Charles-Edouard Jeanneret-Gris, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, 6/10/1887 - Cap Martin-Roquebrune, France, 27/8/1965

Charles Edouard Jeanneret, the Swiss-French architect, town planner and designer, played a vital role in the Modern Movement with both his built and theoretical works.

After travelling around Europe and the Middle East, in 1919 he established himself in Paris where he met the artist Amédée Ozenfant who introduced him to purism. They founded together the magazine “L’Esprit Nouveau” and in 1921 Le Corbusier together with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, opened a studio in rue de Sèvres, where over 200 young architects were to pass through between 1921 and 1965.

The work of Le Corbusier ranges from architecture to urban planning, from painting to building furniture. The cornerstones of his work are “The five points of a new architecture” and the Modulor, a range of dimensions at human scale. The house – which he defined “machine à habiter” – and the city where themes which were to continue throughout his life.

Le Corbusier was responsible for 100 buildings, 65 urban planning proposals and the author of over 50 publications.