柯布西耶 柯布西耶 | 理想與現實

如果現代人的想法 和現代生活的領導 仍然有著刺激的影響 起碼是受到一個 異常的瑞士建築師 Le Corbusier的影響 他在20世紀的第一半 寫了書 蓋了建築物 還設計了一些裝飾 都呈現出了現代科技世界的 刺激 瘋狂和浪漫 Le Corbusier開始了他的事業 攻擊了維多利亞時代的建築 與他所見到的美麗和智慧 和現代工程師的相反 我們的工程師健康活躍 活躍又有用 平衡又開心 在他們的工作上 他在1923年寫的 《向新建築方向》中 同時Le Corbusier還說 我們的建築師 是失望的 失業的 自暴自棄的 這就是因為 他們很快就無所事事了 我們不再有錢 去建造歷史的紀念品 同時 大家都需要洗 我們的工程師 為這些東西提供 他們將成為我們的建築師 Le Corbusier建議 未來的房子 要有潔淨的風格 要有規律和優雅 他的憎恨 任何一種裝飾 都延伸到 英國皇室家族的憐憫 以及他們每年 開會時 他建議他們 把車子的怪異性 踢出Dover的山頂 並學習 在1911年的 西班牙賽車上 他甚至取笑了 歐洲 是年輕建築師 並將它命名為 恐怖的城市 半教育的憎恨 和法國建築的癌症 因為它違反了 現代建築的原則 通過它所有的 巴洛克細節 敏感的牆壁畫 和雕塑 為盧可布希耶 真正的偉大的建築 意味著 建築 受到現代的耐心 而成就的 更大機會 被找到 在電磁波 或者低壓的 風扇 這些機器 是由他的書 取得的 所謂的 忠誠的照片 早期的建築師 為賓館 和歌劇院 設置的 曾經被一位雜誌記者 以他最愛的椅子為名 Le Corbusier 描述了一個座椅的座位 並描述了他第一次見到一架飛機 在1909年春天 在巴黎的天空 飛機機長Conte de Lambert 飛過Eiffel Tower 是他人生中最重要的時刻 他觀察到飛機的需求 必須要脫離所有建築物的優雅裝飾 因此不知不覺地將它們變成現代建築的成功建築 將一座經典的建築物放在建築物上 對Le Corbusier來說 是一架飛機加上一座建築物的愚蠢 但至少在這次重製的損毀下 飛機的優勢是令這個愚蠢的現象明顯地顯現出來 他結論是飛機是被指責的 但如果飛機的功能是飛行 那麼建築物的功能是什麼呢 Le Corbusier arrived at a simple list of requirements beyond which all other ambitions were no more than as he put it romantic cobwebs The function of a house was to provide one, a shelter against heat, cold, rain, thieves and the inquisitive two, a receptacle for light and sun three, a certain number of cells appropriated to cooking, work and personal life What modern man wants is a monk cell well lit and heated with a corner from which he can look at the stars wrote Le Corbusier His private houses which he built in and around Paris in the 1920s and 30s were unlike anything that people had ever witnessed both inside and out Le Corbusier took an interest in their smallest details always with an eye to increasing efficiency He built much of the furniture himself and was often to earn more money from it than from his architecture Le Corbusier was evidently one of the world's greatest architects but he was also one of the world's most disastrous urban designers His manifesto on how to make cities contained in two books The City of Tomorrow and Its Planning written in 1925 and The Radiant City of 1933 called for a dramatic break from the past The existing city centers must all come down to save itself every great city must rebuild its center Le Corbusier wanted ever taller towers some housing as many as 40,000 people When he visited New York for the first time he came away disappointed by the relatively small scale of the buildings Your skyscrapers are too low he told a surprised journalist By building upwards two problems would be resolved at a stroke overcrowding and urban sprawl Le Corbusier planned to abolish city streets In his vision of the future people would have footpaths all to themselves while cars would enjoy massive dedicated motorways with smooth curving interchanges Even more than Paris New York was for Le Corbusier the epitome of an illogical city because it had managed to graft skyscrapers the buildings of the future onto a tight street plan better suited to a medieval settlement On his trip around the United States he advised his increasingly bemused American hosts that Manhattan ought to be demolished to make way for a fresh and more Cartesian attempt at urban design Ironically, what Le Corbusier's dreams helped to generate were the dystopian housing estates that now ring historic Paris the wastelands from which tourists avert their eyes in confused horror and disbelief on their way into the historic city To take an overland train to the most violent and degraded of these places is to realize all that Le Corbusier forgot about architecture and in a wider sense about human nature For example, he forgot how tricky it is when just a few of one's 2,699 neighbors decide to throw a party or buy a handgun He forgot how drab reinforced concrete can seem under a gray sky He forgot how awkward it is when someone lights a fire in the lift shaft and home is on the 44th floor When Le Corbusier died in 1965 having had a heart attack in the south of France where he'd gone for a swim he was responsible for having built some of the most beautiful private houses of all time But his ideas had also destroyed some of the great cities of Europe and the United States For a man whose ambition was to change the world we can revere him paradoxically for the most modest things about him his beautiful whitewashed villas his door handles and his armchairs Our book What is Culture For? helps us find compassion, hope and perspective in the arts