Le Corbusier: The Godfather Of Modern Architecture | Behind The Artist

Becoming a central figure in Parisian life in the 1920's when in his early 30's, Le Corbusier was a writer, essayist, editor, painter, lecturer, but more than anything else, an architect of the Modern Era. His influence on architecture and design is incalculable, and he was a a true idealist who wanted to change the world with his architectural masterpieces. This is q fascinating documentary series which takes us inside the world of the artist to understand his work, revealing the secrets of the creative process.

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[andybaldman]

This is the best art channel on YouTube.

[Divertedflight]

Those supposed hated areas of old Paris with tight streets and old buildings are now (those not knocked down by Le Corbusier's tribe anyway.) highly sought after neighbourhoods for their human scale, cosy organic lines of sight and interactive street life. All they needed was good plumbing and drainage which they now have.

[painter]

In 1986 I moved to Amsterdam because I was accepted at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy of Art. To get a living space the easiest and quickest way was in the subburbs of Amsterdam in that time, if one wanted enough living and wòrking space. So I moved to the Bijlmer, in the south under Amsterdam. The whole area was ( more or less ) inspired by the architecture of Le Corbusier. I've lived there for ten years and I can tell you it was TERRIBLE ! It was life threatening to walking there on your own at night ! The whole archiecture was immensely unpersonal, cold and alienated.
Nóbody dared to make use of the green ground floor spaces and walking routes. Only the criminals dared.
In 1996 I moved to Amsterdam West and it was SUCH a relief to actually have a kind of social control again. Small scaled houses where the neighboors knew when I returned home after a nights drinking.
So Le Corbussiers reality was merely one, based on a drawing table reality. Not my cup of thee.

[mcchuggernaut]

His mother saying "Yes, very good, but my roof is still leaking." is made to sound like a villainess in this documentary. But imagine being bankrupted by your famous son because of the first house he built, and whom you have indulged for your entire adult life, then later being built another house by him that isn't even basically sound. It seems like he may have wanted to impress his mother, but he kept disregarding her basic comfort and feelings in pursuit of his passions. Would any of you think it is OK to bankrupt your parents for your career aspirations and then "make up for it" years later after the damage had been done by putting them in an artistic experiment of a home for your own vanity which had water coming through the ceiling? It sounds like his parents indulged their eccentric son out of love and got no appreciation and shit on for it. She showed a remarkable amount of patience, if you ask me...

[bioliv]

"The cities will be part of the country; I shall live 30 miles from my office in one direction, under a pine tree; my secretary will live 30 miles away from it too, in the other direction, under another pine tree. We shall both have our own car. We shall use up tires, wear out road surfaces and gears, consume oil and gasoline. All of which will necessitate a great deal of work … enough for all." - Le Corbusier, 1935

[tigerphid]

The same thing happened to Albany, New York, USA. Much of the city's dingy urban core was demolished to create a minimalist airy plaza and tall modernist buildings for the New York state government.

[ReynaSingh]

I always looks forward to new videos from this channel. Thank you

[michaelepp]

"Looking at the Marseille building now, surrounded by a sea of buildings, it actually looks ridiculous when one considers the social purposes it claimed to fulfill". - Also Rossi

[williamwoody]

Fabulous documentary. Thank you so much.

[acacioalvarenga]

Greetings from Brazil, tks for the content

[feriyaanim]

A great start to get to know him. Thank you!

[jeremyhaines]

This is so very interesting and informative

[aaron]

Watch the first 2 minutes of the movie Dredd (2012). The future-dystopian city is a copy of 'Ville radieuse.' There's a reason why nearly all future-dystopian cities are rendered with Corb's inhumane, Brutalist vision/legacy.

[painter]

I wonder what his opinion would've been of the work of Oscar Niemeyer ( 1907 - 2012) ?

[keithrobinson]

The only good thing you can say about him is that he actually lived in his own design, unlike architects that have long 'admire' his work but in no way would ever want to live or work in one of his 'creations'

[mdude]

I wouldn’t say a leaky roof is a small thing. Mold will ruin your health.

[rjlchristie]

It's always nice to know who to blame.

[majorgunn]

it was a horrible idea then as it would be today... Ego's similar to what we must deal with today

[Divertedflight]

Regarding the Villa Savoye, it's a beautiful modernist building, but the first owner hated living there. It froze in the winter, always leaked badly in the rain, so much so, that it was claimed the ceilings were soaking and effectively rained inside various rooms, while water pooled deeply for weeks on the roof. Eventually it was abandoned in a mere decade to various non residential uses. It's been necessary to restore the building three times since.

[aggiesjc]

38:08 "Le Corbusier applied all his architectural know-how to it" in building his elderly mother a house to live out her years. 38:18 "It was very functional and agreeable." Then at 38:30 "...but Marie, dissatisfied, focused on the small problem she encountered in this house"-- THE ROOF LEAKED. So the world-famous architect applies all his know-how and designs a very functional and agreeable house for an elderly woman, but she is out of line for thinking the ROOF SHOULDN'T LEAK? Also, regarding that rectangular shoebox for his mom, I'd love to know the reasoning for putting two incredibly narrow steps at the front door -- looks like a super way to get an elderly person injured.