Le Corbusier Quotes

The city of Chandigarh is planned to human scale. It puts us in touch with the infinite cosmos and nature. It provides us with places and buildings for all human activities by which the citizens can live a full and harmonious life. Here the radiance of nature and heart are within our reach.

The truthfulness of materials of constructions, concrete, bricks and stone, shall be maintained in all buildings constructed or to be constructed. The seed of Chandigarh is well sown. It is for the citizens to see that the tree flourishes.

L'architecture arabe, la plus mathématique qui soit. Une maison arabe est mesurée au pas des jambes, à la hauteur des épaules. Les patios et chambrettes sont dimensionnées à la calme mesure des pas, et les hauteurs du tout sont celles qu'estime une tête portée sur des épaules : colonne à la hauteur d'épaule, et avec au dessus, passage de tête. Dans l'architecture arabe, on marche. Marcher là dedans est une fonction digne. La ville européenne peut tirer un enseignement décisif, non qu'il s'agisse d'annoncer un glossaire d'ornements arabes, mais bien de discerner l'essence même d'une architecture et d'un urbanisme.

"A ceux qui, absorbés maintenant dans le problème de "la machine à habiter", déclaraient que "l'architecture c'est servir", nous avons répondu: "L'architecture c'est émouvoir". Et nous avons été taxé de "poète", avec dédain"

When the cathedrals were white, spirit was triumphant. But today the cathedrals of France are black and the spirit is bruised. The works of the new civilization are coming together in a symphonic crescendo. The guiding spirit is faltering. The young act, but they do not know. The old cling to their accumulated treasures, but are unable to accomplish anything further.

My own duty and my aim is to try and raise people out of their misery, away from catastrophe; to provide them with happiness, with a contented existence, with harmony. My own goal is to establish or re-establish harmony between people and their environment.

L'architecture arabe nous donne un enseignement précieux. Elle s'apprécie à la marche, avec le pied : c'est en marchant, en se déplaçant que l'on voit se développer les ordonnances de l'architecture. C'est un principe contraire à l'architecture baroque qui est conçue sur le papier, autour d'un point fixe théorique. Je préfère l'enseignement de l'architecture arabe. Dans cette maison ci, il s'agit d'une véritable promenade architecturale, offrant des aspects constamment variés, inattendus, parfois étonnants.

When I flew over the Atlas Mountains in a plane, I realized that their formation-through erosion, geological dramas, the action of winds-was completely independent of our moral anxieties; man is in a kind of cyclone; he builds solid houses to protect and shelter his heart. Outside, nature is nothing but indifference, even terror.

And what about motor-cars?'
'So much the better,' replied the Great Authority: 'they will no longer be able to run in the streets.

…the skyscrapers of God dominated the countryside. They had made them as high as possible, extraordinarily high. It may seem a disproportion in the ensemble. Not at all, it was an act of optimism, a gesture of courage, a sign of pride, a proof of mastery! In addressing themselves to God, men did not sign their own abdication.

…the schist pyramids can leave us contrite. Greatness is in the intention; and not in dimensions.

Una nueva sociedad crea su hogar, ese receptáculo de la vida.

(...)mimarlığın, kendilerini bütünüyle ve ateşli bir biçimde ona adayanlara bir tür mutluluk getireceğini, düşüncenin doğum sancılarından ve ışıltılı dünyaya gelişinden doğan o kendinden geçmeye benzer duyguyu yaşatacağını sezemediler. Buluşun, yaratıcılığın gücüdür bu ve insana içindeki en saf şeyleri verme olanağını sağlar.

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 tangible within us without ambiguity. It is for this reason that these are beautiful forms, the most beautiful forms. Everybody is agreed to that, the child, the savage and the metaphysician.

Arhitectura are un alt sens și alte scopuri decât doar de a scoate în evidență construcția și de a răspunde unor necesități. Arhitectura este arta prin excelență, care atinge starea de măreție platoniciană, de ordine matematică, de speculație spirituală, de percepere a armoniei prin raporturi emoționale. Iată scopul arhitecturii.