Le Corbusier and Inspiration
For my Final Project I wanted to incorporate many different aspects of the life and work of Le Corbusier, the subject of my research paper this semester. With so many interesting and diffuse works, it was hard to hone down to a manageable idea for what I wanted to do and how I wanted to represent him. I had brief thoughts on recreating his Plan Voisin out of cardboard, but I felt that this was not creative enough and didn't really capture the totality of Le Corbusier.
However, I continued pursuing the idea of creating a model, and began to explore how I could do that and still relate multiple of his works in one piece. If I was to make a model, I decided that it would be of a building similar to those which Le Corbusier actually built. So I looked at the numerous examples in his body of work to get inspiration for my model, and to see what techniques he used.
Villa Savoy
Dom-I-No House
Villa Cook
Unité d'Habitation de Marseille
Le Corbusier's buildings are so distinct because he stuck to one specific style in the latter half of his career. Concrete was nearly always used, and open spaces were key on ground level. In fact, he codified his architectural language in his famous 5 points for architecture:
1. Replacement of supporting walls by a grid of reinforced concrete columns that bears the structural load
2. Free designing of each floor - unrestrained use in the interior space by the exclusion of walls
3. Set the Facade Free - separate the exterior of the building from its structural function
4. The Horizontal Window - lights rooms evenly
5. The Roof Garden - provides a space for leisure and protects the concrete from erosion
I wanted to create something that embodied all of these aspects and was imbued with the same modernist aesthetic as the works shown above. As concrete was out of the question, I decided to use cardboard and glue instead. I still felt that the project was missing something however, so I looked back on some of Le Corbusier's work prior to architecture, when he was still searching for fame as a cubist painter.
I looked through his paintings to try and get some inspiration, and I stumbled upon a Still Life from 1921. Besides being similar to the one I discussed in my research paper, I was also struck by how simple some of the geometric shapes were in the piece. Then it hit me. I could create a three dimensional model of a house in the style of Le Corbusier, but shape it in such a way that it replicates this painting when viewed from above! Each shape and texture could be molded into a different floor or architectural piece in the final product, and still follow all of his Rules for Architecture. The Final Project began to take shape.
The Project - Construction
To start I had to visualize how this project would actually look and the process for how it would be constructed. I ordered high quality cardboard off of amazon, and prepped the rest of the materials that I already had. To get the right look for the birds-eye-view of the building I had to separate out structural elements from the painting. I did this by finding the four largest geometric pieces within the work and moved them apart from each other, to get a feel for how they would fit together in a 3D environment. I them measured each piece within illustrator and converted the pixel measurements to cm, the scale with which I was working the cardboard.
As pillars were essential to the overall structure of the piece, my first step was to measure out the right size for them in relation to the rest of the sculpture. A lot of calculations were done to make sure they were at the right scale, and some tests of their compression strength were done to ensure their integrity. Once this was done I measured out ~100 of them and began to carefully cut and construct them.
The main flat structural constructs were then cut out from the cardboard and shaped to their overall geometry from the century-old painting. Two of each were cut out, to ensure the highest quality cut and the retainment of shape. These also became stencils for the paper cutouts that would be needed later.
Assembly began with the placement of the main structural components on top of thin rectangular bases. This takes inspiration from the Villa Savoy, which has a central concrete structural support in addition to the multiple pillars at the base. This also made it easier for construction, as the pillars now became less essential to the integrity of the model. They still actually supported the outer edges of the floors, but the central base could hold the rest before the pillars could be installed.
After careful placement of the pieces according to the master diagram, the paper cutouts were lightly glued to their cardboard counterparts. I decided to use high-quality painting paper because I did a test of my paint with the cardboard prior to construction. The water content of the paint actually warped and bended the cardboard, which I believed would be catastrophic for both the integrity and aesthetic of the final work. This effect did not occur on the paper, so this became the canvas for my paint.
The painting for the project was relatively simple. Light layers of the paint were carefully applied to the paper, with an effort made to coat as little cardboard as possible. Much to my chagrin there was some warping of the paper, but not enough to threaten the structural integrity of the model. This typically occurred at the edges of the paper-cardboard connections and were quickly mollified with the application of a small amount of hot glue.
The final model really came out in the painting stage of development. All of the concepts that I tried to incorporate from Le Corbusier were apparent in the piece, and the paint was tonally accurate to the 1921 Still Life. The painting is immediately recognizable from the birds-eye view to my delight. I have some criticisms of my final piece, but it achieved the overall effect that I was going for. Sure, there are some decorative elements from the painting missing from the model, and maybe some measurements were not done exactly correctly. But I am still proud of the final product and believe it takes to heart the works and spirit of Le Corbusier.
