Le Corbusier
Pioneer of modern architecture
Most quoted
"The architect, by his arrangement of forms, realizes an order which is a pure creation of his spirit; by forms and shapes he affects our senses to produce plastic emotions; by the relationships which he creates, he awakens in us profound echoes, he gives us the measure of an order which we feel to be in accordance with that of our world, he determines the various movements of our heart and of our understanding; it is then that we experience the sense of beauty."
— from Towards a New Architecture, 1923
"Architecture is the masterly, correct, and magnificent play of masses brought together in light. Our eyes are made to see forms in light; light and shade reveal these forms; cubes, cones, spheres, cylinders, or pyramids are the great primary forms which light reveals to advantage; the image of these is distinct and without ambiguity. It is for this reason that these are beautiful forms, the most beautiful forms."
— from Towards a New Architecture, 1923
"Architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of masses brought together in light. Our eyes are made to see forms in light; light and shade reveal these forms; cubes, cones, spheres, cylinders or pyramids are the great primary forms which light reveals to advantage; the image of these is distinct and without ambiguity. It is for this reason that these are beautiful forms, the most beautiful forms."
— from Towards a New Architecture, 1923
All quotes by Le Corbusier (365)
A house is a machine for living in.
The architect must be a poet, who thinks in terms of space, form, light, and material.
Architecture is the masterly, correct, and magnificent play of masses brought together in light.
The materials of city planning are: sun, space, trees, steel, and reinforced concrete in that order and that hierarchy.
To be modern is not a fashion, it is a state. It is a need to understand and to act in accordance with the spirit of one's time.
The plan is the generator. Without a plan, there is disorder, arbitrariness. The plan is a rigorous and poetic order.
The purpose of construction is to make things hold together; of architecture to move us.
Modern life demands and is waiting for a new kind of plan, both for the house and for the city.
The street is a machine for circulation.
The right angle is the basis of all architecture.
The home is a sanctuary, a place of peace and quiet, a place of work and rest.
Architecture is not a question of taste, but of truth.
The city must be a tool for human liberation.
The engineer's aesthetic and architecture are two things that march together and follow one another.
The house should be a jewel box, a place where one can find oneself.
The key is in the plan. The plan is the generator. Without a plan, there is disorder, arbitrariness.
The city of tomorrow will be a vertical garden city.
The straight line is the most beautiful line.
The dwelling is a cell, a unit of a larger organism.
The architect is a plastic artist, a creator of forms.
Contemporaries of Le Corbusier
Other Architectures born within 50 years of Le Corbusier (1887–1965).