two urban development concept, one proposed by Frank Lloyd Wright - Broadacre City and the other by Le Corbusier - La Ville Radieuse. Both were designed and presented in the beginning of the 30's of the last century.
The first, Broadacre City, was the "antithesis"of a city. it was both a planning statement and a sociopolitical scheme by which each family would have be given a one acre plot of land (4,000 m²). there were few high-rise building for offices and apartments, but the dwellers in this structure typology were expected to be just a small minority. although there is a train station in Broadacre City, the most important transport is done by private cars. Broadacre City is a platform, it has no clear vision and therefore it offers a natural, organic and flexible development.
the second, La Ville Radieuse, is a mega-structure consists on pre-fabricated apartment houses - les unites. each structure is fifty meters high and it could accommodate, according Le Corbusier, 2,700 inhabitants with 14 m² per person. the buildings would be placed upon pillars, five meters above the ground floor which is considered as a continuous open public space. the apartments were available to everyone based on the size and needs of each particular family. every transportation system: pedestrian, cars, subway and trucks is separated and has its own level. La Ville Radieuse is an instant city. it has a totalitarian design with no space for individual expression or flexibility.
Just to let you know, that second drawing is not of Ville Radieuse. It's a project by one of his fellow modernist that he criticizes in the Ville Radieuse book.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment. i will change the image. however, there are only few images of La Ville Radieuse. therefore, for now, i will post an image of another urban project designed by Le Corbusier - Ville Contemporaine, which has some similar elemnts.
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