Sketch site plan and sketch view of an alternative proposal for the pavilion at UNESCO Headquarters

People:

Le Corbusier (architect)
Le Corbusier (draughtsman)
Le Corbusier (correspondence writer)
Walter Gropius (correspondence writer)

Title:

Sketch site plan and sketch view of an alternative proposal for the pavilion at UNESCO Headquarters

Date:

1954

Description:

- Le Corbusier prepared this drawing inscribed "reponse a lettre / de Gropius / recue le 22 Octobre 54" in response to Walter Gropius' suggestion that he too reply to a letter addressed only to Gropius by Eugene Callison, Chief engineer at UNESCO Headquarters, Paris. Callison had requested that Gropius comment on a proposal by the Zehrfuss-Breuer-Nervi team to add a pavilion to the existing UNESCO building. Le Corbusier was dissatisfied with the team's pavilion, which shows a narrow, glazed oblong raised on pilotis (Shapiro, fig. 219). He proposed instead this sketch for a detached pavilion consisting of a roughly-finished, curving wall enclosing a garden, which he sent to Callison, along with a critique of the Zehrfuss-Breuer-Nervi team's proposition. On 26 October 1954, he also sent copies of his proposal to all of the project advisors.

Form:
drawings

Quantity / Object type:
1 drawing(s)

Stage and Purpose:

design development drawing

Technique and media:

Drawing in ink with graphite on translucent paper

Dimensions:

sheet: 29.1 x 33.2 cm

Reference number:

DR1988:0425

Drawing Type:

line drawing

Method of Projection:

pictorial drawing
site plan

Physical characteristics and technical requirements:

- Old vertical fold down c. of sheet. A small piece has been torn from the l.l. edge.

Inscription:

inscribed, signed and dated - by the draughtsman, in pen and black ink, l.l.: "réponse a [sic] lettre / de Gropius / reçue le 22 Octobre 54 / 24 Octobre 54 / le Corbusier"; and l.r.: "ce mur courbe / peut all [...] au tel, à volonté" inscribed - by and unknown hand, in graphite, u.l.: "Unesco"

Subject:

architecture

Credit line:
Collection Centre Canadien d'Architecture/
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal

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