About this series:
Emergencies sharpen our senses for what we usually take for granted. We are rubbing our eyes and begin to look at the world like a newborn: in wonder.
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| Playing with light: The interior of the chapel of Ronchamp by LeCorbusier |
Naturally, architects have a special relationship to buildings. So now, when architects struggle alongside so many fellow citizens to keep some of their projects or jobs going, working from make-shift home offices while also worrying about family and health, I assume that the beauty of architecture can be comfort when a colleague shares the experience of friendship with a building. Such introspection can help the reset of values that is certain to come, even when the outcomes remain highly uncertain.
So I sent to my architect friends a fundamental question: Which building is your best friend? Which piece of architecture do you like most, which influenced you? other arts and sciences, and passed from a savage state of life to one of civilization.
The responses will be published here on this blog as they trickle in.
Today's contribution comes from Dan Williams, FAIA, a Seattle architect. He picked two works of the Swiss French architect LeCorbusier, Ronchamp and the Habitat Highrise Housing in Marseille.
Daniel Williams, FAIA
In 1971, I took a 5-month sabbatical to Europe...
My travel/study/research was in two directions 1) researching learning environments for pre-school children and 2) housing for the elderly. After 2 months of intense research and needing a break, I took a study detour to visit two of le Corbusier's projects in France.
Ronchamp and Unite d' Habitation are two completely different architectural challenges that I had studied in under graduate school....
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