Le Corbusier, a Famous Influential Swiss-French Architect That Shaped New York City

Architect, designer, urbanist, painter, and writer

Regia Marinho
4 min readOct 8, 2022

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I prefer drawing to talking. Drawing is faster and leaves less room for lies." — Le Corbusier.

Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, known as Le Corbusier, was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, and writer.

He was one of the pioneers of modern architecture.

Le Corbusier.

He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930.

One of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture.

His ideas helped shape New York City more than his own designs.

Le Corbusier was an influential architect and city planner. His designs combined functionalism with sculptural expressionism.

The headquarters of the United Nations in New York City.

It was designed by Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, and Wallace K. Harrison (1947–1952).

The headquarters of the United Nations occupies a site beside the East River between 42nd and 48th Streets, on between 17 and 18 acres (6.9 and 7.3 ha) of land purchased from the real estate developer William Zeckendorf.

UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld in front of the General Assembly building in 1953. Wikimedia Commons

Le Corbusier and Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer collaborated on the design for the United Nations headquarters.

Le Corbusier designed the General Assembly building that is at the heart of the UN.

New York only technically has one Le Corbusier design, but his influence can also be found in some of the city’s housing.

A hundred times have I thought New York is a catastrophe, and fifty times: It is a beautiful catastrophe. — Le Corbusier.

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Regia Marinho

I write about ideas, technology, the future and inspire the world through art. Artist. Civil engineer. https://regiaart.com