“Le Corbusier was much more than just an architect. He was a visionary of sorts who tried to understand the city and the landscape at all scales. He made utopian proposals to deal with the transformations engendered by the industrial revolution. He also thought in international, in fact, in global terms. Beyond individual buildings he proposed type solutions for the city. He was a poet of forms, a painter, a writer, an urbanist, even a sculptor, but he also reflected upon the meaning of life and the evolution of society,” said William J R Curtis, award-winning historian, critic, writer, curator, painter and photographer.

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In the new, revised and updated edition of the book, Curtis explores interactions of ideas and forms in Corbusier’s individual buildings and in his oeuvre as a whole. Conceived as a synthesis of Corbusier’s diverse activities, but with architecture as its main focus, the book presents an illuminating account of his architectural output while also revealing broader features of Corbusier’s creative universe. Published in the year of the 50th anniversary of Corbusier’s death, the book has been rethought, reworked and redesigned to include four new chapters, illustrations, expanded text, notes and bibliography. Curtis documents Corbusier’s individual projects in detail while linking them to the architect’s philosophy, utopian vision and activities as a painter, sculptor and author.