Architect profile: Le Corbusier

Born Charles Edouard Jeanneret in Switzerland in 1887, this son of a watchmaker reinvented himself
by becoming Le Corbusier ("the crow- like one") in 1920. He was one of the founders of the Modern
movement- or International Style- in architecture along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter
Gropius and others from the post WWI Bauhaus era.

Considered his finest house, the Villa Savoye in Poissy-sur-Seine near Paris was completed in 1929
using cutting edge technology and building materials. It was ground breaking stuff- horizontal
windows, rooftop planters, a suspended living area off the ground for carparking below, ventilation
and to avoid the damp, which probably helped to dry it out when the roof leaked. Cold and wet, it was
not the dream weekend retreat the Savoye's envisioned, especially as it's first restoration began as
soon as they moved in. During WWII it housed Germans troops and later the Allies. Post war it
became a youth centre and finally a barn as described by Tschumi, below. It was to be demolished to
make way for a new school, but in 1965 it was declared un Monument National and a 12 year
restoration was completed by 1997. The roof still leaks, apparently.

Although the actual number of Corbu's completed buildings is less than 20, his influence on modern
architecture is profound- as was his desire to bend humanity to fit his buildings. For over forty years
he lobbied Parisian officials to allow him to demolish the entire historic Marais (marsh) district on the
Right Bank and replace it with identical rows of towers set amongst motorways. Since then, Corbu's
ideals have been adopted by other architect's high rise 'housing project' designs elsewhere- most
notably the award winning Pruitt-Igoe complex in St Louis, Missouri, demolished within 20 years.

Pesky officials and Madame Savoye aside, water was to remain Corbu's nemesis; he suffered a heart
attack and drowned while swimming. A touching tribute from others who shared Corbu's housing
agenda; the Soviet Union wrote: "Modern architecture has lost its greatest master."

Some builders and homeowners think there is now enough evidence beyond the grave for Corbu to be
adopted as the patron saint of leaky buildings. We recognise his contribution for the effect on
generations of architects... and the built environment. We'll do our best to learn from this.

"Stinking of urine, smeared with excrement and covered
with obscene graffiti, the Villa Savoye was never so moving
as when the plaster fell off its concrete blocks."
-Architect Bernard Tschumi, 1965

Photo- On Weathering: The Life of Buildings in Time
Mohsen Mostafavi & David Leatherbarrow MIT Press 1993

Mouseover- Upside Down Villa Savoye, Ningxia Povince, China.
Proof that it doesn't matter which way faces up in modern art.
Or maybe it's more weatherproof this way...