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)
Every man carries within him a city.
The Modulor is a measuring tool based on the human body and on mathematics.
The materials of town planning are: sun, space, trees, steel, and reinforced concrete, in that order and in that hierarchy.
The house is a tool.
The purpose of construction is to make things hold together; the purpose of architecture is to move us.
The right angle is the essential and sufficient instrument of action, because it is the condition of equilibrium.
A city that is not beautiful is not a city.
The straight line is the shortest distance between two points.
Modern life demands, and is waiting for, a new kind of plan, both for the house and for the city.
The machine for living in is a tool for living.
The architect is a man of synthesis.
The street is a corridor.
The human scale is the only scale that matters.
The house should be a sanctuary.
The city must be a tool for living.
Architecture is the art of organizing space.
The problem of the house is the problem of the age.
The city is a living organism.
The straight line is the symbol of human will.
The house is a shelter for the soul.
Contemporaries of Le Corbusier
Other Architectures born within 50 years of Le Corbusier (1887–1965).