Le Corbusier on Le Corbusier's Grand Artistic Study Room

Author: (German) Bohm, translated by Lin Bing
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-01-01
Features: "Go the Extra Mile" was the teaching young Le Corbusier received from his grandfather when he was eight years old. Now, Le Corbusier is in his eighties, and it remains his motto. His grandfather also passed on to him another saying from Confucius: "Rule the state with virtue, as the North Star remains in its place while all the stars revolve around it." There is a common point between the universe and Le Corbusier: we know very little about both. As an architect, Le Corbusier's primary goal in writing this book is to improve this. Le Corbusier has always hoped that people would understand him through his architecture. This book is his first detailed discussion of his works, life, influences, life lessons, and his relentless pursuit of perfection. Therefore, I also hope to pass on Le Corbusier's architectural philosophy to the next generation of architects, to all those who work and live in Le Corbusier's buildings, and to the fortunate friends who enter his architecture to appreciate art and music. My conversations with Le Corbusier mainly took place during the five years we worked together on film projects (in New York, Paris, Berlin, Kyoto, and Luxembourg), during which time he became my close friend. Le Corbusier's architecture uniquely reflects the new aesthetic standards born from the fusion of Eastern and Western traditions—the eternal stone and glass. At this point, we may have ventured into the dangerous territory of interpreting his architectural works, something he has always been reluctant to do. Let him speak for himself.