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)
The future belongs to those who build it.
Architecture is a language, and it speaks to us.
The human spirit yearns for order and harmony.
The architect's mission is to create beauty and utility.
To live is to build.
The city of today is a dying thing because its planning is not in proportion to the needs of the present day.
Architecture or Revolution. Revolution can be avoided.
A great epoch has begun. There exists a new spirit.
We must build a new city, a city of towers, a city of light, a city of air.
The street is a kind of living-room, a collective living-room.
The past is a lesson, not a dogma.
Standardization is a necessity for the well-being of society.
The motor-car is a product of selection in the realm of form.
The city must be a machine for living, a machine for working, a machine for recreation.
The dwelling is a cell, a unit, a component of the city.
The city of tomorrow will be a vertical city.
The engineer's aesthetic and architecture are two things that march together and are in the direct line of the great epoch.
The city must be a garden city, but a vertical garden city.
The dwelling is a container for life.
The city is a tool for the liberation of man.
Contemporaries of Le Corbusier
Other Architectures born within 50 years of Le Corbusier (1887–1965).