15
1. rtJllsie1; Hodel of the Palais des CUllgres-Stral>/ 01wg, Fm?tcp, 19GJ-v.,. 3. Textual Heresies Le Corbusier. Palais des Congres-Strasbourg, 1962-64 One of Le COl busie r s ea rlie st dra wings of the Parthenon is a key to the evolution of his architecture during a period spanning the two world wars and leading to a critical inflection point with his project for the Palais des Congres in Strasbourg. The drawing, probably done at the tune of his Voyage d'Orient, shows the Parthenon in the left foreground, its col- umns and base providing a Cartesian fratnework for the drawing. But on the right, in what seems to be an impossible view given the Parthenon s distance from the sea, is the harbor of Athens with its shoreli ne and sur rounding mountai ns. This drawing is an early manifestat ion of what was to become an evolving obsession: the dialectical and tensioned interplay of the figur e with th e Cartesian grid, whic h appears n his earliest Purist paintings and continues throughout his career, evol ving from a two-dimen sional figures to three-dimensional figures. While the concept of gridded Cartesian spac e i s readily understandable in the work ofLe Corbusi er, the concept ofthe fi gur al as differentfrom any free-f orm shape emerges in the context of post-structuralism. This idea is based on Gilles Deleuze s discussion of the paintings of Francis Bacon. In his 98 book, Francis Bacon: Logique de la Sensation, Deleuze distin guishes figuration from the figural . Figuration refers to a form related to the object that is meant to represent. Rather than defining a form, the figural is that which is produced as a register of forces. Here, o'1'ces is the operative term. In the case of Bacon s portraits, t he figure is distorted b y internal pressures while the paint of the canvas-scrubbed smeared addresses th ese forces in the very materiality of the painting. The figural no longer expresses an iconic form or figure, but rather dOCUlnents the encounter of matter-paint canvas, painter, and sitter-and forces-both

Le Corbusier - Strasbourg

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1.

rtJllsie1; Hodel of

the Palais des

CUllgres-Stral>/ 01wg,

Fm?tcp,

19GJ-v.,.

3.

Textual Heresies

Le Corbusier. Palais des Congres-Strasbourg, 1962-64

One of Le COl busier s earliest drawings of the Parthenon is a key to the

evolution of his architecture during a period spanning

the

two world wars

and leading to a critical inflection point with his project for the Palais

des Congres in Strasbourg. The drawing, probably done at

the tune of

his Voyage d'Orient, shows the Parthenon in the left foreground, its col-

umns and base providing a Cartesian fratnework for the drawing. But on

the right, in what seems to be an impossible view given the Parthenon s

distance from the sea, is the harbor of Athens with its shoreline and sur

rounding mountains. This drawing is an early manifestation of what was

to become an evolving obsession: the dialectical and tensioned interplay

of the figure with the Cartesian grid, which appears n his earliest Purist

paintings and continues throughout his career, evolving from a two-dimen

sional figures to three-dimensional figures.

While the concept ofgridded Cartesian space is readily understandable

in the work ofLe Corbusier, the concept ofthe figural as differentfrom any

free-form shape emerges in the context of post-structuralism. This idea is

based

on

Gilles Deleuze s discussion of the paintings of Francis Bacon. In

his

98

book, Francis Bacon: Logique

de

la Sensation, Deleuze distin

guishes figuration from the figural. F iguration refers to a form related to

the object

that it

is meant to represent. Rather than defining a form, the

figural is

that

which is produced as a register of forces. Here, o'1'ces is the

operative term. In the case of Bacon s portraits, t he figure is distorted by

internal pressures while the paint of the canvas-scrubbed smeared

addresses these forces in

the

very materiality of

the

painting. The figural

no longer expresses an iconic form or figure, but rather dOCUlnents the

encounter of matter-paint canvas, painter, and sitter-and

forces-both

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/4

physical and psychological. As a regi>itcr

of

such

f o r c e ~ the human

f i g u r ~  

no longer presents

t ~ e l f

as a discrete, clear

I m m,

but

rather r e ~ i d e s  

in

what can be called an wldecidable relationship

with the canvas; the outline of the whole figur

is blurred to become an assembly of partial

fig-

ures that neither cohere, nor strive to create

a clistinct and understandable form. This shift

from whole to what are being called partial fig-

ures,which themselves

m e

a physicall'esidue

of

forces acting on whole figures, cOlTesponds to a

shift in Le Corbusier's architecture from his pre

war interest in a dialectical interplay between

figure and gJ.id to, late

in

his career, an inter

nally generated critique that severs the prior

dialectic. Instead, a s e r i e ~   of figural conditions

are produced which have the quality of partial

figures, In his postwar work, I.e Corbusier also

challenges the precepts of his Fi\e Points,

in

which free plan, pilotis,fenelre en longueur, free

a l a i ~    

ollgr(,: '

facade, and rooftop terrace were characLeJ'istic

of his prewar work.

It

could

be argued thai Le Corbusier's earl

architecture r p r ~ t ~   an attempt to transcend

the limits of painting, which he theorized in his book

Afte)· f ubism, Wl iUen with Amedee Ozcnfant. If

cubist painting was marked by a

ten1 ion

between

the frontal pictw'e plane and spatial depth, Le

orbusier's architecture strained to both

inCOl})O

rate and overcome the tenets of frontal and flat

tened cubist space in a three-dimensional matrix.

This integration of a three-dlrnensional, figured

quaHty began early in his career with his

Pmist

period paintings and his

1914

Dom-ino

diagTam.

n the Dom-ino diagram, Le COl'busier introduce

the Cmtesian gl'id as a structural system

that

could

produce an infinite horizontal extension 0

space. This diagJ. am conceptualizes veli-ical cir-

culation as a legible figure or what can be consid

ered a figured element, which is pulled out of the

stacked horizontal slabs. The Dom-ino diagram

31ticulates Le Corbusier's concern with integrat

ing a tlu'ee-dimensional figured element into a nec

essarily reticulated condition of architecture.

Le Cor busier's Dom-ino diagl-am prefigured

the Five Points articulated in his 1923 book

Vel s

tine Al clzitectu1 e. In the Dom-ino diagram, the

columns are set back from the facade to create a

free plan and a free facade: the fiat roof becomes

the pl ivate space, and the floor slab 1::; lifted off

the ground to produce a horizontal continuum

f

Rpace. The primitive foundation blocks in the

place of pilatis initiate a critique of architectme's

relationship to the ground: figure in architecture

had always been tied to the ground, so much

R

that it

was defined as a figurc/gl'ound relation

ship. The idea of the pilotis originally

displace::;

architecture, lifting the building off the gJ. olmd

literally and conceptually to initiate a more com-

plex dynamic of figure and ground,

I.e Corbusier's early canonical buildings

Villa SavoyeU Poissy and Villa Stein at Garches-

Palais des

congl'cs

3. p(llais des

Congres-Stmsbonm, model,

1962.

develop the diagl'am offered in his Five Points,

and introduce a more strongly figw'ed condi

tion in the circulation, The early sketches for

Villa Savoye document the mo\'ement in

Rec-

tion generated by the ramp, which takes up the

movement of the car

as

it enters underneath the

building and then engages the subject in a spiral

ing up through the building to the roof garden.

The ramp as a figured element creates and reg

isters a kind of vortex of centrifugal energy. This

entrifugal motion in the Cartesian space of the

building generates an energy from t he center to

the periphery, Similarly exemplifying the Five

Points, the Villa Stein emphasizes both figured

elements and the gJ.idded envelope of the villa's

stlucture , which retains a cubist or layered flat

ness resembling a vertically stacked deck

of

cards.

The facade

at

Garches presents the collapse of

the space of the plan into the vCltical plane of the

facade, which becomes an index of the collapse of

If

real space into a single moment in space and time.

Tins collapse of pcrspective also becomes a cri

ique of monocular perspecti\'al vision. The mol

strongly figured elements ofGarches are the CUl'\'

ing free-form walls and the promenade al chitec-

tumle which is inserted into the l'eal' facade as '

staircase, Figw'ed form also appears

in

two stair

cases and

in

the cutout of the balcony and eating

area, yet these figures remain more lU1ear Ulan

volumetric. n thes e early works, the figured cle

ments are implicated

in

a dialectical relationship

to the absb'act grid of Lhe buildings' plan, facades,

and sectioll.

The relation ofgl'id to figure in Le(' orhusier's

postwar work changes dramatically from the

gJ.·id-dominant systems of his prewar building5.

The figured element becomes increasingly \'olu

metlic, indicating a shift in his attitudes toward

both abstraction and the ligure. In Runchamp,

the Philips Pavilion, and Chan<1igal h, fully Lhl ee-

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i i i

Palais des Congrb Patak

de;;

Congres

/

I<

4 Vill(l SIII ()ye,

P O ; R ~ l ,  

1928

dimensional i g 1 . U · e ~   stand out against the grid, yet

the grid remains legible. 1 '01' example, while the

figure seems to dominaLe in the sculptured forms

of Ronchamp. the grid is present in the floor pat

terning, which is part of Le COl'busier's modular

system of proportiomi, and a virtual 01'

impliecl

gl'id is legible from the building's f outh elevation.

he

square punctures in the facade reg ister a ten

sion between an implied veltical grid and the slop

ing wall, as if the holes were tethers maintaining

the e:\.'terior wall's curve. The te nsion in

the

curve

comes from the implication that if these connec

tions were cut, the wall \ ould snap back into a

flat vertical plane. The notation of these openings

in

the

thickened figured wall plane indicates

that

the curved wall is not a gratuitous curve,

but

rather refiects an internal t.ension between th

figured surface and a virtual. griddecl plane.

f the prewar work

d e m o n s t r a t e ~  

the linear

igw'ebecomingincreasingly three-dimensional, it

could be argu ed tha t Le COl'busier's postwa r work

begins with the fully articulated ftgw'e, which is

increasingly deformed into a series of partial f i ~ -

ores. In his Parli ament Buildingat Chandigal'h. a

giant cylindrical element breaks through the roof,

becoming a dominant featw'e of

the

roofscape as

a fully three-dimensional figure. Yet this figure

is hidden behind the orthogonal blocks that form

5. Not, e Dame d U

Haul

Ronchamp, 1950.

each of Ule parliament's facades. Chandigarh also

marks an important departure from the planar,

free facade of Le COl'busier's Five Points :

Chandigarh's deep tn-i.se-soleill eplace thefenetre

en longueunvith

a honeycombed mass; this motif

is repeated

in

Harvard's Carpenter Center, La

Tom'ette, and Strasbourg.

La Tourette can also be related to Strasbourg

by means of a rotational energy established by

the pinwheeling organization of its lower floors.

geometrical figme is established

in

the

form

f a blunted, three-sided pinwheel. Another kind

of rotation animates the facade of La Tom'ette,

according to Colin Rowe's analysis,

yet

this rota

tional energy retains the tension provided in the

fi'ontal plane. In the Carpenter Center this rOl a-

tional energy becomes increasingly explicit: the

paired lobed forms of its studios and exhibition

spaces seem to revolve around a central core,

which anchors its large S-shaped main ramp.

Despite the contradktory internal movements

at the Carpenter Center its lobes spin counter

clockwise and the internal ramp rotates l o c k w i ~ e  

up to the third floor it could be argued that each

component is mticulated as a separate figure: the

S-shaped main ramp, the lobed studio and exhi

bition spaces, and central square fo}'m are COlD

pressed together, yet they remain identifiable as

6. s ~ e m b l y  

Hall, Clw.lIdignrh.195.j-6b

complete and sepa rate parts. Similarly, a number

of the prec epts of Le COl'busier's Five Points

remain apparent with elongated pilotis, the free

plan, rooftop terraces, and briBe sole il occupying

the horizontal openings formerly allocated to the

fenetre en longu.euf.

The centrality of the ''Five Points in Le

COl'busier's prewar work suggests that the points

served as a foundational diagram from which

each building draws, but inflects differently.

This indicates the capacity of the ''Five Points

to serve as a text for his early buildings, in the

sense that a diagram is an architectural form of

a text. f the idea of a text is established

in

Le

Corbusier's ''Five Points, it is his inversion of

the Five Points and his

turn

away from the

legible figure toward partial figures

that

sug

gest that Strasbourg can be read as heretical to

his prior architectlU'al t.exts. There are a mm1ber

of didactic deviations from the Five Points in

Le Corbusier's postwar work; the

bl iBe-soleil

replacing the free facade is only one example. Yet

Le

COl'

busier's a l a i ~     Congr€s-StrasbouTg

becomes the summation of an evolution in a

textual language,

on

the one hand in its didactic

refuta tion of each of the Five Points, and

on

the other in its movement away from a dialecti

cal relationship between figure and grid. f the

7. PaLais des Cougl es-Strltsbolll g,

l>1te

plan,

196w.

text

of the figure/grid relationship is scripted in

Le Uorbusier's prewar work, the postwar work

deYelops the idea of the figure, from a whole and

discrete element into one whose vel-Y wholeness

is questioned.

'The

figure becomes deformed into

a series of partial figw·es. As an heretical te};.i;,

the Palalli des Congl'es engages both a dialecti

cal system refutin g the Five Points and a non

dialectical system pursuing the evolution of the

figure from a discrete tltree-dimensional entity to

a dispersed series of figural elements whose con

tours become increasingly undecidable.

With the Palais cles Cong1'€s, a project beg-un

in 1962, only a year after the Carpenter Center,

many of

the

relationships established

in

La

Tourette and the Carpenter Ce nter are inverted.

First, the relationship of building to gl'ound is

profoundly different at Strasbow'g. No longer d

pilotis preser ve the horizontal flow of the ground

below the building. Instead, the gl'o1.lJ1d plane

becomes a honeycombed plinthlike ba.. e. whose

very solidity

is fmther

questioned as the gr01 111

is cut away in such a mam1er to suggest that

the base is floating. The sloping ground around

Strasbourg's base creates a double reading of

both plinth and pilotis. Similarly, the precepts of

free plan and free facade are inverted.

Just

as the

brise-soleil counters the planar facade with depth,

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--

71

Palms

des

Congl'e" ~ a a b  

des

Congrb

T l

H Jlct/ais  

Crmf/res-SII'Us/)o//I'O,

spr-l;rllLllO,.t/t-scmth. 196f2.

shadow, and thidmesi', so lOU doe '\

the

free plan

become u h ~ u m e d   by a geometrical figure resem

bling the pinwheel ol'ganization of La Tourette in

Strasbo mg's ground level. Finally, the horizontal

surface ofthe roofgarden becomesa figural plane,

which is tipped, l

i ~ t e d

and torqued.

f circulat ion had previously registered

both a ccntlifl.lgal

fOl'ce

and a distinct figural ele

ment in Le Corbusier's ecu'lier work, the ramp at

Strasbou rg registers both centripetal and centrif

ugal force" ~ i m t l l a n e o u s l y as well as a critique of

the legible whole

figurE',

Tbe figure of the ramp

is the most significant index for the development

of the 8tl'asbom'g scheme. A s tudy of the carliest

St.l'asboul'g schemes of 1962 reveals

that

the l'amp

was i n i t i a l l ~ envisioned as a distinct figure form

ing an unbroken loop through the building. The

first, 19G2 scheme is an articulated gquare in plan

with a giant straight ramp entering the square

form from the ~ o u t h e a s t   corner and a pair of'

lobed ramps protrud ing

frOll

the 11001:h and souU,

sides of the l'quare in an echo of the Carpentel'

'enter. The giant ramp leadf: up to the :;econtl

floor,

where

it

divides to form paired ramps

on

the

north side, which reach up around the third floor

and lead onto the rooI. The ramp forms a complete

entity around the building, and in the l'iecond-floor

plan is highlighled as an independent figure, a'i is

the pinwheel figure of the floor below. In a sub

sequent plan, the giant ramp is rotated ninety

degrees and positioned to align axially with the

giant lobed ramp

on

the north sidc, replacing the

small southern lobed ramp of the initial plan. n

this second scheme, reproduced in Le COl'busier's

Oem.tres Compfete the bi-lobed organization of

the Carpenter Center has been edited, signal

ing

Le

Corbusier's departm'e from whole figures

and movement toward the paltial figure. This

becomes appar ent in the final scheme of

the

Palais

des Cong1'es, where the yelJ' figure of the ramp

seems to shift its weight to the west in counter

point to the dominant axiality of the giant ramp

extending south. More significantly,

the

ramp's

figm'E'

i=; no longer whole; the figure of the ramp

seems to s plit in several places,

no

longer looping

through the building

but

rather spiraling around

the stmctw'e. The ramp can be conceived of as a

series of partial figures which no longer cohere

like the independent ramp of the eaJ'ly scheme.

Thus, Strasbourg's final scheme is animated by a

'ondition of complex partial figures.

The figw'e assumes a different role

at

Stl'asbourg in tJ1ut it is no longer defmed in rela

bon"hip to the

grid. Strasboul'g is signif1callt in

Le COl'busier's oeuvre as a depmture from

the

grid/figure dialectic. This depalture appears in

two different conditions: as a partial figure and

as an undecidable condition of the ramo: is it

-- =-

:;.

-..----=--=..=--;.::.

/

. . Palrt;5;

del- Congl es-Stralibourg,

uieu ealil eleuutiol/. 1962.

I

centripetal

or

c e n t r i f u ~ a l ?   While

the

figural is

often seen as a system of movement-and this is

no less

truE'

in

Strasbourg-the

project invokes

both centrifugal and centripetal forces, which

first move outward through the Cartesian enclo

sure of the building and then tm'n back, spil'aling

inward. The sub ject becomes involved not only in

the figural ramp but also in the breaching of the

container, the pJ'ism pOx of Cartesian space that

was articulated in the "Foul' Compositions" by Le

orbusier. Unlike the rotation on the entry facade

of La Tourette, which, in Rowe's analysis, retains

the tension of a frontal plane, the rotation devel

ped

at

Strasbourg is

no

longer dialectical with

respect to any frontal plane, but rather register '

simultaneously as centl'ipetal and centrifugal

in

plan and section.

In

t h i ~  

respect, Le COl'busier's project for

Strasbourg marks an important movement near

the end of his postw ar career. Stl'asbourg is also

an anomaly in t.his book, for it is not a hinge build

ing within the particular career of an architect

but rather

a hinge between Le COl'busier and

the

architects that draw on his legacy. In exploring

the

figural

at

Strasbourg, Le Corbusier blurs the

large figures of the ramp by dispersing

them

as

paltial figures

at

the upper :floors. Similarly, the

didactic natlU'e of the "Five Points" and the didac

tic development of the figme against a CaItesian

g1id become increasingly blu rred as Le COl'busiel'

explores the potential of these pmtial figtu'es at

Strasbotll'g.

This building offers a missing link bet.ween

the formal str ategies of the high modernist "Five

Points" and those appa rent in Rem Koolhaas's

n'es Grande Bibl:iotheque and J ussieu Libraries.

StrasbolU'g is

the

forerunner of both Koolhaas

projects, in that the object is no longer merely

contained in

t.he

volumetric endosure but rather

a sel;es of forces push the object out through the

exterior cnclosm'e of the object, while

the

move

ment of the subject continues to circumscribe

the volume. The discontinuity between succes

sivc hOl;zontal plan levels at Strasbourg will

ultimately appeal' in Koolhaas's

Delirious New

Yo,.k and his French library projects. Lastly,

Strasbourg shifts the idea of understanding from

seeing to

the

expelience of movement.

The Palais des Congres-Strasbourg estab

lishes an internal clitique of what could be

onsidered

the prewar "texts"

embodied in

Le

COl'busier's "Five Points," Finally, in the evol\T-

ing changes in the acts of close reading, legacies

of the formal and the conceptual remain. ·What

becomes visible ill

the

Strasbourg project as a

pivotal development of Le Corbusier's thought is

the new figural condition of

the

subject's experi

ence of the object. This Vlrilliead for example to a

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  1

r

I

. I d J ~ : ~ ~ < / : = : - > - I ~  

/ ~ ; : r  

I

<, .

I

l__

,

tT

lJ. Palo is

de::;

COl/rrres. 7)[all

leoe

J

11. P a l a i . ~   d e . ~   C01lgl eS, pl ll level. .

J

=:;:;

;::::;•

.:=:; := :

s;s=

= =;=

=;=

.

es C O l 1 g l e . ~ ,   pl n

l( 1 el

4.

. -

/' -

 1 -

/ - ' '- ,

;

/ -  

==

~ ~  

 

=====

 

, '

t

n

12. Pal

10.

Pa.lais

des

C ongres, plan level 2.

Palai rle>

C o n g l e ~

a ] a i ~  

def'

Conl "les

 

different necessity of close reading

in

Koolhaas's

Jussieu Libraries, Strasbourg, unlike

La

Tourette

and Chandig-arh, pl'Oposed

an

entire other series

of pl'oblematics not addressed

in

either phase of

Le COl'busier's previous work. In these inver

sions of many Corbusian tropes begin an internal

critique that marks this particular work as differ

ent

w

hen compared to the prior buildings of Le

Gorbw:;ier's architectlll'e.

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'

16. The brise-soleil anpeaJ S

 

,tJOid8 cut fro

ll (I

solid.

." Pala1:s

des

Congres, first-floor levels. The

fenetre

en

longueur oj'Le

CO/'busier's "Fl:ue

P ) i n t . ~ becomes

a

lwlleycombed

briRe-soleil. a

,, gular

s y . ~ t e J l 1 ,  

oj'

openings thal1l'raps aronnd

three

I<ides o the Palais

des

Congl·as.

Palai ' de:; Congre:;

/ f

I .

d.

 -

, ~  

P a l a i ~   ~ , . ;  

COllgJ'eS

/

/ /1 , ''''

/ /   ~

/

~ , ~   /)/b

  ',(:/

< l ~

 

\::.

\

'a/ais deN COt/gres can

be

read as a doable

sOl/dwic /i

containing two piloti cwe/s stacked one on top o the

otllel:

The gvol/lld

wn

no lOJ/ger

be identified

as S1lCh,

,,"or Ille luwer pi/ntis

l e v e l l l a . ~  

been J1t.<:hed

dO({'rl

$0 that

f/ie second lel'eZ ( ~ f p i t o t i f ;   is at gromullcoel.

a.

r.

 

.

/

//

/

/ / / /

/

/

/

' - ' V /

,

>/

J J ~ /

.

/

/ '

\

/1 '

/ /

/

//

'\

/ / 1-/

 

; /

 

.

- - - - - -   - -

/

// /

/ ,

//

//

',.

// // ',

////

'

/ / / /

..: '

'

,

 

.... '

' Ii.

f .

,

.§k

'

-

14

((l j). Palais des COrLr rcs, groltlld- (lI/(I,find-jloor'

I p/s.

The fo'stfloGI' level (a)

is d e p l e . ~ s e d  

into the

,ground

(b), doubled

(c),

voilied (d), and

ro IIIfJrd 1/[i

to

tlie new uraund level

(e),

which br'comes the

bwse

for

the pilotis (0, The 1 e/)el8(11

o

Le C o , . b ? ( , ~ i e l - : ~   Fllie

? i l l t . ~ at Strasbourg begins with tile

piloti,,:,

7'Ii

Page 7: Le Corbusier - Strasbourg

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-)

-

il

'

O

The double-height

u o i d , ~  

in IIleloll

rill

Qlldfifthfloors

lSe,·1.Ie

ClS

a rotatiol/al a.l isfo/ the

pi1PLlleel,

w h o . ~ e   ((miS

w'e

tile hlocksfl ll 111ed by

the m in lwditol iu1II

spaces.

19.

Palai:;

d p . ~   r'v1/gres.j(mnll fiool:

The

fO/lrl1l

floor is

I ) o . ~ e l y  

organized

l l to blockl>, ( IWlti l lg

two 1l,.,I/S of

l

pin

111eel

which mtctte

a,'omlcl

a

eel/tel'

void.

Palais des Congres

'\ ',

.

Palais des O l I g r ~ S  

18.

11

the :;econd

floor, this pinwheeling

motion

is

n>,peated

on

Qnothel ,

snwllel scale: a clusler

I ( moms

rotates

witl/hl

each quadrant, creating a , ~ e c o l l d a , . y  

spillllin{J inlerllal to coth of tile. 1 1 J d l m t , ~ .  

-

' - ~ , I N . ~ /  

,

1 /

/

,

17.

P a l a i ~  

des Co 1I{JI J.s, second

jioo/: Till

plllll

of tile

, ~ e c I ) l / d . f f o ) r  

can be divided

into/OIlr

Quadrants,

wltieh.

because of the

r mp

that goes up to the piano

nobile

and

the mmp that

e n t e r . ~  

into tills lowrr lel'el, ol'e

organized

ax

p i l l w l l e e l i l l g f o . , . m . ~ .  

lH

~  

Page 8: Le Corbusier - Strasbourg

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'v

 

alai.8 des CongJ es

j

I

/

/

l. Pnlais des Crmgr f1S,

, ~ e r ; o l l d   flool:

The a nulysi8 of

U,

These absences describe spa.ces that

pUlIctuJ1te

this

the second}ioor colnmn

,grid

begil/s to ','aeal tliat at

ullerall

friel,

Por I<xample,

the void

ill

the

s e C f m d ~ f l o o r  

Strasbourg, the

Corbusian

free

plan

11$

. ~ I l I ~ i e c l e d t o  

('ut'/alm

grid serves

(

.

 

iu;

rotational

Mis.

piay o.f'strategic om ~ s i o n s .   indicated by the h

if/hi

iyhled

red col limns,

Palais des

ConglP-i

.s

/

.

 

-' \

/

/

'\. \

/

//,

\

,

<

/

23. l'otais des

Congl iJs,

third floor,

On

the third floor

nly ol1e colu

m l

i p,lin?'inated, rpplaced by a

1itair

CMe.

The

missing

cohwl.II

fm'rm;

It

strl/cture q(arrested

rotatioll. The disposition

of

f i g u r e . ~   011 t i le third floor

dltmonst.rates the 711ay between. what appears to be

whole nowres Gild 'M./'tialjigl

24. 01/ the thinl /.OOI; a c o n t i n u O l . i ~   s ~ r i e s   of col limns

fram(3j; the building m three . s i d e ~ ,   !Iet Oil tlli! interior

of

the building,

the

columns

are

81:Zfri

cliffe/'e;ltly.

TIle

larger

columns divide

the sql1are

pluu

illto

a

thlw:-bay

~ c h e m a   with

an

ABE arrangement f t h e ~ e   il11le, I O W . ~ .  

Page 9: Le Corbusier - Strasbourg

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AA

Paluis ric >

Cong1 e:;

Palais

des

( ongre s

I

J5.

Palais des

COllyres,foltTlltjlo01:

A second, subtler

I/olotiou of

the rolwnns

occurs

08 they arc

Mpa1'ated

iI/to dommant rows. The

perimeter co/millis are

se

back.ti·om the sides butjfush.lo whot would be tl1I rea,.

of the buildl1lg. Entire bays of

co[nTr/l/f;

are I emoved

(red).

2(i. 0 1 tile fourth .lloor. the ,'emoool of wlllmn bays

also slriates t le plan i7lto (/ serie:;

of

inear elements

t1wl,

as

they

break

daul1I

and are inieJT1.I pted, allow

the

vOI iolls grids to become figural

elements.

T h i , ~  

m i n t i n ~   a continuitll of o l u m n ~   OJ/

tlte

Oil/boor,

II/u:face

while lhe

inner

rows diuide

into

buy, u B

ba,lJ, and another

B bay.

27. Palais des Congres,.lijth.lloOl: The central branch

18

no longer clear.

gain

there an a I I c l · i e . ~  

 

]Jtl/"lial

of Ow mmp connect ; to thefift.h level. While thefigured

figures on the jijlh ]ioor which

lIape

w/'res/lfmdcmres

fonn n.ftlle

ramp

is

clearly

J i . ~ c e l i b l p  

ill.

the thirdfioo

with thejigumlform>;

011

the third and fourth flooi's.

alld roof

[( vel,

the shape of ire 1 (Unp 011 the fifth flom'

Page 10: Le Corbusier - Strasbourg

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 J1

/

-

\

\

31, The geometry of the , ooF<I rlwml>oid shape seemlS

pinned 111/

a shlgle

poiIlt echoing

the m

11111 1

'ill

wll c l a

. ~ i n g f e   7 m ~ ~ s i r l g  

collLmnfo/'ms the

'lI/C 't/ mft))·

~ / J I : / / I i n g  

olJement ll lhe

secolld.

third aJldfrml'th t l ) o l , ~ ,  

/

/

/

/

-,

P<llail   Cungres _ _ _

J

/ /

 

/

/

\

/

/

\

/

~  

,

"-

'

 

de;;

Congores

L9. The roof volume is warped

into

a 'rhombuid Ilhape

and

distorts

tile

horizontal

datt/11I

';:-

 /

/

(1

28. P n l ) . . i . ~   lies

Congres, oof evel.

The ~ J l i l a h l l g   fon'cs

traced in e Lch leL'(jl echo the 11I0VeliWI1t

ql'thc

Tn mp. The

warped

sll/face

of he

'roof

levtll'eflf3ct:; this

spil'alin.a

mm'ement.

Page 11: Le Corbusier - Strasbourg

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 tl

The gl'01tl1d iR ne-IM'

Ie-vel:

ii,

ill

C/il away liS a sll1:fac:e

01/ 1

, . i ~ e 8  

up

inlo the

bllildillg

uritlilhe ramp

m-p),

p.

n.

I

j.

-

F \ ~ .   -   I

.

m.

E

r

I

.=-.

( J

I -

The

Iwilding

  cut

intenmlly

rreatillg differellt sec

tiollal

c o l l r l i t i o r l , ~ .  

The

bllilding sectim/x

/'pveal

/Illlitipll)

/'( 11icnllJOirk (i-I),

k.

Palais des C onwes

O.

i.

_ alais des Congres

h.

d.

f

:Ollgres

( a ~ f ) .   The

/.'oided

plillth alld

the depressioll

 

tI/e gt Olu/d

at

lite

I)((8e

of

he

building is also

apporent

(e-//.)

I

- - - ~ - , = r -

_

- - - - ~ J -

c

e

g.

JJ (a-p).

Palais

des COl/gri s, x e c t i ( m ~  

and

elemtiul/S.

Tile

buiLding

. ~ e c l i ( m s  

and

facade .fin ther

I'el'eal

til

w:mbled or sandwlched ur.qanizatioll oftlte ( J l a i . ~  des

Page 12: Le Corbusier - Strasbourg

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l ,}

'.

(:f

/

.

"

"

/

-,

.ii. Palais des

Congl es.

The I Omp joins the ot OlI nd m l

oof hi a continWlnl

Palais des Congres

alais des ongrb

/

"

,/

 

9

JJ.

Pala;s d.es Congres, fourth

J 1 o J ~  

ramp an

second .floor. The ramp links the dijrel-i1l.g l lil ll'hee l

rg(l1/ izafiol/. 1 of each level.

Page 13: Le Corbusier - Strasbourg

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-

;

 

';

 

1

:

e

 

s

 

0

:

 

;

t

 

-

 

'

°

 

l

 c

.

0

 

.

cs

;

g

' ' 

.

.

 

V

 

'

 C

 

'

 

/

/

/

'

6

 

-

_

/

:

 

Page 14: Le Corbusier - Strasbourg

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5

 

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/

 

/

/

/

 

/

 

/

/

/

 

/

 

v

/