Digital Guide

B 3     In the Studio

B 3.1.

In the mid-1920s, Le Corbusier began working in two different studios, using space to structure his working process. The workshops in a former Jesuit monastery at the Rue de Sèvres in Paris, which are no longer extant, consisted of a long corridor with a small office for the “maître.” This space, designated for the design and planning of construction projects, was where his staff, including Pierre Jeanneret, André Wogenscky, Charlotte Perriand, Georges Candilis, Jerzy Sołtan, José Luis Sert, and Fernand Pouillon, worked.

B 3.2.

By contrast, the live-in studio in Immeuble Molitor at Rue Nungesser-et-Coli, which Le Corbusier built and then moved into in 1934, was primarily intended for solitary work, design, and art. Le Corbusier was convinced that regular artistic activity fed a vibrant imagination. At the same time, it provided a counterbalance to the many restrictions and constraints of project-based architectural planning. 

1 LC Armchair

Le Corbusier designed numerous pieces of furniture throughout his life. Early on, he understood the furnishing of apartments as integral to architecture. He designed some pieces himself, while others were collaborations with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret and the architect and designer Charlotte Perriand (1903-1999). This was the case with the LC1 and LC2 armchairs and the LC3 sofa, which the trio designed for the American writer Henry Church’s villa and presented to the public in 1929. The construction of these pieces emphasised the separation of the supporting structure from the upholstery, which was completely novel at the time. Due to Le Corbusier’s greater fame, these items were marketed with the abbreviation ‘LC,’ which repeatedly raised the question of their authorship.

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