Le Corbusier in the 21st Century

Le Corbusier was obsessed with a series of beliefs over the course of his life . As a result this influence was heavily seen in his work. Around the 1920s, he was introduced to Purism during which he studied a particular type of objects he called 'objet types'. They are objects that had evolved into the most economical and efficient of forms. Being a perfectionist, he thought that certain objects using basic geometries had the ability to evoke emotions. He also saw man as a geometrical animal and had a strong need for order.The image and technological change that machines had brought in those days was of great aspiration to him. He described them as disciplined and displayed a natural evotion into the most obvious of forms. They were practical. This lead to 'Machines for living' which had his five points or new architecture. Later on , his interest took quite a different direction when he began to draw and paint sensual forms of landscape, nature and women. He had a personal language of symbols. He understood the complex relationship between elements of nature, its importance to men. One of his most distinguished work is the Chapel at Ronchamp in which he seemed to have brought together his experience of paintings and scultpting. Le Corbusier's work never stopped changing. He believed that in order to stay ahead of his rivals, he had to reinvent himsef. He had to burn his past for a new beginning to happen.

Often I ask myself, what would have been the architecture of Le Corbusier in the 21^st century if he was living in our times. The time of computers and internet at its peak. The amount of influence that information technology has brought into our lives, let alone architecture. How would the design of Ronchamp change if it was first drawn on cad. His adoration for nature would have certainly kept him going into the sustainable architecture. Would global warming have been a complete surprise to him? As much as machines have contributed to the evolution of humanity, it has also brought this world almost to its knees. He would have probably found it hard to impose his utopian ideas. Still, he would have enjoyed how architecture and the construction techniques have changed over time. What would have been his symbolism? Computers, mobile phones, ipod, online shopping or perhaps it would have been the quite the same as before, nature and the cosmos.