Towards a New Architecure: Part One

With the increase in sleep and leisure that winter break allows, I am currently reading Le Corbusier's Towards a New Architecture. Being away from studio even for a few weeks makes me anxious- sadly- and mournful of my laziness, but this reading provokes thought and gratitude towards the built environment which influences mankind's being.

I definitely found a study that excites and amazes me, for architecture- moving man's heart and understanding- is the soul of humanity; how beautiful? Architecture allows society to extend remembering, questioning, reasoning, and creating to move.

The Plan

Le Corb argues that plan, "the generator," helps clarify and organize rhythm and modulation in design (Le Corbusier 47). Consequently, I love drawing plans the most in studio and find plans gravely important, even though some older and wiser students have expressed preference for sections as more intriguing and sexier architectural drawing (cough, cough, Steven...).

The City

 

The City of Towers was Le Corb's vision for a healthier tomorrow, as the dwellings stack to improve views from within the building and green-space from within the streets. Increasing sense of place, the "efficiency of time and effort" consolidates residence to allow for ameliorated recreation, while dialogue with light and shadow from shifting the placement of towers along an axis challenges man's experience betwixt the constructs (Le Corbusier 58).

Why are the Towers relevant? Well, besides exhuming the essentials of meaningful architecture and the shortcomings of today's designers, Le Corb's words have supported my vision for my future: dwelling in the city's form.

The city form, in theory, becomes the closest to pure harmony and regulation within the mind and heart because of the metaphorical "fresh air and clean daylight" that proportion, symmetry, mass/light, and the deviation from established rhythms conjure.

Food for Thought

Suburbs lack the gumption and panash that the city evinces.