ABSTRACT
Le Corbusier’s mature modernist architecture evolved through three distinct periods: a purist or “high-tech” phase of the 1920s; a transitional or reassessment phase of the 1930s; and a primitivist or “low-tech” phase from 1945 to 1965. From an environmental-control standpoint, each of these periods was characterized by a focus on innovative, yet prototypical design solutions for a single, primary environmental “topic,” “theme,” or problem. For each period, the primary “theme” or “topic” changed, from light (purist period) to heat (transitional period) to air and ventilation (primitivist period). It can be shown that for each of these periods, Le Corbusier developed a building envelope system and an iconic element which “solve” the particular “theme” (or range of environmental problems) which characterized the preoccupations of that period. These solutions were generally additive, that is, the acquisitions of a prior period would persist into the next. At times, this would lead to direct conflict between a newly acquired solution and one evolved during an earlier period.
