Le Corbusier pavilion
The Le Corbusier pavilion on Lake Zurich is the last building by the architect Le Corbusier and is an architectural jewel. It is his only building realized in German-speaking Switzerland and his only one made of steel and glass worldwide. Since 2019, the pavilion has been run by the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich on behalf of the City of Zurich as a public museum and used over the summer months.
architecture
Le Corbusier designed the building as an exhibition pavilion from the start; his aim was nothing less than to build the ideal location for exhibitions. Art, architecture and life were to merge into a new unit in this building. With the pavilion designed as an exhibition space, he implemented his vision of a “synthesis of the arts”. Numerous sketches and plans testify to the long development time from the mid-1950s.
The ship-like construction is based on the Modulor proportion system developed by Le Corbusier and demonstrates - as an architectural legacy, so to speak - many of his design principles.
These include, for example, prefabrication, recurring building elements such as the access ramp or the small roof garden as well as the "promenade architecturale", the carefully designed route through a building in order to optimally stage the architecture and make it tangible for the viewer.
The pavilion offers various insights and views over an area of around 600 square meters and over four floors. The furniture by Le Corbusier, which is partly built-in, is distributed throughout the pavilion and invites you to relax and the small roof terrace offers a clear view of the Zürichhorn and the lake.
history
The Le Corbusier pavilion was built on the initiative and thanks to the commitment of interior designer, gallery owner and patron Heidi Weber. She won Le Corbusier for the project, received the land on the Blatterwiese for 50 years under building law from the City of Zurich and pushed the construction forward with perseverance and perseverance despite various difficulties. The execution of the building, which began in 1964, was interrupted by the death of Le Corbusier in August 1965 and a new project team had to be set up to successfully finalize the building. In 1967 the building was opened as the Center Le Corbusier - Heidi Weber Museum . After the building permit expired, it became the property of the City of Zurich in 2014. On their behalf, the museum was managed by Eva Wagner for four years before the building was comprehensively renovated and repaired from October 2017 to February 2019 under the direction of the architects Silvio Schmed and Arthur Rüegg. Since May 2019, the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich has been running the Pavilion Le Corbusier on behalf of the owner City of Zurich as a public museum in order to convey Le Corbusier's work and ideas to a wide audience.
Exhibitions
The pavilion has been used as an exhibition space since it opened in 1967 in order to convey Le Corbusier's work and ideas to a wide audience. With this in mind, the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich addresses the diverse works and radiance of the important architect with a changing exhibition each year. A small permanent exhibition with photographs by René Burris also shows his view of Le Corbusier's oeuvre and person.
Mon univers
The opening exhibition Mon univers (May 11th - November 17th, 2019) was spread over all floors and was dedicated to the passion of the Swiss architect of the century. It gave an insight into his creative cosmos. The exhibition brought together originals from Le Corbusier's private collection, historical photographs, casts and paintings as well as found objects from nature. Loans from the Fondation Le Corbusier in Paris, from important private collections and the Antikenmuseum Basel entered into a visual and content-related dialogue with the pavilion.
literature
- Catherine Dumont d'Ayot, Tim Benton: Le Corbusier's Pavilion for Zurich , model and prototype of an ideal exhibition space, Lars Müller Publishers, Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-03778-293-4 .
- Office for Buildings of the City of Zurich, Silvio Schmed and Arthur Rüegg: Pavillon Le Corbusier Zurich , Restoration of an Architectural Jewel, Scheidegger & Spiess, Zurich 2019, ISBN 978-3-85881-493-7 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ City of Zurich - Le Corbusier Pavilion. Accessed June 11, 2019 (German).
- ↑ a b Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, “Reopening of the Le Corbusier Pavilion / Mon univers exhibition”, media release on 8 May 2019
- ↑ Mon univers | Le Corbusier Pavilion. Accessed June 11, 2019 (German).
Coordinates: 47 ° 21 '22.3 " N , 8 ° 33' 3.4" E ; CH1903: 684035 / 245634