The Vernacular, Modernism, and Le Corbusier

Abstract

The modernist architecture of the 1920s, often referred to by the terms "machine aesthetic" and "International Style," has been seen as antithetical to the vernacular. Focusing on Le Corbusier, this essay argues that, to the contrary, the vernacular played an essential role in the construction of modernist architecture, as conceptual model for a notion of modern vernacular-one as naturally the issue of modern industrial society, and as representative of it, as the traditional vernacular of common parlance had been of earlier societies. Le Corbusier arrived at this notion by layering on each other several discourses concerning regionalism, folklore, and the more complex concept of Sachlichkeit (factualness), developed in Vienna and Germany at the turn of the century by such figures as Adolf Loos and Hermann Muthesius.

De las granjas del Jura al valle de M’Zab. Influencias de lo vernáculo en Le Corbusier

“…Estas imágenes le recordaba a Le Corbusier (1993, p. 35) la Cartuja de Ema que, combinada con las pequeñas ventanas que encontró en los muros del cementerio de Eyüp en Estambul, le sirvió, según Brooks (1997) (1929). Tanto Brooks (1997) como Passanti (1997) coinciden en que además de la chambre d'etè que dibujó en los patios de las casas de Hungría, la fenêtre en longueur que dibujó en el interior de una casa de Tirnovo es una importante fuente para la configuración de la ventana horizontal de la villa Saboye (1928). Respecto al color blanco de su arquitectura, Le Corbusier (1993, pp.…”

‘Vernacular’ accommodations: wordplay in contemporary-traditional architecture theory

“…The elongated windows in the housing of Tirnovo in Bulgaria can be sourced as the ribbon windows of the Villa Savoye , just as the courtyards that Le Corbusier admired in Hungarian homes could be cited as inspiration for its enclosed roof terrace. 32 Similarly, Le Corbusier's 'pilotis' could be sourced to the nineteenth-century discovery in Switzerland of stilt fragments of prehistoric settlements in the mud of the great lakes. This new archaeology worked itself into the primary school curriculum by the time of his childhood, and he absorbed it so thoroughly that when he came to use pilotis in later years he mistakenly thought he had invented them.…”

Back to Basics

“…Le Corbusier first made his name in the 1920s by stimulating architects to look at the works of modern engineering, but vernacular architecture never ceased to be a fundamental source of inspiration for his work. 1 Le Corbusier appreciated craftsmanship. He liked surface textures and the signs of fabrication.…”