content= Vision Avant-Garde During his long creative life and throughout his revolutionary creations, Le Corbusier responded primarily to emerging tendencies rather than to the circumstances of a given moment. He gave form to a life pattern in the making rather than one already in existence. Therefore, and especially during his early stages, only a select few could discern the nature and significance of his ideas. Inspiration As he was still a pupil in secondary school, assisting to additional classes in the art school of La Chaux-de-Fonds, Le Corbusier was fascinated by Charles Blanc and his description of architecture as the mother of the arts. Blanc thought that the future of architecture would develop from new construction methods and would be based on a thorough knowledge of the masterpieces of the past, which the nineteenth century had rediscovered. The following quote from Blanc's Grammaire des Arts du Dessin soon became one of Le Corbusier's guidelines: "But the regeneration of our schools can only be accomplished on one condition: if they do not become entrenched in archeology, in pure imitation of objects, but grasp instead the spirit of things, extracting from the jumble of relics only those great ideas that stand out. Ideas and Theories One basic tenet of Le Corbusier's later thought and works was already apparent in his early experiments with form: the synthesis of nature and geometry, the urge to make the structural laws of nature visible and to express them in clear, universal, geometric patterns. This idea pursued him throughout his life and it finally develops into a universally applicable theoretical system with the Modulor; and the materialized apogee of his theory of the 5 Points with the realization of the Villa Savoye. Modulor The Modulor is a breathtakingly ambitious idea which aims to provide an objective ideal solution to a general human problem, it is, nevertheless, very paradoxical. Le Corbusier envisages every architect and designer to have on his drawing board not only a foot or decimeter scale for measuring, but also a Modulor scale for proportioning, so that every object designed for human use shall correspond to a single all-pervading harmony. The novelty of the Modulor is that it combines two modules in one, a module of measurement and a module of scale. The Modulor's paradox is that it possesses a serious limitation as to its inability of equal subdivisions. Le Corbusier recognizes that and adds: "I still reserve the right at any time to doubt the solutions furnished by the Modulor, keeping intact my freedom which must depend solely on my feelings rather than my own reason". Nevertheless, he also lamented that American industrialists have not already seized upon the Modulor to apply it "on a mass scale in the dimensioning of manufactured articles". One can imagine the chaos that would be created, if the norm were to be changed once mass production had already started. In 1951, Le Corbusier built five bungalows, one of which he owned, on the Mediterranean coast line. Those tiny bungalows were made to the dimensions and use of the Modulor. They represent a sort of human-sized demonstration of his theory. Although the dimensions of the bungalows are minuscule, everything inside is at its right place. It is the perfect optimization of space. The 5 Points Le Corbusier, as he turned thirty-nine, developed and published the 5 Points, derived from the great gift of the turn of the century that is reinforced concrete. The use of the unique compactness, corresponding resilience and carrying power issued from the action of the metal gridiron as a skeleton to the viscous mass of cement. This allows the architect to acquire very thin yet strong support that Le Corbusier will use for the 'pilotis' (supporting columns) and his use of thin plate walls, allowing him to project balconies and marquees in an unprecedented way. Those five points lead to a New House, which was materialized with the Villa Savoye. The new house is as lean and spare end empty as possible. The interiors of all new houses are grouped around one big room, to which the others are joined often without intervening walls. Unused spaces are avoided, therefore attics are eliminated, but the surface of the roof is utilized as a terrace. Below is the enumeration of the five points along with the original and enthusiastic commentaries of the architect: 1. The pilotis (supporting columns): 'The house on pilotis! The house is firmly driven into the ground - a dark and often damp site. The reinforced concrete gives us the pilotis. The house is up in the air, far from the ground: the garden runs under the house...' 2. The roof gardens '...the garden is also over the house, on the roof... Reinforced concrete is the new way to create a unified roof structure. Reinforced concrete expands considerably. The expansion makes the work crack at times of sudden shrinkage. Instead of trying to evacuate the rainwater quickly, endeavor on the contrary to maintain a constant humidity on the concrete of the terrace and hence an even temperature on the reinforced concrete. One particular protective measure: sand covered with thick concrete slabs, with widely spaced joints; these joints are sown with grass.' 3. Free plan 'Until now: load-bearing walls; from the ground they are superimposed, forming the ground floor and the upper stories, up to the eaves. The layout is a slave to the supporting walls. Reinforced concrete in the house provides a free plan! The floors are no longer superimposed by partition walls. They are free.' 4. The horizontal window 'The window is one of the essential features of the house. Progress brings liberation. Reinforced concrete provides a revolution in the history of the window. Windows can run from one end of the facade to the other.' 5. The free facade 'The columns set back from the facades, inside the house. The floor continues cantilevered. The facades are no longer anything but light skins of insulating walls or windows. The facade is free.'