Bohuslav Fuchs : Le Corbusier

From September to October 1966, a posthumous exhibition on Le Corbusier's work took place at the Vincenc Kramář Gallery in Prague. A month later, the exhibition moved to the Slovak National Gallery in Bratislava. On this occasion, Jiří Rathouský prepared a catalog, to which Prof. Bohuslav Fuchs wrote the following text.

In a picture from 1935, Le Corbusier stands with F.L. Gahura and B. Fuchs in front of the Baťa Memorial

Le Corbusier
This famous urbanist, architect, painter, sculptor, theorist, feared debater, and hated colleague was always loved and respected by us; he was often a role model and teacher for the Czech avant-garde of the 1920s and 1930s; he was and continues to be rediscovered time and again around the world, while in France he has been permanently rejected.
The visionary era of Le Corbusier began in the 1920s. First and foremost, it involves the theses of modern urbanism: alleviating city centers with high-rise buildings, which leads to increased population density along with adequate services; this will create enough space for transportation areas; green areas will cover up to 80% of the city's surface.
At the same time, five theses on new architecture emerged: buildings stand on open columns, have a roof terrace or garden, a free and variable floor plan, and longitudinal windows with cantilevered or suspended façades. Over the years, all these theses were supplemented by a fundamental thesis that argues that one cannot separate man from the landscape; that buildings must only be constructed with regard to the sun, space, and greenery. Thus, a new aesthetic of urbanism and architecture was born, variably developed, supplemented, artistically processed, and absolutely convincingly evidenced and proven through Le Corbusier's works.
This is the canon of modern urbanism, universally recognized and only opposed by those who benefit most from Le Corbusier's ideas. The more they benefit, the more vehemently they become enemies.
What the founding generation of modern architecture struggled with since the turn of the century, Le Corbusier realized instantly and convincingly, in direct continuity with their work. His theses became a part of global heritage; they are sometimes cleverly, sometimes naively reinterpreted, but they still hold true and will never be able to be excluded or replaced in the development of modern world architecture.
Today, the Savoy House in Poissy (1928-29) remains an acknowledged world milestone in architectural development, along with the villa in Garches constructed the previous year. Here, the issues of aesthetics and living comfort merged in a new sense. The pilotage introduced a calming cadence, the façade did not carry a roof and did not rest on the ground. The building arose from a simple cube, richly molded on the inside, with the interior and exterior merged into a single sculptural body of immense effect, poetry, and spatial imagination.
Le Corbusier's urbanism stemmed from a rationalist vision of a city for three million inhabitants. A system of high-rise buildings in clear rhythm and a hierarchically structured urban fabric.
To this day, the gigantic work of reconstructing Algiers (1930-1942) remains undervalued. Complex climatic and terrain conditions, local traditions of life, industry, transportation, commerce, and completely inadequate housing led to seven variants of immense invention and plastic composition. Concurrently, architectural problems were addressed alongside urbanistic questions. After thirteen years, the local city council definitively rejected the proposal. Le Corbusier recounted: “Did you know that gentleman who came out of my office?” asked the committee chairman. — “Yes, he was the mayor,” replied Le Corbusier. — “He demanded your arrest.” —
Many of his outstanding designs were realized, even more archived, while being reproduced in his comprehensive seven-volume work. All of them developed and deepened his fundamental theses. He supplemented these with the modulor, a graphic alphabet derived from human scale, which can be used to control architectural imagination. Here, he approached the dreams of Vitruvius or Leonardo da Vinci.
A great dream of Le Corbusier was collective housing, in which he saw the foundations of a "radiant city." He built them in Marseille, Nantes, and Berlin; others were prepared. Cities in miniature always for 1,500 inhabitants, with all services. “There is no chasm between the Parthenon and Marseille” (Michel Ragon, January 1966). “It's a rabbit hutch” (a political official at the house's opening). Since then, these houses have been built around the world, albeit by other architects.
Painting was a constant part of Le Corbusier's work. Whether it was drawings, paintings, or murals. When asked how he could limit himself to painting while dealing with the designs of entire cities, he replied: “It is because I have always been strongly attracted to creative phenomena, whatever they may be, especially when they are related to humanity and its environment. I found in painting a means to develop this interest. It is a medium that can inspire, but it is also dangerous." He got into sculpture through his friend Nivola and sculptor Savin. In the Marseille house, plastic reliefs were directly cast from negative formwork along with the new constructions. It is evidently clear that there is no contradiction between older cubic architecture and the sculptural expression of the last decade.
Then came the chapel in Ronchamp (1950-1955). A votive building in the Vosges. "A complete revelation," said F.M. Černý to me recently, who complexly traveled to this site during last summer's holidays. I think every architect would gladly take on such a task to test remote problems. According to Le Corbusier, he was intrigued by the "subtle phenomenon of acoustics" and "the acoustics of the landscape." The box-like reinforced concrete structures provided every opportunity for sculptural architecture. The sharp light intensity of the mountain air created a complete symphony of light, twilight, and shadow inside, further colored by Le Corbusier's paintings on glass, irregularly placed in irregular windows with deep reveals. In 1961, the construction of the La Tourette convent in Évreux-sur-l'Arbersle (Rhône) was completed. It is considered a pinnacle of architecture from this period of Le Corbusier's work in Europe. Rough concrete — rhythm of the façade — imagination of spaces — all this again forms classical architecture.
In the last fifteen or twenty years, Le Corbusier focused much more on his own work, searching, deepening, poeticizing, and dreaming; he abandoned the old esprit, copied or caricatured by the whole world, and sought a new expression that is and will be unreplicable.
(He always had a panicky fear of kinks.) He arrived at an architecture that remains solitary, unique, and achieves the highest artistic creations. Sculpture for all times.
This sphere also includes the construction of the city of Chandigarh under the Himalayas. The urban composition of the city resembles a human body: head — administrative center, city greenery — lungs and heart, residential districts and industrial areas — torso and limbs. Its main feature: generosity and clarity. Costs are very low compared to those of European cities. The material is mainly hand-made brick, with only public buildings made of concrete. Overall rather primitive building technique. Largely human labor. Le Corbusier apparently succumbed to Indian tradition and its humanity. Reconciliation? Nevertheless, this construction influenced the architectural development of India, where modern architecture had not yet actually existed. The communication system is divided into seven categories according to their purpose. The administrative center, previously composed in many variations, is based on a symmetrical system, which has numerous plastic transformations. The architecture is composed of a series of principles, such as a protective and ventilated roof, sun-shading walls extending the full height of buildings, which vary from building to building; from dramatic compositions, there is a transition to cohesive surfaces; elsewhere, buildings are broken, and systems of ramps replacing stairs hang in open halls. Absolute freedom of architecture. Everything is based on the principle of contrast. Water bodies create a single architectural unit with buildings, reflecting them, elevating and shortening optical lengths. It is evident that this construction was created in India and under different geographical, landscape, social, and technical conditions. It is architecture full of dramatic tension, new architectural aesthetics, plasticity, and imagination, simply once again unreplicable.
Le Corbusier, “the greatest architect of the contemporary world” (André Malreux), no longer instills fear in anyone. He achieved the highest splendor of his fame despite all the insults from his enemies. Twenty soldiers of the French army carried his coffin under the glare of spotlights with dust from the Parthenon and water from the Ganges from the Louvre.