Atelier Le Corbusier

W. Boesiger, ed., Le Corbusier, Oeuvre Complète, 1946-1952, Zurich, 1953, pp. 198 and 204 (for a similar model in the Unité d'Habitation, Marseilles)
W. Boesiger, ed., Le Corbusier, Oeuvre Complète, 1952-1957, Zurich, 1965, pp. 117 and 124 (for a similar model in the Villa Sarabhai, Ahmedabad)
Dominique Lyon, Le Corbusier:  Alive, Paris, 2000, p. 104 (for a similar model in the Unité d'Habitation, Marseilles)

The exterior lighting fixtures offered here are two of five surviving examples from Le Corbusier’s Mill Owners’ Association, Ahmedabad.  Designed in 1952, as noted in a  drawing for the model, executed by Yosizaka Takamasa, a junior associate at the Atelier Le Corbusier, and dated February 11, 1952 (currently in the collection of the Fondation Le Corbusier), the organic curves of the piece may have been influenced by the small pebbles and shells that Le Corbusier found and collected.

Le Corbusier used the lights in various sizes to illuminate pathways to buildings and public spaces he designed, including the Unité d’Habitation (1946-1952), Marseilles; the Sukhna Lake promenade (ca. 1955), Chandigarh; and the Sarabhai Villa (1955), Ahmedabad.

in situ photo credit:

Mark Lyon (c) 2005