Book ID: CBB001201129

Voiture Minimum: Le Corbusier and the Automobile (2011)

unapi

Lorenzo, Antonio Amado (Author)


MIT Press


Publication Date: 2011
Edition Details: Translated by Penelope Hierons and Barbara E. Duffus.
Physical Details: xii + 351 pp.; ill.; bibl.; index
Language: English

"Le Corbusier, who famously called a house 'a machine for living,' was fascinated--even obsessed--by another kind of machine, the automobile. His writings were strewn with references to autos ... In his 'white phase' of the twenties and thirties, he insisted that his buildings be photographed with a modern automobile in the foreground. Le Corbusier moved beyond the theoretical in 1936, entering (with his cousin Pierre Jeanneret) an automobile design competition, submitting plans for 'a minimalist vehicle for maximum functionality,' the Voiture Minimum. Despite Le Corbusier's energetic promotion of his design to several important automakers, the Voiture Minimum was never mass-produced. This book is the first to tell the full and true story of Le Corbusier's adventure in automobile design. Architect Antonio Amado describes the project in detail, linking it to Le Corbusier's architectural work, to Modernist utopian urban visions, and to the automobile design projects of other architects including Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd Wright. The story is supported by many images and documents, including architects' favorite cars, sketches and models of the Voiture Minimum, and copies of Le Corbusier's correspondence with prospective manufacturers."--Dust jacket.

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Reviewed By

Review Benton, Tim (2012) Review of "Voiture Minimum: Le Corbusier and the Automobile". Journal of Design History (p. 239). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001201129/

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Authors & Contributors
Seiler, Cotten
Firsov, Alexander
Wells, Christopher W.
Votolato, Gregory
Starr, Fred
Sovacool, Benjamin K.
Concepts
Automobile industry
Automobiles
Technology and culture
Technology
Historiography
Design
Time Periods
20th century
20th century, early
20th century, late
19th century
21st century
Places
United States
Russia
Hamburg (Germany)
St. Louis (Missouri, U.S.)
Missouri (U.S.)
Pakistan
Institutions
Ford Motor Company
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