Le Corbusier( 1887 – 1965 )
Plate # 322 , Sketchbook 18 , Volume 2 , sketch of Notre-Dame-du-Haut, Ronchamp, February
1951 , Le Corbusier Foundation/ARS, Carnet E 18 , 15 10 cm, Ink on sketchbook paperCharles-Edouard Jenneret, better known as Le Corbusier, needs little introduction. He was the
prominent figure in modernist architecture and crucial in the development of the international style.
Although sketches remain from specific projects he designed, recently four volumes of his sketchbooks
have been published. These sketchbooks were specifically saved and numbered by him, and were
found (after his death) carefully stacked in a closet (Le Corbusier, 1981 ). They include travel and con-
ceptual sketches, distinct from sketches in his office for specific buildings.
Le Corbusier was born at La Chaux-de-Fonds, Neuchâtel, Switzerland, in 1887. His early education
included vocational school at the Ecole d’Art. Encouraged by a teacher, Charles L’Eplattenier, he left to
study architecture. In 1907 , he embarked on an extended visit to Italy; upon his return, he found work
with the architect Auguste Perret. In 1913 he opened his own firm and began experimenting with ideas
for the Dom-ino House. Conceptually, this building system consisted of a rectangular ‘skeleton’ made
of reinforced concrete (Tzonis, 2001 ). In 1917 , Le Corbusier moved to Paris, further exploring the
building technology of concrete.
Around the time he entered practice with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret in 1922 , Le Corbusier began
to combine the elements that defined his rational and functional approach to architecture. Le
Corbusier’s large body of built work includes the Unité d’Habitation, Marseille ( 1949 ), and the
Dominican Monastery of Sainte-Marie-de-la-Tourette ( 1952 ).
The published sketchbooks provide rich insight into Le Corbusier’s thought processes and
sketching techniques. Undoubtedly, the travel sketches were used to remember visual information,
as sights could be noted and retained for further use. Other types of notations occur in his sketch-
books, such as codes for colors, train reservations, recordings of types of trees, hand and sun sym-
bols, and written analysis and evaluation (Le Corbusier, 1981 ). Some of the sketches show a firm
and definitive pencil technique, while others have a wavering, slow deliberation.
This sketch (Figure 7. 7 ) shows early ideas for the non-rational Chapel Notre-Dame-du-Haut,
Ronchamp ( 1955 ). Uneven and scratchy lines were used to explore the chapel in plan and elevation.
A single line gestured the arc of the chapel on what appears to be a roof plan. The rounded light wells
have been roughly shaded and appear lumpy. Le Corbusier is studying the relationship between the
massing of the roof and the vertical towers. The two lower elevations, which resemble perspectives,
show variations for the shape and volume of the roof. Indicating his concern for this roof /wall pro-
portion, he minimized the window openings to simple parallel lines. The roof to the right has been
identified with the letter ‘a.’ On the legend which describes his symbols, ‘a’ has been translated as
arrondi, ‘round.’
Given the abstract qualities of the sketch, Le Corbusier may not have trusted his memory. He
needed a written note to remind him of that moment in the process when he was thinking about the
curve of the eave. He also made notes of his personal dialogue, writing ‘attention’ to remind himself
about fissuring. This may indicate something vital to the design and construction of the roof that
required subsequent examination. Considering the briefness of the sketch, it is clear that Le Corbusier
depended upon additional written messages to later recall his design intention. The sketchbooks were
for him a discussion about design and also represented memory devices.H5719-Ch07.qxd 7/15/05 3:46 PM Page 181