Le Corbusier

Le Corbusier (1887–1965), a Swiss-born architect, city planner, sculptor and painter who practiced in France, was one of the most influential architects of the 20th century.

In his early years, Le Corbusier – who adopted this pseudonym in 1920 aged 33 as a sign of his belief that anyone could reinvent himself – focused on his architecture and urban planning works, his style evolving from indigenous mountain vernacular (in his very earliest work) through Purism, a new school that evolved from his work with Amedee Ozenfant. It was during this early stage of his life that he coined his famous aphorism of a house being a “machine for living” – an industrial product that should include functional furniture or "equipment de l'habitation."

His classic furniture pieces, such as the Grand Confort and famous chaise longue, were designed together with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, who joined his studio in 1928 and was later to work fruitfully with Jean Prouvé, amongst others. They set to work designing furniture for relaxing – the Grand Confort – and for sleeping – the Chaise, inspired by 18th-century daybeds. Working with Le Corbusier instilled a strong discipline, as Perriand recalled: “the smallest pencil stroke had to have a point, to fulfil a need, or respond to a gesture or posture, and to be achieved at mass-production prices.”

Le Corbusier went on to be a prominent modernist figure in post-war urban planning, designing the United Nations headquarters in New York, and heavily influencing the design of the planned city of Brasilia.