Anneli Xie
Prof. Quinn Slobodian
HIST 240: Concrete Utopias: The Rise of the Modern European City
2020/09/29
Prof. Quinn Slobodian
HIST 240: Concrete Utopias: The Rise of the Modern European City
2020/09/29
Concerning
the Spiritual in Modernism:
The Paradoxical Utopia of Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus
The Paradoxical Utopia of Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus
With
the end of World War I as a backdrop, the 1920s set the scene for a radical
paradigm shift in Europe. Not only did the devastation of war inspire new and
utopian ways of thinking, but it also emphasized the mechanization and
rationalization that had managed to mass-mobilize the industrial city’s
resources into one collective effort. In this negotiation of utopia and
rationale, modernism was born; and with it, new visions of the city and its
urban fabric started emerging. This paper will examine the ideas of such
modernist visionaries, including Le Corbusier, as well as Walter Gropius, who both
wished to re-define urban life through making good design available to the
masses. While it is clear that the two architects often sought inspiration from
the industrial city to do so, their works are often wrongfully attributed
solely to the framework of rationalism and mechanization. I will argue that
Corbusier and Gropius are rather perfect examples of the dialectical blend of the
utopian visions and rationalized industry that emerged in the 1920s. Through
looking at Gropius’ principles for the Bauhaus and Corbusier’s Contemporary
City, it becomes clear that both aimed for logic as a means to an
idealistic end: a spiritual endowment of architecture and an unattainable wish
of creating utopia.
Founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar, 1919, the Bauhaus sought to channel all aspects of the arts and crafts into one common mission: to “create, together, the new building of the future, which will embrace architecture and sculpture and painting in one unity, like the crystal symbol of a new faith.” (Bauhaus 100, dir. Whitecross 2019) Already here, in the Bauhaus’ opening manifesto, Gropius is connecting architecture with spirituality; and a new one at that. Indeed, the school largely rejected the old ways of thinking and instead carried a post-war optimism through its emphasis on freedom and innovation. Despite individual freedom, the Bauhäuslers all aligned under the ideal of “form follows function;” and embracing the Machine Age, adopted the idea of industrial design in order to make their work available to the masses. Utilizing ideas of technology, logic, and mass-production, the creation of functional architecture and design – abstracted from ornament and true to their materials – eventually became Bauhaus’ trademark. The overdetermination of function at the Bauhaus, however, often deters from the quite emotional ideas that lay behind much of the Bauhäuslers’ work. Indeed, behind the rigid steel-and-glass-architecture and the furniture abstracted of decoration, many Bauhäuslers were deeply concerned with the spiritual. Thus, despite “function [serving] as an overriding ethos to the entire institution,” its logic was a means to an end, first and foremost contributing to Bauhaus’ utopian vision of re-defining modern life in a “new faith.”
Much like the Bauhaus, Le Corbusier saw the Machine Age as a chance to re-imagine society through a re-invention of the past. In 1922, Corbusier presented his urban visions in the dismemberment of the city and the radical disruption of the conventional city plan. (The Century of Le Corbusier, dir. Cazanave 2015) Named the Contemporary City,Corbusier’s proposal was a utopian plan adaptable to any city through its “fundamental principles for modern town planning,” (Corbusier, translated from the 8th French ed., 2013, 190) that he had developed through scientific calculations, much like “a scientist in his laboratory.” (Fishman 1982, 190) Along with an emphasis on science, Corbusier was clearly inspired by rationalization and the new technologies of the industrial city, comparing streets to workshops, cars to “masterpiece[s] of comfort,” Corbusier, translated from the 8th French ed., 2013, 176) and houses to “machine[s] for living in.” (The Century of Le Corbusier, dir. Cazanave 2015) As a result, everything in Corbusier’s plan was symmetrical and orderly; conforming to his own views of rationalization and “the city of [the 1920s being] a dying thing because it is not geometrical.” The city center was to be an administrative hub and the outskirts were for residential living – in Le Corbusier’s ideal city, “everything is classified by function [and] occupy a separate sector,” much like the scientific management present in the rationalized city. Similar to how the Bauhaus used industry to congregate towards a new unity, Corbusier used rationalization to create a universal city and to “form a coherent environment, a world of individual fulfillment and creation;” a sublime utopia. (Fishman 1982, 190)
Whereas the ideas of Corbusier and the Bauhaus were initially rooted in social and civic improvement, their designs, in the end, remained exclusionary and restrictive, “[clinging] to the old principle and turn[ing] it into a doctrinaire stylism.” (Bauer Wurster 1965, 52) Undeniably, in their search for a new framework through functionalism, the spiritual belief that Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus held in technology inevitably ended up deterring from their universality; a contradiction of the rational with the inherently irrational – utopia.
Bauer Wurster, Catherine. “The Social Front of Modern Architecture in the 1930s.” The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 24, no. 1 (March 1965): 48–52.
Fishman, Robert. Urban Utopias in the Twentieth Century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1982.
Juliette Cazanave, dir. Century of Le Corbusier. Strasbourg: ARTE France, 2015.
Le Corbusier, The City of Tomorrow and its Planning. Translated from the 8th French Edition. New York: Dover Publications, 2013.
Mat Whitecross, dir. Bauhaus100: 100 Years of Bauhaus. London: BBC Studios, 2019.
Founded by Walter Gropius in Weimar, 1919, the Bauhaus sought to channel all aspects of the arts and crafts into one common mission: to “create, together, the new building of the future, which will embrace architecture and sculpture and painting in one unity, like the crystal symbol of a new faith.” (Bauhaus 100, dir. Whitecross 2019) Already here, in the Bauhaus’ opening manifesto, Gropius is connecting architecture with spirituality; and a new one at that. Indeed, the school largely rejected the old ways of thinking and instead carried a post-war optimism through its emphasis on freedom and innovation. Despite individual freedom, the Bauhäuslers all aligned under the ideal of “form follows function;” and embracing the Machine Age, adopted the idea of industrial design in order to make their work available to the masses. Utilizing ideas of technology, logic, and mass-production, the creation of functional architecture and design – abstracted from ornament and true to their materials – eventually became Bauhaus’ trademark. The overdetermination of function at the Bauhaus, however, often deters from the quite emotional ideas that lay behind much of the Bauhäuslers’ work. Indeed, behind the rigid steel-and-glass-architecture and the furniture abstracted of decoration, many Bauhäuslers were deeply concerned with the spiritual. Thus, despite “function [serving] as an overriding ethos to the entire institution,” its logic was a means to an end, first and foremost contributing to Bauhaus’ utopian vision of re-defining modern life in a “new faith.”
Much like the Bauhaus, Le Corbusier saw the Machine Age as a chance to re-imagine society through a re-invention of the past. In 1922, Corbusier presented his urban visions in the dismemberment of the city and the radical disruption of the conventional city plan. (The Century of Le Corbusier, dir. Cazanave 2015) Named the Contemporary City,Corbusier’s proposal was a utopian plan adaptable to any city through its “fundamental principles for modern town planning,” (Corbusier, translated from the 8th French ed., 2013, 190) that he had developed through scientific calculations, much like “a scientist in his laboratory.” (Fishman 1982, 190) Along with an emphasis on science, Corbusier was clearly inspired by rationalization and the new technologies of the industrial city, comparing streets to workshops, cars to “masterpiece[s] of comfort,” Corbusier, translated from the 8th French ed., 2013, 176) and houses to “machine[s] for living in.” (The Century of Le Corbusier, dir. Cazanave 2015) As a result, everything in Corbusier’s plan was symmetrical and orderly; conforming to his own views of rationalization and “the city of [the 1920s being] a dying thing because it is not geometrical.” The city center was to be an administrative hub and the outskirts were for residential living – in Le Corbusier’s ideal city, “everything is classified by function [and] occupy a separate sector,” much like the scientific management present in the rationalized city. Similar to how the Bauhaus used industry to congregate towards a new unity, Corbusier used rationalization to create a universal city and to “form a coherent environment, a world of individual fulfillment and creation;” a sublime utopia. (Fishman 1982, 190)
Whereas the ideas of Corbusier and the Bauhaus were initially rooted in social and civic improvement, their designs, in the end, remained exclusionary and restrictive, “[clinging] to the old principle and turn[ing] it into a doctrinaire stylism.” (Bauer Wurster 1965, 52) Undeniably, in their search for a new framework through functionalism, the spiritual belief that Le Corbusier and the Bauhaus held in technology inevitably ended up deterring from their universality; a contradiction of the rational with the inherently irrational – utopia.
References
Bauer Wurster, Catherine. “The Social Front of Modern Architecture in the 1930s.” The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 24, no. 1 (March 1965): 48–52.
Fishman, Robert. Urban Utopias in the Twentieth Century: Ebenezer Howard, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Le Corbusier. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 1982.
Juliette Cazanave, dir. Century of Le Corbusier. Strasbourg: ARTE France, 2015.
Le Corbusier, The City of Tomorrow and its Planning. Translated from the 8th French Edition. New York: Dover Publications, 2013.
Mat Whitecross, dir. Bauhaus100: 100 Years of Bauhaus. London: BBC Studios, 2019.