Le Corbusier and the Occult

418 Pages·2009·18.788 MB·English

by  J. K. Birksted

LE CORBUSIER AND THE OCCULT
LE CORBUSIER
O

The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England
AND THE
OCCULT
O
J. K. BIRKSTED
© 2009 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical
means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in
writing from the publisher.
MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. For
information, please email [email protected] or write to Special Sales Department, The MIT
Press, 55 Hayward Street, Cambridge, MA 02142.
This book was set in Minion by Graphic Composition, Inc. Printed and bound in Spain.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Birksted, Jan, 1946–
Le Corbusier and the occult / J. K. Birksted.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-262-02648-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Le Corbusier, 1887–1965— Criticism and interpretation. 2. Symbolism in architecture. 3. Modern
movement (Architecture). 4. Freemasonry and the arts. 5. Occultism. 6. Compagnonnages. i. Title.
na1053.j4b48 2009
720.92—dc22
[b]
2008027186
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Its history can no more be separated
from the lands surrounding it than the
clay can be separated from the hands
of the potter who shapes it.
— Fernand Braudel, The Mediterranean
and the Mediterranean World in the Age
of Philip II
In answer to a predecessor at the
Bartlett, Reyner Banham, who set the
problem:
Le Corbusier’s book on architecture . . .
was to prove to be one of the most
fl
in uential, widely read and least
understood of all the architectural
writings of the twentieth century . . .
— Reyner Banham, Theory and Design in
the First Machine Age
CONTENTS
O
Acknowledgments x
PREAMBLE: GROWING UP IN LA CHAUX-DE-FONDS 2
PART I FROM THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 12
1 Intuitive Flashes of Unexpected Insight 17
PART II IN LA CHAUX-DE-FONDS 64
2 A Delightful Evening at the Masonic Lodge 69
3 Which Reveals Itself to Those It May Concern 97
4 A Totally Different Feeling Confronted My Intellect 127
5 The Little Vestibule that Frees Your Mind from the Street 149
6 My Ancestors’ Old Bible to Be Given to Élisa 171
PART III TO PARIS 192
7 Delightful Evening Yesterday at the Quartier-la-Tentes’ 197
8 Knights Benefi cent of the Holy City 221
9 We Felt Like New Beings from Deep Inside the Woods 237
10 To Be an Architect Is Nothing, You Have to Be a Poet 263
11 An Index Card from the World War II Secret Police 289
PART IV IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY 296
12 The Dwelling as the Temple of the Family 301
POSTSCRIPT GROWING UP IN PARIS 322
Notes 335
Index 396