Heidi Weber Centre Le Corbusier, Zurich: Le Corbusier 1967
Completed in 1967 two years after his death, Le Corbusier's last building seems very strange in the context of the huge volume of his work that preceded it, whether the Purist phase of white cubic forms or the later work of organic forms and rough concrete. This museum dedicated to his work, commissioned by Heidi Weber, nevertheless displays plenty of long term Corbusian themes: raw concrete, ramps, extensive glazing, spatial dynamics, but is also an entirely new architectural synthesis. It has (almost unique in his work) an exposed steel frame, and the dislocation of a wildly expressive roof hanging over its orthogonal structure.
And more surprising is its apparent quotation of others' work : the colours of De Stijl, which are its strongest visual element, and the modular metal box form of Jean Prouve. It's also looking forward- extraordinarily- to work to come much later; the fragmented forms of Zaha Hadid or Daniel Libeskind in its roof structure, and even the coloured downpipes of Richard Rogers.
It has, from inside, the feel and scale of an extraordinary domestic space: the 'problem' of the house was for him and most other modern architects a crucial ongoing project. So a fitting work to bookend his career, which started and finished in his native Switzerland. It's a visual compendium of many of the themes of Modernism, by the architect frequently termed the greatest of the 20th century.
