3. Textual Heresies Le Corbusier, Palais des Congres-Strasbourg,

Transcription

1 3. Textual Heresies Le Corbusier, -Strasbourg,

2 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. Can you see the figural / Cartesian elements in the drawing to the left? Le Corbusier, Sketch of Parthenon

3 Francis Bacon According to Eisenman, what is the difference between figuration and figural? 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...

4 Still Life 1920 Maison Dom-ino, 1914 Can you see the cartesian and figured elements in the two images above? 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.

5 Le Corbusier s 5 Points Free plan Free façade Roof garden Pilotis Ribbon windows Maison Dom-ino, 1914 What does Eisenman mean when he says critique of architecture s relationship to the ground? The primitive foundation blocks in the place of pilotis initiate a critique of architecture s relationship to the ground...

6 Giambattista Nolli, The Nolli Map, 1748, Rome, Italy Think about the figure/ground relationship in these drawings. figure in architecture had always been tied to the ground, so much so that it was defined as a figure/ground relationship.

7 Le Corbusier, Villa Savoy, , Poissy, France Can you see the figured condition in the circulation in the right sketch? develop the diagram offered in his Five Points, and introduce a more strongly figured condition in the circulation.

8 Vila Savoy, , Poissy, France The ramp as a figured element creates and registers a kind of vortex of centrifugal energy.

9 Le Corbusier, Villa Stein, Garches, Can you see the dialectical relationship Eisenman is discussing? In these early works, the figured elements are implicated in a dialectical relationship to the abstract grid of the buildings plan, facades, and section.

10 Le Corbusier, Villa Stein, Garches, France, In these early works, the figured elements are implicated in a dialectical relationship to the abstract grid of the buildings plan, facades, and section.

11 Ronchamp, France, 1950 Philips Pavilion, Belgium, 1958 Chandigarh, India, How are these buildings fundamentally different from Corbusier s earlier work? In Ronchamp, the Philips Pavilion, and Chandigarh, fully three-dimensional figures stand out against the grid, yet the grid remains legible.

12 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.

13 Le Corbusier, Ronchamp, France,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.

14 Le Corbusier, Parliament Building at Chandigarh, Consider the different figures in the building above. 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.

15 Le Corbusier, Villa Stein ( ) and Parliament Building at Chandigarh ( ) How are the facades similar above? How do the facades differ? What are the different readings you can pull from the two? departure from the planar, free façade...

16 Le Corbusier, Chandigarh, Harvard s Carpenter Center, and La Tourette departure from the planar, free façade...

17 Le Corbusier, La Tourette, France, 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.

18 Le Corbusier, La Tourette, France, La Tourette can also be related to Strasbourg by means of a rotational energy established by the pinwheeling organization of its lower floors.

19 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? 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.

20 La Tourette, Carpentter Center What of Le Corbusier s Five Points are still evident in the Carpenter Center? Despite the contradictory internal movements at the Carpenter Center it could be argued that each component is articulated as a separate figure.

21 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? 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.

22 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

23 Ribbon Window 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.

24 Free Plan 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.

25 Free Façade 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.

26 Roof Garden 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.

27 Roof Garden 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.

28 Third Floor Fourth and Fifth Floors Eisenman says that Corbusiers postwar work questions the wholeness of the figure. What does this mean? Where do you see this at -Strasbourg?

29 How is the figure/ground relationship inverted? La Tourette, France many of the relationships established in La Tourette and the Carpenter Center are inverted.

30 Chandigarh, India How is the figure/ground relationship inverted? many of the relationships established in La Tourette and the Carpenter Center are inverted.

31 La Tourette, France Chandigarh, India How is the free plan/ free façade relationship inverted? many of the relationships established in La Tourette and the Carpenter Center are inverted.

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

33 Carpenter Center How is the circulation relationship inverted? many of the relationships established in La Tourette and the Carpenter Center are inverted.

34 La Tourette, France How is the circulation relationship inverted? many of the relationships established in La Tourette and the Carpenter Center are inverted.

35 Can you explain how Strasbourg is a departure from the grid/figure dialectic? The figure assumes a different role at Strasbourg in that it is no longer defined in relationship to the grid.

36 Farnsworth House What does Eisenman mean by breaching the container? The subject becomes involved not only in the figural ramp but also in the breaching of the container...

37 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.

38 Villa Savoy, France Strasbourg shifts the idea of understanding from seeing to the experience of movement.

39 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.

40 Maison Dom-ino Koolhaas, Il Jussieu Library Competition 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.

41 Koolhaas, Il Jussieu Library Competition Koolhaas, New York Athletic Club The discontinuity between successive horizontal plan levels at Strasbourg will ultimately appear in Koolhaas s Delirious New York and his French library projects.