Introduction
In aspiration to achieve new blossoming of aesthetics of architecture and in poetizing this major sphere of human activity lies the key to disclosing the creativity of Le Corbusier – the great master, whose life has connected two centuries in history of modern architecture.
The end of XIX century was marked by unprecedented scope of building, huge achievements in science and technologies. There are new courageous designs, new building materials, and new building technologies are applied. Along with this the inconsistency of traditional aesthetic concepts in architecture art was found out. In the architectural environment there was stratification: some tried to comprehend new possibilities, others contrary to the constructive logic tried to hide new designs behind false scenery of decayed architectural styles. This paper analyzes the architecture of Le Corbusier in terms of creativity, originality and revolutionism.
Speaking about the cores the characteristic of architecture of XX century and about the basic tendencies in its development, it is necessary to mention the main thing, i.e. the architecture did not know the crisis similar to pictorial art. It could be explained as firstly, the rapid development of technology, the growth of cities, the requirement for building, solving planning and design problems and, secondly, intensive post-war regenerative works. The architectural shape of the countries both was restored and created anew.
Essay Body
The modernism as style has appeared at the end of XIX century. Its essence is in the opposition to the old architecture by new, original and in its own way logical architectural form. The modernist style was overcoming eclecticism and pursuing the aim of creating modern, new, and universal synthetic style. Architects of a modernist style at the formation of plans and compositions of buildings safely went on applying dissymmetric decisions in grouping the volumes and architectural details. Pretentious, abstract and vegetative motives among which the preference to twisted colors was given, to marsh plants, seaweed were applied. In an early modernist style the form is easily exaggerated, applied by time excessive decoration. At the same time the tendency for the gradual transition from the far-fetched and complicated forms to more logical, simple and accurate designs is shown.
Wide popularity and supervising position in architecture at this period has reached Le Corbusier who saw true beauty in the accurate clearness of geometrical volumes, in simplicity and the logic of modern ferroconcrete designs: “The house is a machine for living in.”. A unique source of architecturally-aesthetic expressiveness, in his opinion, is the architectural design. He created original, elegant and beautiful buildings.
Le Corbusier’s ideas and his associates have generated philosophy of a modernism which legalized the value of progress and the improvement of the conditions of human existence under the influence of high technologies. “Le Corbusier’s theory establishes his immediacy and also affords some perspective on problems of technology we still have not faced.” (Kay 1987) The modernist ideology gave special attention to the appendix of scientific knowledge in practice. The modernist culture was a “celebration” for architecture and city planning. Le Corbusier’s plans about the development of metropolises were based on the idea of efficiency of rational placing of objects in city space.
On the other hand there was F. L. Wright, an American architect whose ideas in many respects were full contrast to Corbusier’s views. Despite his adherence to the modernism, no less influence was rendered by eastern, especially Japanese motives. Wright believed that the created structures of habitation should be harmonious in a natural environment. It is necessary to keep the nature around the building construction objects, to establish constant relations of architectural objects with an external world.
Wright concerned modern architecture of the European type with irony and irritation which he was not going to hide. Having learnt about Le Corbusier’s next construction, he spoke to his pupils: “Well, now that he’s finished one building, he’ll go write four books about it.”
In art, the radical shifts begin as some kind of revolution undertaken mostly by the young. So it was with the pioneers of modern architecture. Now the others the first who became turncoats and Charles Le Corbusier was the first among those first.
Conclusion
In some way it could be said that Le Corbusier and Wright are in some way similar and the origins of the opinion about originality and revolutionism could lie in the fact that those two made similar plans at different times “Wright’s greatest rival, Le Corbusier, has been doing exactly the same thing during his later decades.” (Scully 1960, p.31) However, it is impossible to challenge the merits of Le Corbusier in the history of world architecture. Le Corbusier is not the architect in the usual sense of this word. He is not limited  to building houses in the traditional understanding. He is an artist who in the vision of the new architecture in the renewed society leaves far beyond the achievable in our times.
Works Cited
Kay, Jane Holtz. 1987 “Le Corbusier.” The Nation.
Scully, Vincent. 1960 Frank Lloyd Wright. New York: George Braziller.
Britain-Catlin, Timothy. 2004 “Le Corbusier and the Concept of Self: Corbusian Societies.” The Architectural Review.
Choay, Françoise. Le Corbusier. New York: G. Braziller, 1960.
Architect. 2008 “Le Corbusier : architect biography” Web.