Le Corbusier: Ideas and Forms

by William J.R. Curtis

Le Corbusier (1887-1965) has been one of the dominant forces in twentieth-century architecture and a legendary pioneering figure. Many of the forms he created have become archetypes of modernism. Yet he was also a social visionary and a writer of powerful polemics whose ideas have generated intense and partisan controversy. Now available for the first time in paperback, Le Ideas and Forms provides a comprehensive and objective survey that exposes Le Corbusier through a more balanced perspective than ever before. Making full use of the 'Le Corbusier Archive', the author documents individual projects in detail, while linking the imaginative activities of the artist to his philosophy of life, his urban visions, his art and the cultural predicaments of his times. He analyses Le Corbusier's phenomenal powers of abstraction and synthesis, to illustrate how he created a potent architectural vocabulary based on a limited range of types and elements, and how he used it to generate architectural forms of compelling force. This intimate and meticulous study of all Le Corbusier's major buildings - from first sketches to final achievement - reveals the artist's struggle to reconcile the ideal and the practical and to give institutions and ideologies a suitable symbolic form. It shows, in turn, how this most 'modern' of architects constantly found profound inspiration in both nature and architectural tradition.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

William J. R. Curtis is an architectural historian whose writings have focused on twentieth century architecture. Curtis seems particularly interested in broadening the "canon" to include a wider range of architects working across the world.
Curtis was educated at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London (First Class Honors, 1970), and Harvard University (Ph.D., 1975). He has taught history and theory of architecture in the United States, Mexico, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Curtis's most important work is Modern Architecture Since 1900, first published in 1982, and now in its third edition (1996). This book won the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain in 1984. The third edition was awarded the architecture book prize of the American Institute of Architects in 1997. In 2006 the Museum of Finnish Architecture awarded Curtis its Commemoration Medal of Foundation on the occasion of the Museum's 50th Anniversary.
Curtis currently lives in southwestern France.

Reviews

[Topaz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great monograph on Le Corbusier. It covers the full body of work including artwork, sketches, and un-built works. The updated and expanded edition is the one you want, it has several more chapters than the original. Very high quality overall, easy to read and provides a lot of detail but it doesn’t read like an academic dissertation.

There are many photos but as always, i think more photos could be useful, especially of the built works. There are many original drawings and sketches scanned from the originals in very high quality that may not be contained in many other books. There is a very thorough section on notes and bibliography for further reading.

There are many books written on Le Corbusier, but if you are looking for just one that is more than a coffee table book, this is probably it. If you are a hardcore fan of Le Corbusier, you’ll probably want to get separate books on his sketches, artwork, individual building; that cover much more detail on each aspect of his work.

Actual photos of the book on Amazon

[Morris Yen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an authoritative book on Corbu. It could be more critical though.