Le Corbusier’s Work Added to UNESCO World Heritage Sites

The public has now been given access to a new list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, which includes 17 projects by the Franco-Swiss architect Le Corbusier. The works, which span seven nations and include Argentina, Belgium, France, Germany, India, Japan, and Switzerland, serve as a “testimony to the emergence of a new architectural language that broke with the past,” according to UNESCO. UNESCO is a United Nations-sponsored body that designates buildings, towns, islands, and mountains as World Heritage sites, based on their exceptional cultural or ecological significance to humanity’s heritage.

Many consider Le Corbusier to be the father of modern architecture, having designed over 60 structures throughout his lifetime. The iconic Complexe du Capitole in Chandigarh (India); the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo; the House of Dr. Curutchet in La Plata (Argentina); and the Unité d’habitation in Marseille (France), among others, have been chosen by UNESCO. Le Corbusier’s work “developed new architectural techniques to react to the requirements of society,” according to a statement released by UNESCO.

The 17 locations that make up this transnational serial property are located across seven nations and are a testament to Le Corbusier’s conception of a new architectural language that broke with the past. They were constructed over a half-century in the process of “patient investigation,” as Le Corbusier put it. The Complexe du Capitole in Chandigarh (India), the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo (Japan), the House of Dr. Curutchet in La Plata (Argentina), and the Unité d’habitation in Marseille (France) are examples of the Modern Movement’s solutions to the challenges of developing new architectural techniques to meet societal needs during the twentieth century.

Features of Le Corbusier’s Architectural Work

1. Le Corbusier’s architectural work is a masterpiece of human creative genius, presenting an extraordinary response to some of the twentieth century’s most fundamental architectural and societal difficulties.
2. Le Corbusier’s architectural work demonstrates an exceptional global exchange of human values over a half-century in relation to the origin and development of the Modern Movement.
3. Le Corbusier’s architectural work changed architecture by showcasing the establishment of a new architectural language that broke with the past in an outstanding and pioneering manner.
4. Le Corbusier’s architectural work symbolizes the beginning of three key modern architectural trends: Purism, Brutalism, and Sculptural Architecture.
5. The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier’s global influence on four continents is a novel phenomenon in the history of architecture, demonstrating its extraordinary significance.
6. Le Corbusier’s architectural work is inextricably linked to the Modern Movement’s concepts, whose theories and works acquired extraordinary universal relevance in the twentieth century. The series is a reflection of a “New Spirit” that combines building, painting, and sculpture.
7. The Architectural Work of Le Corbusier concretizes Le Corbusier’s concepts, which were effectively communicated by the International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM) in 1928.
8. Le Corbusier’s architectural work is a brilliant example of the Modern Movement’s efforts to establish a new architectural language, update architectural processes, and answer to modern man’s social and human demands.

Integrity

The majority of the component sites are in good shape. New buildings on three plots of the site, one of which housed a standardized house by Le Corbusier that was destroyed during the war, are incompatible with the architect’s conceptions at Cité Frugès.

The integrity of the site at the Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut, where Le Corbusier’s edifice was built atop a centuries-old pilgrimage site, has been harmed by a new visitor center and a nunnery adjoining the chapel, which have cut Le Corbusier’s construction from its meditative hillside setting.

Authenticity

The authenticity of most of the individual component sites is good in terms of how well the site’s attributes can be said to match the series’ overall Outstanding Universal Value. Traditional dwellings were built on three plots at Cité Frugès to replace Corbusian constructions, but there is a partial loss of authenticity elsewhere in the urban landscape due to neglect and interior alterations. A minor portion of the structure at l’Unité d’habitation was damaged in a fire in 2012. This has now been completely rebuilt to the original design, but with some authenticity loss.

Protection and Management Requirements

Many of the elements were protected from the start, especially in the two decades after Le Corbusier’s death. Some, such as Stuttgart’s Maisons de la Weissenhof-Siedlung and Marseille’s Unité d’habitation, were protected during Le Corbusier’s lifetime. The nomination dossier outlines the many types of legal protection available to each component. At the national/federal level, all component sites are appropriately safeguarded, and their buffer zones are adequately protected by legislation or planning processes. Given the importance of detail and location for these twentieth-century structures, it is critical that their protection is comprehensive and sensitive enough to maintain interiors, exteriors, context, and setting.

Conclusion

The moniker “Le Corbusier” was given to the great French-Swiss architect Charles Edouard Jeanneret-Gris (1887-1965). He constructed remarkable architecture all across the world under that moniker.

In fact, 51 years after his death, 17 of Le Corbusier’s “works” were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. And, because France was his main “canvas,” you may see ten of his UNESCO-listed paintings here:

• Paris, Île de France, homes La Roche et Jeanneret (1923)
• Pessac, Aquitaine, Cite Fruges (1924)
• Poissy, Île de France: Villa Savoye and Loge du Jardinier (1928)
• Porte Molitor, Boulogne-Billancourt, Ile De France is a rental property (1931)
• Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, “La Cité Radieuse” residential area (1945)
• Lorraine’s Saint-Dié-des-Vosges factory (1946)
• Ronchamp, Franche-Comte, Notre-Dame-du-Haut chapel (1950)
• Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Le Corbusier hut (1951)
• Saint-Marie-de-la-Tourette convent in Eveux, Rhône-Alpes (1953)
• Firminy’s cultural center in Rhone-Alpes (1965)