My first time... at the Le Corbusier Pavilion

It is one of the last hot days of late summer in September when I approach the Le Corbusier Pavilion on Höschgasse for the first time as a visitor. The lighting conditions created by the low autumn sun would surely have been very much to Le Corbusier’s taste. He understood ‘architecture’ as ‘the artful, correct and magnificent interplay of building forms gathered under the light’. The asymmetrical pavilion could not be more skilfully set against the interplay of light and shadow. The colourful enamel panels create a magnificent spectacle of colour. The last building designed by Le Corbusier is also his only one made of concrete and steel. The structure appears timeless, contemporary and bears witness to his lifelong engagement with colour.

I am drawn straight to the top, to the roof terrace. I step outside through a ship’s hatch. It actually feels a little as though I am out on the high seas. The curved balustrade is modelled on a ship’s railing. There is a red chimney, and the grey-painted benches are reminiscent of those on excursion boats. The panoramic view towards the lake and the Alps does the rest. What an architectural sleight of hand: the waves of the garden pond are reflected on the ceiling, stretching towards Blatterwiese. Up here, amidst the interplay of sun and shade, and between architecture and nature, one breathes in a fresh breeze of Le Corbusier.

Back inside the pavilion, the outdoors remains ever-present. A defining feature of Le Corbusier’s style is the use of metre-long ribbon windows. These could only be structurally realised because the architect separated load-bearing from non-load-bearing structural elements. As one walks through the building, one repeatedly encounters columns situated in the middle of the room, reduced to their functional purpose.

The annual temporary exhibitions always explore the architect’s life’s work from a specific perspective. The current exhibition by Lucien Hervé is entitled ‘Built Light’. It consists of photographs of works by various artists, but is primarily dedicated to the complete works of Le Corbusier. The two were bound by a close friendship: Le Corbusier said of Hervé that he had the soul of an architect.

The audience in the pavilion consists of architecture-hungry hipsters who bustle busily through the building engaged in lively discussions, pausing repeatedly to listen to the e-guide on their large headphones. Le Corbusier’s relevance seems undiminished. One definitely wants to come back, not just to see the pavilion in a different light.