REPORT ON FURNITURE DESIGNED BY LE CORBUSIER

Shawn Costa 11373038

7th Semester Sec: D (ID)

LE CORBUSIERCHAUX-DE FONDS/CHAUX-DE FONDS,

1887/1965Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier, was

born at La Chaux-de-Fonds, in the Swiss Jura, in 1887; he died in France, at Cap Martin, on the French Côte d’Azur, in 1965.

• Early in his career his work met with some resistance owing to its alleged revolutionary» nature and the radical look it acquired from its «purist» experiments; in time , however, it won the recognition it deserved and it is still widely admired. His message is still being assimilated by an ever increasing number of people in the profession, but his far-out avant-garde attitudes should be interpreted with due consideration for the use of rational systems in his planning method, evidenced by extremely simple modules and formes based on the functional logic.

• Functionalism tending not so much to an exaltation of the mechanical function at the expense of the symbolic, as to the rejection of symbol that he now considers outmoded and insignificant and the restoration of the pratical function as a symbol of new values»

In his activities as town-planner, architect and designer, his method of research continued to develop, at times going to the opposite extremes of a rich plastic idiom.

FURNITURE DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

Corbusier said: "Chairs are architecture, sofas are bourgeois."Le Corbusier began experimenting with furniture design in 1928 after inviting the architect, Charlotte Perriand, tojoin his studio. His cousin, Pierre Jeanneret, also collaborated on many of the designs. Before the arrival of Perriand,Le Corbusier relied on ready-made furniture to furnish his projects, such as the simple pieces manufactured by Thonet, the company that manufactured his designs in the 1930s.In 1928, Le Corbusier and Perriand began to put the expectations for furniture Le Corbusier outlined in his 1925 book L'Art Décoratif d'aujourd'hui into practice. In the book he defined three different furniture types: type-needs,type-furniture, and human-limb objects. He defined human-limb objects as: "Extensions of our limbs and adapted tohuman functions that are type-needs and type-functions, therefore type-objects and type-furniture. The human-limb object is a docile servant. A good servant is discreet and self-effacing in order to leave his master free. Certainly,works of art are tools, beautiful tools. And long live the good taste manifested by choice, subtlety, proportion, and harmony".

TYPE OF FURNITURE DESIGNED

• Chaise longue

• Sling basculant chair

• Grand confort

BASCULANT SLING CHAIR• The Basculant has a frame of chromium- nickel -plated tubular

steel, with calf skin seat and back, and leather strap arm rests. For the interiors of his own buildings, Le Corbusier originally chose chairs and other objects that he thought were so 'mass produced' as to be virtually anonymous. But later he and his office, notably Charlotte Perri and and Pierre Jeanneret, began to design furniture, of which this is one of the earliest examples. The Basculant appears to be in contrast with Le Corbusier's earlier idea, in that it has a comparatively complicated construction, and uses extravagant materials. The formula of pliable elements supported by a simple strong frame in this way is possibly derived from the chairs used by British Army Officers in India and other early campaign furniture, but the problems here have been resolved in a very different way.

• The curved section of the side frame bending towards the back seems a perfectly logical structural support, avoiding an awkward stress -bearing corner joint behind the seat. This side section enhances the impression that the chair is slung between the supporting legs. The whole simple profile makes the Basculant look more flexible than it in fact is. The front elevation, with two lateral spacer bars, beautifully clear verticals and long smooth strap arms ranged round the accommodating calf -skin seat and back, gives the impression of sturdiness, and, despite the chair's small scale, of a very spacious structure.

The seat and back membranes are held under tension by a series of springs, and the back is pivoted to allow freedom of posture, from a slouch to an upright position.

DIMENSIONS

• Le Corbusier regarded traditional furnishings, with their structures hidden beneath wads of padding and upholstery, as relics of the past. Partnering with Charlotte Perriand and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, Le Corbusier stripped away all excess to create the sleek, elemental LC1 Chair (1928). One of the signature classics of modern design, the back of the chair is attached to the frame by a rod that allows the angle of tilt to change. As the user shifts from one sitting position to the next, the chair back moves with them for continuous support. Pairing the purity of simple tubular steel with the sensual warmth of natural hide, this piece of "equipment de l'habitation" has a sleek look and an air of functional elegance. Each piece is signed and numbered and, as a product of Cassina's Masters Collection, is manufactured by Cassina under exclusive worldwide license from the Le Corbusier Foundation. Made in Italy.

• A fully licensed classic.• The back pivots as you lean forward or back.• Choose from cowhide with black saddle leather arms or

black saddle leather with matching arms.• The LC1 is included in the design collection of the

Museum of Modern Art.

PRODUCT INFORMATION

Materials• Polished chrome-plated steel frame, black saddle leather or

tri-color cowhide seat and back.

CHAISE LONGUE• Designed by Le Corbusier in association with his

partner, Charlotte Periand, and used in the furnishing of his Villa d'Avray, this is the first chaise to be made adjustable by simply moving the whole seat element within its quite separate support frame. The seat is padded pony skin, supported by steel tension springs on a shallow curve of chromium-plated tubular steel. The seat is shaped in three planes, following the line of a flexed body and legs, lapping over the frame at either end, and it lies on the smooth curve of the underside, which is in turn supported by two thick rubber-covered lateral bars on a rigid steel base. The rubber covering allows the seat to be placed at any angle on the two bars, from flat to almost upright, tilted either way, without slipping when you sit on it. This chaise, with its three contrasting surfaces pony-skin, chromium-plating and matt-textured steel, and its leather head pad and straps, seems an elaborate construction, even for a total relaxation chair. But, when you have adjusted the angle to get your feet at a satisfactory level above your head, and settled the position of the head cushion exactly, you find that it is truly one of the classics for complete rather egocentric comfort.

Chaise-longue with adjustable polished chrome plated or matte black enamel steel frame. Matte black enamel steel base. Mat: ponyskin or cowskin (black leather headrest); leather (headrest in black leather or in the same colour as the mat); special beige canvas (natural,dark brown or black headrest and footrest).Headrest with polyester padding.

Designed in 1928 this chair became famous in 1965 with Cassina, the LC4 is the definitive chaise longue: built in a shape designed for relaxation, the chair was created when the three designers teamed together to put man at the centre of their design, taking the idea that form and function should be at the service of relaxation, creating a perfect balance between its geometric purity and its ergonomic intent.

DIMENSIONS

MATERIALS

• Chromed tubular steel frame; black lacquered steel base; polyurethane foam pad and headrest; full-grain, semi-aniline-dyed leather, natural cowhide or canvas upholstery.

GRAND CONFORT

• An offshoot of the long family tree of overstuffed chairs, the Grand Confort is composed of four large loose cushions fitting within a basket -like frame which holds them in their respective positions as arms, back and seat. The frame is made of chromium -nickel -plated tubular steel with a wire mesh across to support the seat cushion. The chair's actual seat space is small, giving the sitter a feeling of being held. It was designed on a cube principle, with the intention of making a chair whose structure was plainly declared, rather than buried inside upholstery. The Grand Confort has complete clarity of design, and is a highly original solution to the problem of real comfort. It can be seen to have influenced many recent designers of ultra -comfortable' armchairs and sofas, notably Mario Bellini, with his 1967 design consisting of big cushions held in relationship simply by a broad strap, slotted as a belt is slotted, through flat retaining loops. The external structure means that the upholstered elements are no more than they appear to be, and they are so designed that they do not need to be fixed in position. This idea of freely arranged upholstery has become popular lately, with various types of joined cushions forming flexible seating elements with and without a supporting structure. Indeed, Le Corbusier's ideas, with a radical new architectural logic manifested in methodically devel oped designs, produced many of the basic principles which showed today's designers the way towards 'free form' in furniture. He, more than any of the twentieth century pioneers of chair design, took the problem back to its most elemental stage, and re -thought the existing structural conventions.

• A rarity in the design of metal furniture is the use of frame elements varying in section according to their function . The bar running around the cushions halfway up the frame is very thin, because it simply works as a tension member,

• Whereas the heavier top bar is actually a structural element connecting the legs. The frame below the seat is an L section. holding the mesh and making a tray in which the seat cushion firmly fits wedged by the three vertical cushions sitting in the same tray on their edges. Instead of bending the tubular steel. Le Corbusier welded the corners where the sections of tube join. and ground them to an acute curve.

• There is a wider version of this chair which deviates from the original cube shape to give a more generous proportion. It seems more conventional in feeling. and unnecessarily large. considering the comfort of the cube version - a comfort that is unusual in such a small arm-chair.

• Armchair with two armrests and armchairs with left or right armrest, two or three seater sofas with polished chrome plated or glossy basalt, grey, light blue, green, bordeaux and ochre or mat black enamel steel frame.

• Loose cushions with polyurethane foam and polyester padding or padding in feather with polyurethane core. Leather or fabric upholstery. An outdoor version is also available for this model.

DIMENSIONS

MATERIALS

• Chrome-plated tubular steel• Horsehair down • Leather

Thank you!!!