Le Corbusier as a car designer

Le Corbusier as a car designer: On how Le Corbusier’s architectural vision and background influenced his automotive/industrial design; The Voiture Minimum

Kooij, Edward (TU Delft Architecture and the Built Environment; TU Delft History & Complexity)

Nevzgodin, I. (mentor)

Delft University of Technology

Architecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences

AR2A011

2023-04-20

Le Corbusier had a big influence on architecture with his modernistic approach and style. A big inspiration for him was the car and how they were mass produced and standardized, initiated by Henry Ford with the Model T. Inspiration of car design can be seen in his architectural approach and designs. This fascination led to him entering an automotive design competition with his cousin, creating his own ideal car design; the Voiture Minimum (Lorenzo, 2011).
There has been a lot of research into the career of Le Corbusier. The main reason being his big architectural influence through his revolutionary style and modernistic principles. However, the Voiture Minimum has not seen any of the same success and amount of publications. In Contrary to the opinion of Le Corbusier, is it mostly seen as only a small footnote to his career. With this thesis, my goal is to connect his architecture and car design and try to understand how his revolutionary architectural vision influenced his automotive design.
To do this, firstly there is an introduction an explanation on why Le Corbusier was interested in cars, to create a base understanding of his fascination with them. After that his architectural vision will be summarized and compiled using his book “Vers une Architecture”. Then the Voiture Minimum is being introduced, after which the design approach he took for the Voiture Minimum is analysed and compared to his architectural design approach of the time.
After this comparison of Le Corbusier’s architectural vision and his automotive design, many direct similarities have be found. These similarities that have been highlighted by this analysis lead to the conclusion that Le Corbusier’s architectural vision and knowledge directly influenced and guided his automotive design.

AR2A011
Le Corbusier
Voiture Minimum
Architecture
Automotive design

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Student theses

student report

© 2023 Edward Kooij