Le Corbusier Quotes

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.

Design has killed architecture.
Design is what they teach in the schools.

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.

You know, it is life that is right and the architect who is wrong.

Vous savez, c'est la vie qui a raison, l'architecte qui a tort.

Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.

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.

The age of personal statues is gone. No personal statues shall be erected in the city or parks of Chandigarh. The city is planned to breathe the new sublimated spirit of art. Commemoration of persons shall be confined to suitably placed bronze plaques.

Vehicular traffic is completely forbidden in the green strips, where tranquility shall reign and the curse of noise shall not penetrate.

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 object of this edict is to enlighten the present and future citizens of Chandigarh about the basic concepts of planning of the city so that they become its guardians and save it from whims of individuals.

The Despot is not a man. It is the Plan. The correct, realistic, exact plan.

Modern life demands, and is waiting for, a new kind of plan, both for the house and the city.

It is a question of building which is at the root of the social unrest of today: architecture or revolution.

You employ stone, wood and concrete, and with these materials you build houses and palaces. That is construction. Ingenuity is at work. But suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good, I am happy and I say: "This is beautiful." That is Architecture. Art enters in.