Review: Le Corbusier: The Art of Architecture in Liverpool

Ellis Woodman on Le Corbusier: The Art of Architecture in The Crypt, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.

There is a moment early on in Liverpool’s new Le Corbusier retrospective which perfectly encapsulates its subject’s public persona.

It is a short film, from 1925, showing the man known to his mother as Charles Édouard-Jeanneret peering out from behind those fearsome thick-rimmed, circular spectacles that he invariably wore.

He is explaining his proposal for the construction of the Plan Voisin, a modest scheme to bulldoze much of central Paris and replace it with a series of 60-storey cruciform towers laid out on a grid.

As he turns to the map behind him, draws a large rectangle around the proposed site and calmly proceeds to black out the medieval street pattern, you can’t help thinking what a magnificent Bond villain he would have made.

Such moments of provocation proved wildly effective in promoting Le Corbusier to international fame. They also, however, served to caricature him as a deranged technocrat, an image that the work of his lesser post-war followers did much to reinforce.

And yet the exhibition powerfully conveys that this is only a fraction of the story. Yes, the urban plans still look absolutely barmy – thankfully, very few of his large-scale projects were realised – but Le Corbusier was also a painter, sculptor, furniture designer and, of course, an architect of some of the greatest buildings of the 20th century.

At Liverpool, all these aspects of his output are brought together, giving an indication of how developments in art – notably Cubism and Surrealism – played as large a role in shaping his architectural imagination as did developments in reinforced concrete technology and the growth of motor car use.

The show also describes a figure who was Picasso-like in his quest for reinvention. His early work draws on both classical architecture and the vernacular buildings of his native Switzerland.

It is only when he arrives in Paris in the 1920s that he adopts his pseudonym — which can be translated as “the crow-like one” — and begins to produce the series of highly abstract, spatially complex houses that bring him to the world’s attention.

The post-war work is as different again: muscularly sculptural, where the earlier work had been composed of thin planes; and in rough, exposed concrete and brick where it had previously been painted a pristine white.

One wall of the exhibition is devoted to Le Corbusier’s very substantial influence on the British architecture of the Fifties and Sixties. However, he never built here, and visiting much of his greatest work — the church at Ronchamp, the La Tourette monastery, the string of major buildings that he realised in India in the 1950s — demands a considerable trek.

The Liverpool show represents the next best thing, offering an Aladdin’s Cave of original models and drawings. As a bonus, it offers a rare opportunity to see inside the crypt of Liverpool’s Metropolitan Cathedral, the only part of Lutyens’s original design for the building to be built.

However, quite what Lutyens would have made of the show being staged here, I dread to think. On admission to his office, new staff members were notified that ownership of Le Corbusier’s books was considered a sacking offence.

Futuristic architecture goes beyond green building

Architect David Fisher has taken the charming notion of revolving floor penthouse restaurants and turned it into something much, much bigger: a skyscraper in which every floor revolves, resulting in the first building which constantly changes its architectural shape.

The first two such skyscrapers are planned for Dubai and Moscow. The Dubai building already has 1000 reservation requests.

The building isn't just compelling because it looks really cool, either: it is an environmentally revolutionary concept.

The Dynamic Tower, the world’s first building in motion, takes the concept of green buildings to the next level: the Dynamic Tower will generate electricity for itself as well as other buildings nearby, making it the first skyscraper designed to be self-powered.

The building generates electricity from wind turbines mounted horizontally between each floor. For example, an 80-story building will have up to 79 wind turbines, making it a true green power plant. While traditional vertical wind turbines have some environmental negative impact, including obstruction of views and the need for roads to build and maintain them, The Dynamic Tower’s wind turbines are practically invisible. The Dynamic Tower turbines are also extremely quiet due to their special shape and the carbon fiber material they are constructed from.

Another environmentally green element of the Dynamic Tower is the photovoltaic cells that will be placed on the roof of each rotating floor to produce solar energy. At any time of the day, approximately 20 percent of each roof will be exposed to the sun, so a building that has 80 floors will equal the roofing area of 10 similar sized buildings.

In addition, natural, recyclable materials including stone, marble, glass and wood will be used for the interior finishing. To further improve the energy efficiency of the Dynamic Tower, insulated glass and structural insulating panels will be employed.

Article courtesy : Michele Lerner

McAslan, AHMM and BDP top shortlist for BD’s Architect of the Year Awards

The finalists for BD’s Architect of the Year Awards 2008 have been announced, with Allford Hall Monaghan Morris, BDP and John McAslan & Partners all gaining four nominations.

Maccreanor Lavington and Shedkm are nominated in two of the 14 categories, both competing with Allford Hall Monaghan Morris for Private Housing Architect of the Year (over 14 units).

The winners will be announced on October 30 at the London Hilton on Park Lane.

BD’s Architect of the Year Awards 2008 shortlist

Affordable Housing Architect of the Year

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

Jestico & Whiles

Levitt Bernstein Associates

Maccreanor Lavington

Stock Woolstencroft

Private Housing Architect of the Year (over 14 units)

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

Broadway Malyan

Maccreanor Lavington

Richard Murphy Architects

Shedkm

Private Housing Architect of the Year (one to 14 units)

Alison Brooks Architects

Julian Cowie Architects

Shedkm

Simon Conder Associates

Education Architect of the Year

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

DSDHA

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

John McAslan & Partners

Penoyre & Prasad

Wright & Wright Architects

Healthcare Architect of the Year

BDP

Buschow Henley

David Morley Architects

Toh Shimazaki Architecture

Interiors Architect of the Year

Adjaye Associates

BDP

Bennett Interior

David Archer Architects

Pringle Brandon

Masterplanning Architect of the Year

BDP

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

John McAslan & Partners

Stephen Taylor Architects

Office Architect of the Year

Atkins

Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios

Make

Shedkm

Public Buildings Architect of the Year

Allford Hall Monaghan Morris

Denton Corker Marshall

Gareth Hoskins Architects

Keith Williams Architects

Marks Barfield Architects

Retail Architect of the Year

3DReid

Adjaye Associates

BDP

Foreign Office Architects

John McAslan & Partners

Sport & Leisure Architect of the Year

David Morley Architects

Dyer

EPR Architects

HOK Sport Architecture

Hopkins Architects

Transport Architect of the Year

3DReid

Grimshaw

John McAslan & Partners

Pascall & Watson Architects

Zaha Hadid Architects