should not be laid out in boring straight lines but should have meandering lanes and a variety of architectural forms. He condemns eclectic urban architecture and multivaried layouts as evidence of "a lack of coherence" and "the spectacle of individualism run riot . . . a weariness out of chaos" (70-71). He argues instead for architecture that reflects "discipline, wisdom and unanimity in the sphere of art" (71), adding that "under such conditions, the mind is calm" (74). To illustrate his point, Le Corbusier uses reproductions and drawings of architectural examples that adhere to "the existence of a standard" (73) for construction. Thus he praises the uniformity of public buildings in Rome (73), of the multi-arched Renaissance procuracy building at Piazza San Marco in Venice (69) and indeed of San Marco itself (75), and of the absolutely symmetrical Place Des Vosges in Paris (75). He deplores the disordered outward expansion of Pa
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Approximate Word count = 1789
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

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