‘The only piece of architectural writing that will be classed among the essential literature of the 20th century.’ Reyner Banham

From the back cover ‘For the Swiss-born  architect and city planner Le Corbusier (Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, 1887-1965) architecture constituted a noble art, an exalted calling in which the architect combined plastic invention, intellectual speculation, and higher mathematics to go beyond mere utilitarian needs, beyond “style”, to achieve a pure creation of the spirit which established “emotional relationships by means of raw materials.”

The first major exposition of his ideas appeared in Vers une Architecture (1923) a compilation of articles originally written by Le Corbusier for his own avant-garde magazine, L’Esprit Nouveau. The present volume is an unabridged English translation of the 13th French edition of that historic manifesto, in which Le Corbusier expounded his technical and aesthetic theories, view on industry, economics,, relation of form to function, the ‘mass-production spirit,’ and much else. A principle prophet of the ‘modern’ movement in architecture, and a near-legendary figure of the “International School”, he designed some of the 20th Century’s most memorable buildings: Chapel at Ronchamp; Swiss dormitory at the Cité Universitaire, Paris; Unité d’Habitation, Marseilles; and many more.

Pre-used: Condition Good. Softcover former library copy with some small labeling on cover