Cité Radieuse de Le Corbusier. Marseille

A couple of Thursdays ago, with Pauline, we stopped by la Cité Radieuse - the Radiant City. Sam had mentionned it for a while and I had wanted to stop by but it was not on top of my list. Probably because I'm not a huge fan and I probably don't know enough about urban architecture to truly appreciate it. But here it is,  I finally made it. 

View from the roof above and all three pictures below are taken on the roof. 

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Le Corbusier was a pioneer in studies of modern high design and was dedicated to providing better living conditions for the residents of crowded cities. His career spanned five decades, with his buildings constructed throughout central Europe, India, Russia, and one each in North and South America. He was also an urban planner, painter, sculptor, writer and mordern furniture designer.

He believed that his modern architectural forms would provide a new organisational solution that would raise the quality of life of the lower classes.

In 1922, he presented his scheme for a "Contemporary City" for three million inhabitants (Ville Contemporaine). The centrepiece of this plan was the group of sixty-storey, cruciform skyscrapers, steel-framed office buildings encased in huge curtain walls of glass.

After WWII, Le Corbusier attempted to realize his urban planning schemes on a small scale by constructing a series of "unités" (the housing block unit of the Radiant City) around France. The most famous of these was the Unité d’Habitation of Marseilles (1946-1952).