Abstract Composition

1925

The Plan Voisin: to raze central Paris

The pavilion displayed a model of the Plan Voisin: bulldoze much of central Paris north of the Seine and replace it with cruciform towers set in parkland. French politicians and industrialists met it with criticism and scorn.

1925

The Esprit Nouveau Pavilion at the 1925 Exposition

For the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris, Le Corbusier, with Ozenfant and Pierre Jeanneret, built a pavilion: a white “cell” of a future apartment block, with a tree growing through the roof. The furious organisers screened it with a fence, removed only on the order of the Ministry of Fine Arts, and critics ridiculed it.

1926

The Five Points of a New Architecture

Le Corbusier formulated his architect's code, the Five Points of a New Architecture, which set out the basic principles of the new style.

1926–1927

The League of Nations competition

Le Corbusier entered the competition for the League of Nations headquarters in Geneva (337 entries) with a modernist lakeside complex. It seemed the jury's first choice, but after behind-the-scenes manoeuvring the commission went to five neoclassicist architects. He answered with articles and lectures on the opportunity the League had missed.

1927

Houses for the Werkbund's Weissenhof exhibition

The German Werkbund invited Le Corbusier to build three houses in the model estate of Weissenhof near Stuttgart; of the seventeen modernists invited, he and Mies van der Rohe played the major part.

1928

Founding of CIAM at La Sarraz

Le Corbusier was one of the founders of the International Congresses of Modern Architecture (CIAM), which united architects from many countries around the renewal of architecture. The first congress met at La Sarraz in Switzerland.