Seeing what is not there yet: Le Corbusier and the architectural space of photographs
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The Department offers a five-year program leading to the Bachelor of Architecture degree. The program provides opportunities for general education as well as preparation for professional practice and/or graduate study.
The Department of Architecture offers two graduate degrees in architecture: a three-year accredited professional degree (MArch) and a two-semester to three-semester research degree (MS in Arch). Double-degree programs are currently offered with the Department of Community and Regional Planning (MArch/MCRP) and the College of Business (MArch/MBA).
History
The Department of Architecture was established in 1914 as the Department of Structural Design in the College of Engineering. The name of the department was changed to the Department of Architectural Engineering in 1918. In 1945, the name was changed to the Department of Architecture and Architectural Engineering. In 1967, the name was changed to the Department of Architecture and formed part of the Design Center. In 1978, the department became part of the College of Design.
Dates of Existence
1914–present
Historical Names
- Department of Structural Design (1914–1918)
- Department of Architectural Engineering (1918–1945)
- Department of Architecture and Architectural Engineering (1945–1967)
Related Units
- College of Design (parent college)
- College of Engineering(previous college, 1914–1978)
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Abstract
Le Corbusier (1887-1965) was both a great architect and a graphic designer par excellence. Though he built only 62 buildings, he wrote 56 books, including 8 volumes of his renowned Œuvre Complete, reports on himself that he published every five years beginning in 1929. The Œuvre Complete featured photographs of buildings designed by Le Corbusier. Though Le Corbusier, himself, did not take the photographs, he did select them, crop them, edit them, and place them on the books' pages together with other photographs, text, titles, page numbers, and drawings. Le Corbusier understood that photography, rather than simply picturing an architecture that was, could visualize an architecture that could be. While one purpose of the photograph was to document recently built works, another purpose of the same photograph was to image that which was not there yet. Le Corbusier employed several strategies that evoked new space in the photographs of his completed architecture. This paper describes three: (a) the truncated pyramid point; (b) the 'built-in' physical focal point; and (c) anthropomorphic representation. It shows how images resulting from the application of each of these three strategies became physically available in Le Corbusier's next buildings.
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"Seeing What is Not There Yet: Le Corbusier and the Architectural Space of the Photograph," presented at the international symposium, "INTER--Photography and Architecture", at the University of Navarra, Spain, November 2 - 4.