Le
Corbusier explanation
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Le
Corbusier, Pierre Jeanneret & Charlotte Perriand 1928
With
its external frame and sumptuous cushions, the "Grand Confort"
projects luxury and epitomises the International Style. The B302
demonstrates the designers' interest in the structural possibilities of
tubular steel.
Charles-Edouard
Jeanneret, called Le Corbusier, was born at La Chaux-de-Fonds, in the
Swiss Jura, in 1887; he died on the French Côte d'Azur in 1965.
Early in his career his work met with some resistance owing to its alleged
"revolutionary" nature and the radical look it acquired from its
"purist" experiments; in time, however, it won the recognition
it deserved and it is still widely admired. His message is still being
assimilated by a continually increasing number of people in the profession,
but his far-out avent-garde attitudes should be interpreted correctly,
with due acknowledgement given to the use of rational systems in his
planning method, evidenced by extremely simple modules and forms based on
"functionalism". "Functionalism tending not so much to an
exaltation of the mechanical function at the expense of the symbolic, as
to the rejection of symbol that he now considers outmoded and
insignificant and the restoration of the practical function as a symbols
of new values" (G.C. Argan)
In his activities as town-planner, architect and designer, his method of
research continued to develop, at times going to the opposite extremes of
a rich plastic idiom. Instances of this are: Unité d'Habitation,
Marseille (1946-52); The Centre of Zurich (1964-65) and the Hospital in
Venice (1965).
Much the same commitment will be found in the furniture:
a) of the "Équipement intérieur de l'habitation" (table,
chairs, armchairs, sofas) designed for the Salon d'Automne, 1928, with
Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand;
b) "Casiers Standards", system of container units designed for
the Pavilion of the Esprit Nouveau, 1925, with Pierre Jeanneret which as
it is that Le Corbusier's work will never be out-of-date; for with its
clear and essential forms it is highly adaptable to change in time and
ambience, whose "signs" it readily assimilates.
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