In the early twentieth century, artists and art movements didn't limit themselves to painting, sculpture, and the like. Futurists rebelled against "pastism" (the reverence for tradition and history) and glorified war as an artistic expression. Others called for art that could be smelled instead of just seen and touched. Modernists responded to the changing times in the years after the Industrial Revolution by introducing changes to art, in all forms. In architecture especially, modernism wasn't just about looks and aesthetics -- new building materials had become available, skyscrapers were born, and using old designs would make as much sense as building a log cabin out of cement.
The central figure of Modern Architecture -- not its first architect, but its unquestioned master -- was Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887 - August 27, 1965), the Swiss-born Frenchman who changed his name from Charles-Edouard Jeanneret. His approach to architecture might be called holistic now: not content merely to design the buildings, he also worked as an influential furniture designer and was one of the first serious urban planners. Even before Henry Ford, Le Corbusier realized that the popularity of the automobile would change the shape of cities, and the relationship between where people lived and where they worked. A pragmatist, Le Corbusier foresaw a future filled with apartment buildings and parking lots -- and applied the artist's gift for aesthetic not to making things look pleasing, but to designing buildings and cities that would avoid the overcrowding that was such a problem in cities still adjusting to modernity.
That was typical of his practical approach. The rationalism of the century pervaded his work, which removed ornamentation and useless decoration from both buildings and furniture, focusing on clean lines and a strong sense of function. He didn't just set an example, he wrote extensively on his work, which helped to further his influence. His Modulor system (outlined in two books published in 1948 and 1955) treated architectural design from an elegantly mathematical perspective, using the Fibonacci sequence, the golden ratio, and the proportions of the human body to create spaces in harmony with human needs and activities.
His essay collection Towards an Architecture (Vers une architecture), was published in 1923, and set forth the tenets that would guide the construction of his most famous work, the Villa Savoye. The villa, in the suburbs of Paris, was made of reinforced concrete -- the material of the new age -- and combined classic and modern elements. At the ground level, columns both supported and elevated the building, permitting the garden to continue to grow underneath -- while more garden area was set aside on the flat roof. The windows were oriented horizontally instead of vertically, for more even lighting and a less interrupted view of the yard. And Le Corbusier's use of the columns instead of interior load-bearing walls meant that each floor could be divided according to the desired rooms, treated on their own terms.
Like most of Le Corbusier's buildings, the Villa was predominantly white, with little decoration. His writings often called for white houses -- white was functional, white was practical, and colors only distracted from the landscape. Many of these ideas failed to take hold in Europe, but became instrumental in American and Soviet urban planning. His dislike of "decoration" and plain aesthetics were an irritant to many of his fellow architects, including the equally famous Frank Lloyd Wright.
Le Corbusier, like many Modernists and the Futurists in general, supported industry and industrialism. His aesthetics borrowed ideas from modern ocean liners, while his pragmatics drew on the opportunistic utilitarianism of the factory. Of course, he's often criticized for this: today's featureless blocky buildings, winding hospital corridors, and laundromat-like cafeterias all owe a debt to Corbusier. He virtually invented the modern-day apartment building, an affordable necessity for an urban age but also a deeply impersonal living space compared to the family homes of previous generations. While he called for public parks and streets organized according to a grid, he also proposed the demolition of older districts, in order to replace their antiquated buildings with modern ones.
He died in 1965 at the age of 77, having suffered a heart attack during a morning swim in the Mediterranean. His influence may not have always taken hold the way he envisioned, but its hold is undeniable. His writing was as significant to his legacy as his buildings were -- as Wright remarked, "Now that [Le Corbusier] has finished one building, he'll go write four books about it."
