At first, the book was to be named Architecture or Revolution. But we can say that it was especially for architects and architecture students as it was actually a manifesto. It still has a great place in understanding the relationship between architecture, technology and history.Ĭorbusier wrote the book in a very understandable language so everyone could read it. Vers Une Architecture, drew so much attention at the time because it was proposing a completely new way of handling architecture. He even makes unexpected comparisons between the Parthenon and a car to emphasize the functionality. Believing the auto was a true symbol of modernity, he even designed cars in his later years.

He states that one has to learn the lesson of Rome. The book also reveals the deep historical analysis of architecture by Corbusier and said to be the final form of his ideas about Rome after seeing it. He strongly expressed the importance of function also by famously saying “A house is a machine for living in.” Of course considering the time, his newly proposed architecture would also satisfy the demands of industry which were, after the industrial revolution, demands of big importance. On the other hand he states that engineers started to develop new technologies and build simple yet effective structures. Le Corbusier starts the book “Towards A New Architecture” by stating that architecture is disconnected and lost in the past. In L’esprit Nouveau they basically defended Le Corbusier’s new style of functionalism. In 1923, Le Corbusier published Vers une Architecture ( Toward a New Architecture), which collected his writings from L’Esprit Nouveau. They established a purist journal called “ L’esprit Nouveau“.

In Paris he experienced new art forms and established a new artistic movement called “ Purism” along with painter Amédée Ozenfant. It is an interesting detail that when Corbusier decided to become a French citizen, it was not written “architect” on his I.D. After traveling through various places such as Europe and the Mediterranean teaching in Switzerland and working in Germany,he moved to Paris. He wanted to be a painter but he was almost forced to study architecture by his tutor L’Eplattenier, whom Corbusier calls his master and refers to as his only teacher. In his early years while studying art it is most surprising to say that he did not wish to be an architect. Le Corbusier, before he was Le Corbusier, was a Swiss-born artist named Charles-Edouard Jeanneret.

Towards a new architecture