C I T E	

D E 

REF U G E 

MOD E L 

The architect, by his arrangement of forms, realizes an order which Is a pure creation of his spirit; by forms and shapes he affects our senses to an acute degree and promotes plastic emotions; by the relationships which he creates he wakes in us profound echoes. He gives us the measure of an order which we feel to be In accordance with that of our world, he determines the various movements of our heart and of our understanding; it is then that we experience the sense of beauty. Le Corbusier 

C0NTACT WITH LE 	CORBESIER
RHAPSODY 

 

	

This is not an exposition of the principles which Le Corbusier has established as a line of development for world architecture. These are too well known to anyone interested in his work. To those who have not yet troubled to find out what "all this business of Le Corbusier and machines to live in" is about I can only say:-Read "The City of To-morrow" and "Towards a New Architecture." For heaven's sake ignore the second rate claptrap which has been written about him either in patronising justification or downright condemnation. An architect told me recently in London that Le Corbusier was losing his following in England. How amusing. A class of English architects (notorious for their half-understanding of, and inverted attitude to architectural problems) once took up "Corbusierism" as a rather exotic architectural coating and used this to colour an occasional "modernistic" design. They did not seek the significance of his work and consequently their purely superficial gloss petered out in an apparent reaction. So much for lost ground.
Of course, the real old guard led by Sir Heggie Blomfield fought hard to crush the new development and displayed a superb ignorance of the true position to-day. In terms of a snobbish defence of "real architecture" Sir Reggie has lunged nobly but wildly at his bete no-ir-Le Corbusier. Perhaps because "this enterprising person" (dictum of the smug landed gentry) dared to publish his theses in books, and horrors, illustrate them with examples of his own work! Anecdotes of travel, horse-riding, illustrious ancestors are the legitimate literary field of architects - but architecture, God forbid. 
The amazing thing is that these denouncers do not trouble (1) to read what Le Corbusier has written or (2) to investigate for themselves a single building which he has designed. 

The attitude in France is much the same. Despite the fact that Le Corbusier has been acclaimed by important philosophers, biologists, scientists and engineers, he is still attacked from the stronghold of architectural academicism. Dear Umdenstock his most bitter opponent admits that he has not read a word that Le Corbusier has written nor seen one of his buildings (M. Umd lives in Paris) but states with conviction that Le Corbusier is a "public poison." An unintelligent attitude that does not bring credit to a supposedly intellectual calling. 
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What then? Either what Le Corbusier practises is not architecture in the accepted sense of the word, or architecture has so retrogressed in relation to other contemporary activities that the very basis of its principles has been lost in the increasing muddle. Whichever way you look at it there must be a change from one side to the other. If we accept the proposition that Le Corbusier has rediscovered the roots of the matter we must abandon everything false and join with him in stopping the decay which has made towns hideous and warped the ordinary man's attitude into accepting the position as inevitable. If what Le Corbusier does is not architecture then we must assume that as an independent activity architecture has no meaning to-day, and this new large-scale organisation which he has initiated is the fruit of totally new conditions and has risen to meet the claims of a society different in kind and with completely different ethical and economic values. 
One of the most important departures inaugurated by Le Corbusier is in the definition or limitation of the field of architectural activity. For most architects the idea of the 
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small isolated practice is so rooted in the mind that any work beyond routine is regarded with awe. The specialist germ is largely responsible, and these self-imposed limitations arise out of a fundamentally wrong approach to individual problems as though they had no absolute root connection. To work with one equipment for one problem and a different equipment for another must lead to chaos. Imagine a physicist making a series of comparative experiments and using different scales of measure at random. A general approach-a capacity to work in terms of the general factors-must be substituted for the narrow trial-and-error method. 

Le Corbusier says "state the problem clearly" and take stock of present day resources. Co-ordinate all the factors involved, material, economic, metaphysical. Solve the problem strictly in terms of these. This is a bald statement. Habit and inertia drag incessantly in the train of development, but one man has been able to translate these principles into concrete demonstrations. 
A loose body of thought has been swept aside by this great revaluation. Every new scheme of his, every new project breaks fresh ground. The richness and fertility of his mind is stupendous, the fruits of his imagination are so far beyond, so infinitely finer, than the achievements of the "plain architect," that it is impossible not to heed his word. 

ANALOGY 

After you have read Wyndham Lewis it is impossible to return to the others. Hemingway perhaps like some small spear of flame has truth enough to hold you, though early Stein-impregnated. Cummings has the stark projection of the painter's eye view, at least approximating enough to Lewis to evoke the same response, the same nervous tension and excitement which accompanies the reading of Lewis. Reading Lewis or Cummings, of course, is not reading in the sense of skimming light commentary. You are moved rapidly into a world of special forms. There is no looking on. No traveller's eye view. In the plastic quality of his writing 'Wyndham Lewis gives a new dimension to the written word. I can only call it an excitement, a participation in the situation’ an experiencing with every fibre which is thirsty 

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for the form-content. There are passages in "The Childermass" in "The Enemy of the Stars" which demonstrate a clarity and resonance of vision which is terrifying, a quality of perception which induces a tactile response in the reader and vibrates in the mind's eye like red granite sculptures seen in changing light. 
Why Wyndham Lewis? Because he is the indicator of life, he moves with the pulse of the present with which we are in tune. Choose anyone, Flaubert, Stendhal, Proust. They are calm lines of stability into the past. In perspective they are like the rich volumes of Cezanne. But Lewis is strident. Now. Coming as it were out of the future in strange shape. 
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Le Corbusier is parallel. We can examine his work in terms of the same response values. To-day Le Corbusier is the Wyndham Lewis of visible plastic creation. What Lewis has demonstrated as a spatial arrangement of special forms conceived in the mind to be re-constructed in the mind, Le Corbusier has translated into terms of real plastic form seen in light. Lewis gives a new dimension to the written word. Le Corbusier gives a new dimension to architectural form) and there emerges a new expression which leaps beyond the narrow confines of "architecture." But we cannot examine this new plastic arrangement in terms of existing standards. The bases of comparative criticism have moved out of focus .. we, too, must move On. We would not approve or condemn Lewis in terms of Flaubert or Stendhal for words ne 'used are charged and charged again with a new significance and are woven into a new context which connotes a new visual image. So with Le Corbusier. 

CONTACT 

La Cite de Refuge (Salvation Army Building) is situated in the thirteenth arrondisement of Paris. From the centre of Paris it is approached first by Metro to the Porte d'Ivry, thence on foot to the principal entrance in the Rue Cantagrel. The surroundings are typical of outer Paris. Vaguely hostile, rather bleak with muddy streets and 

	

drab brick buildings. You walk a fair distance along the railway, cross a tramline, and then, through a slight fall in the building skyline you see a great cliff of glass rising aloof from the grey and brown buildings below. You pass beyond, the glass structure momentarily disappears. Then the road turns sharply and a short rise brings you to the main entrance. The whole building distorts in a steep perspective because the street is narrow. The entrance pavilion bridge and circular hall show up sharply against the unbroken wall of glass which rises sheer behind, and as you become adjusted the complex unfolds in a clear articulation of separate and primary forms. The whole arrangement seems poised by some strange new power. The materials and colours so ruthlessly enlisted proclaim a new genius-the new plastic vocabulary of Le Corbusier. 

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Each form is fundamental. 'l'he cylinder, the cube, the plane surface; separate, apposite, but vibrant in a freely articulated unity. Not the compact unity of a mountain structure, but the free continuous movement of a rhapsody. 

But more triumphant than rhapsodic. It is difficult to describe the emotions before this great structure so humanly arranged. Every organ is arranged to function perfectly, biologically. Breathing, circulation; each organ in a free space unrestricted, limpidly and openly stating its purpose. And quite different. This greater building which has been created in the mind has a function; it is real, but it has nothing in common with the crippled architecture around it. Down through the whole scale it has changed. With complete detachment Le Corbusier has formulated his arrangement of spaces, then enveloped them according to their needs. Glass, tiles, metal, combine without reference to other contexts. 

Le Corbusier has freed the plan and freed the facade by keeping the functions of support and envelopment separate. This is one of the most important contributions. Here at the Cite de Refuge we find a full demonstration. The supporting columns rise up visibly carrying the floor slabs but leaving the facade free for light. You feel both functions simultaneously. there is an intellectual satisfaction in seeing both clean and separate. Then, too, the site seems perfectly adequate, but this is because the building has been raised clear of the ground. By raising the building Corbusier has established a most important contribution to the circulation. For since the structure is free and clear of the site, the points of entry are not restricted to the sides adjoining the streets. It is possible to come under the building-and enter freely, thus avoiding the point to point communications imposed by limited entry. Finally a rigid zoning of elements placed according to their function and requirements has resulted in a ruthless separation into individual forms. This is probably the greatest outwardly apparent departure from all other architecture. The conventional four-square facade-cardboard container filled with rooms-disappears and the related volumes generated from the inside show externally only envelopes. 

	REX 	MARTIENSSEN 

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