Unité d'Habitation

Although I have visited Berlin many times over the years, this is only my first time visiting Le Corbusier's 1958 Unité d'Habitation during my stay in Berlin last fall.  It's a pity I didn't get a chance to see its interior though.

Gehry vs Corbusier

Both located at a stone's throw from Basel, Switzerland, Frank Gehry's 1989 Vitra Design Museum and Le Corbusier's 1954 La Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut are timeless masterpieces three and a half decades apart.  Yet their uses of white walls and curvilinear forms are strikingly similar.

Gehry in Weil am Rhein, Germany:

Corbusier in Ronchamp, France :

Weißenhofsiedlung

Weißenhofsiedlung in Stuttgart is the site for an architectural exhibition in 1927.  Big names in the architectural world at that time, including Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Peter Behrens, J.J.P. Oud and others, were invited to build on the site.  Fans of modern architecture should visit this holy land at least once in their life time.

One of two houses designed by Le Corbusier at Weißenhofsiedlung:

Ronchamp pilgrimage

For fans of modern architecture, Ronchamp in eastern France is the mecca.  It is THE place to visit at least once in a lifetime.  So my second pilgrimage to the mecca should qualify me as a superfan.  In terms of its distance from Basel, it is not really that far.  But because there are only a handful of trains stopping at the village of Ronchamp every day, my trip took me a whole day.  Just like my last visit, the weather today has been grey and drizzly.  The day might not have been great for pictures but the sight of Le Corbusier's La Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut (1954) in the mist makes it look perfectly ethereal.

J'ai voulu créer un lieu de silence, de priére, de paix, de joie intérieure. - Le Corbusier 1955

The interior of the chapel is equally stunning.  But since photography is not allowed inside, I have to keep the amazing sights in my head and in my sketch book.