Le Corbusier was both an interesting and important character in the context of European and philosophical history. While many of his colleagues were trying their hand at other ventures, Le Corbusier set out to help the people around him. This noble cause is what has cemented his legacy for so many years and it is, because of that, what he is primarily remembered for among his other works. In short, one can think of Le Corbusier in the context of his work with urbanism and from that, he can truly be understood as an influential architect.
There were a number of modern thinkers who had a profound impact on the world around them, but few were as successful as Le Corbusier in directly influencing the world around them. For Le Corbusier, urbanism was about using his talents and all of the hard work that he had put in in order to truly create some real change. The difference in him and a lot of the other thinkers around his time was that instead of only having random thoughts running around his great mind, he put them down onto paper and put them into action. One of the earliest examples of this can be seen in his 1922 project called Immeubles Villas. Lots of thinkers during that time thought that the world revolved only around the rich, wealthy, and elite of society. It can easily be argued that Le Corbusier’s legacy has been carved out because of his willingness to help out the common man. Instead of only focusing on those people in his immediately social class, he spent his time and talent figuring out how to raise the quality of life of those folks around him. With that project in 1922, Le Corbusier created something that looked a bit like a prison, but would still figure to improve the quality of life of those who would eventually take up residence there.
The interesting thing about the work of Le Corbusier is that he was never really satisfied with small accomplishments. Many of the thinkers during that time would have been completely content with helping out a few people. He, on the other hand, knew that in order to truly cement his legacy and make a change, entire cities had to be created. His works was purely modern, as well. He was one of the first thinkers to understand that cities needed to be built upward instead of outward. His design for new cities included lots of steel, lots of modern architecture, and lots of height. Everything was designed to run towards the sky. An interesting thing to consider about the thinking of Le Corbusier was that he would also consider things that other architects failed to consider during that time. He not only wanted to build cities, but he wanted to build the most efficient cities that one could possibly put together. He wanted to design cities that would be able to evolve as time passed along. That is why he would consider locations for transportation centers and even though his ideas on transportation were a little out of the realm of possibility, the fact that he extended the thought was important in itself.
All in the all, the legacy of Le Corbusier is a complicated one to consider. As a thinker, he changed the way that people considered the world. In a way, he was on a different level than all of his contemporaries, which is truly unique.
