Architect: Le Corbusier
The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947-1985 (2022) – Review
10 November 2022
The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947-1985 (2022) – Review10 November 2022
“The history of modern architecture is the history of its exhibitions,” states the introduction of the anthology ‘Exhibiting Architecture’, [1] and it is hard to deny the central role of exhibitions in the writing of the canonic and the public history of architecture. Yet the exclusionary nature of the history… Read More
Drawing Conversations: Letters to Clients
26 October 2022
Drawing Conversations: Letters to Clients26 October 2022
In October 1925 Le Corbusier wrote to his client Madame Meyer a remarkable letter about his proposal with Pierre Jeanneret for her villa. It combined drawings with a highly scripted text that carefully guided her through each space, from the entrance to the roof garden. Like the pioneers of early… Read More
In the Archive: Petit, Lebas, Fontaine, Le Corbusier, Kolář
4 October 2022
In the Archive: Petit, Lebas, Fontaine, Le Corbusier, Kolář4 October 2022
Click on drawings to move and enlarge. In The Library at Night, Alberto Manguel likens a library to a human brain and imagines a kind of phrenic Library of Alexandria in which each book becomes a neuron and the connections between books synapses. Thus the brain is a library and… Read More
The Cornice: The Edge of Architecture
21 February 2022
The Cornice: The Edge of Architecture21 February 2022
The following essay was first published as the introduction to ‘The Cornice’, GTA Papers 6 (2021). It is one of the outcomes of the work done in preparation for the exhibition The Hidden Horizontal: The Cornice in Architecture and Art, which was on show at the Graphische Sammlung of ETH… Read More
The Philips Pavilion: Models as Structural Expression
23 November 2021
The Philips Pavilion: Models as Structural Expression23 November 2021
The following text discusses the use of models as an integral part of the architectural process. It is excerpted from Matthew Mindrup’s article on the roles of models in the design of the Sydney Opera House and Iannis Xenakis and Le Corbusier’s Philips Pavilion for the 1958 World’s Fair (arq:… Read More
Drawing Powers: conclusions
2 November 2021
Drawing Powers: conclusions2 November 2021
This text is the conclusion to a series of essays in which Fernando Poeiras (ESAD.CR/LIDA), explores the different powers of drawing within architectural design projects. Each text is illustrated with examples from the Drawing Matter Collection. Find the introduction to the series here. What surprises me most in architecture, as in other… Read More
Survey: Le Corbusier, Roland Garros stadium
21 September 2021
Survey: Le Corbusier, Roland Garros stadium21 September 2021
In July 1958, one day before Faisal II was assassinated during the 14 July Revolution in Baghdad, the Iraqi Ministry of Development sent a telegram to Paris confirming Le Corbusier’s appointment to design the Olympic Stadium. Over the following months, while the programme and site were being clarified, his office… Read More
Sketches from Algiers
2 August 2021
Sketches from Algiers2 August 2021
In October 1975 I returned to Cambridge to complete my architecture course. I had spent my year out in London with MacCormac and Jamieson, an exciting time as it was early days for this young practice and I was one of their very first assistants. In fact, I nearly didn’t… Read More
From Diderot to Tokyo: Mechanical, Subjective and Digital Time
23 June 2021
From Diderot to Tokyo: Mechanical, Subjective and Digital Time23 June 2021
The absolute precision and technical specificity of Diderot’s encyclopaedia plates, particularly those devoted to Horlogerie, mark a critical moment in the transition from speculative to operative science, from the pre-industrial to a modernist ontology of technical instrumentalisation. Here on these pages, artisan craft is ransomed to the immanent logic of… Read More
Notes on Twelve drawings for the Governor’s Palace at Chandigarh
15 June 2021
Notes on Twelve drawings for the Governor’s Palace at Chandigarh15 June 2021
Drawing Matter was introduced to José Oubrerie by Stan Allen after publishing his text Just Begin in July 2020. Oubrerie worked for Le Corbusier on the Brazilian Pavillion at the Cité Universitaire in Paris in 1958 and in the Atelier at 35 Rue de Sèvres from 1959 to 1965. The… Read More
Notes on The Palace of the Assembly and Museum at Chandigarh
7 June 2021
Notes on The Palace of the Assembly and Museum at Chandigarh7 June 2021
Drawing Matter was introduced to José Oubrerie by Stan Allen after publishing his text Just Begin in July 2020. Oubrerie worked for Le Corbusier on the Brazilian Pavillion at the Cité Universitaire in Paris in 1958 and in the Atelier at 35 Rue de Sèvres from 1959 to 1965. The… Read More
Drawing Powers: Introduction
2 November 2021
Drawing Powers: Introduction2 November 2021
– Fernando Poeiras
This text is the first in a series of five in which Fernando Poeiras (ESAD.CR/LIDA), explores the different powers of drawing within architectural design projects. Each text is illustrated with examples from the Drawing Matter Collection. There is an enormous difference between seeing a thing without a pencil in your… Read More