My library of books on architecture continues to grow. I recently purchased four new titles, taking advantage of a couple of Amazon gift cards I received for Christmas:
- Architecture Depends (by Jeremy Till)
- Compression (by Steven Holl)
- Thinking Architecture (by Peter Zumthor)
- LeCorbusier: The Built Work (by Richard Pare and Jean-Louis Cohen)
I’ll probably defer reading Architecture Depends and/or Thinking Architecture until my next trip north to Canada (post-COVID) when I’ll enjoy hours of uninterrupted reading time riding the Amtrak Cascades. Compression is essentially the latest in a series of monographs on the work by Steven Holl Architects, suitable for digesting in small bites, project by project.
My review of Le Corbusier: The Built Work is the subject of this week’s blog post. Weighing in at over eight pounds and 480 heavy pages, the hefty hard-bound volume is a coffee table monster. I had eyed the book ever since its initial publication back in 2018, but the $70 price tag deterred me from purchasing it until now. I’m happy to report the wait was worth it. The book is truly impressive. As described by Amazon, it stands as “the most thoroughgoing survey of nearly all of Le Corbusier’s extant projects, beautifully photographed and authoritatively detailed” and is “a groundbreaking opportunity to appreciate the master’s work anew.”
There are several reasons for my enthusiasm.
Firstly, The Built Work includes numerous projects I was entirely unfamiliar with. I considered myself to be enough of an architectural scholar to thoroughly know the extent of Corb’s oeuvre, so I was pleasantly surprised to find otherwise immediately upon opening the volume. The Villa Stotzer, Villa Favre-Jacot, Villa Le Lac, Maisons Lipschitz et Miestschaninoff, Villa Le Sextant, the Schools of Art and Architecture in Chandigarh, and several others were new to me. Each of these projects helps to fill and enrich my understanding of the evolution of Le Corbusier’s work, from his early days in La Chaux-de-Fonds through his later, mature years on the world stage. I was likewise surprised to learn from the book that while he is credited with the design of approximately 400 projects, only seventy-five were actually ever realized. Impressively, the Built Work documents most of those that remain standing today.
Secondly, Richard Pare’s photography is at once lavish and voyeuristically uncompromising in its depiction of the current appearance of the projects. Several suffer the depravations of time and neglect, which Pare’s images make no effort to conceal. All the photos are in full color, so they are absent the interpretive abstraction characteristic of the many black & white depictions of Le Corbusier’s architecture we are largely familiar with. In this sense, Pare avoided an editorial or artistic stance, adopting instead the role of an objective photojournalist. Overall, the shots are composed handsomely and consistently well-lit (using, it appears, only natural light or that available from actual fixtures within the spaces). They are the best thing we have next to seeing the buildings firsthand.
Lastly, the sheer quantity and thoroughness of the photo documentation are without parallel. Even for the projects I thought I knew well, many of the perspectives used by Pare are ones I had never seen before. For example, his photographs of Notre Dame du Haut at Ronchamp include several that were not among the classic views shot by the masterful Ezra Stoller shortly after the enigmatic chapel’s completion in 1955. Pare’s new photos have undoubtedly become essential resources for anyone dedicated to the study of Le Corbusier’s built legacy.
If the book has a flaw, it may be its sheer bulk. I cradle it with care when I pick it up as I fear it otherwise might tear itself apart under the force of its own weight.
I own several books on and by Le Corbusier; regardless, this latest addition to my collection presents an ineffable sensuality and richness I didn’t realize was missing in the depictions of his work in those other volumes. While many today justifiably revile him for being one of the principal authors of Modernism’s manifest failings and excesses, Le Corbusier: The Built Work presents the depth, breadth, and genius of an undeniably original and virtuoso portfolio.
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