Bruno Zevi on Le Corbusier: another way to an “organic architecture”

Abstract

[EN] Bruno Zevi was an enthusiastic promoter of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture and theories. However, the critical enquiry and propaganda of the Italian architect and historian about so-called “organic architecture” reveals a major cultural debt to Le Corbusier. In 1945, Zevi published “Verso un’architettura organica” [Towards an organic architecture], the first version of his history of architecture. The title is clearly a polemical reference to Le Corbusier’s book “Vers une architecture” (1923). In 1977, together with other architects, Zevi promoted the Machu Picchu Charter, a document to “update” the Athens Charter (1933). The places held significance: Athens was the birthplace of western civilization and architectural rationalism. Machu Picchu symbolised the contribution of an alternative way of viewing the world. Are those merely examples of Zevi’s provocations? The relationship between Zevi and Le Corbusier is problematic and ambivalent. Zevi adopts the educational and communicative methods of Le Corbusier and his critical writing style, but his interpretation of the French-Swiss architect also demonstrates an attempt to delineate a new concept of “organic architecture”, related to his researches on a historiographic redefinition of the Modern Movement.

[ES] Bruno Zevi was an enthusiastic promoter of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture and theories. However, the critical enquiry and propaganda of the Italian architect and historian about so-called “organic architecture” reveals a major cultural debt to Le Corbusier. In 1945, Zevi published “Verso un’architettura organica” [Towards an organic architecture], the first version of his history of architecture. The title is clearly a polemical reference to Le Corbusier’s book “Vers une architecture” (1923). In 1977, together with other architects, Zevi promoted the Machu Picchu Charter, a document to “update” the Athens Charter (1933). The places held significance: Athens was the birthplace of western civilization and architectural rationalism. Machu Picchu symbolised the contribution of an alternative way of viewing the world. Are those merely examples of Zevi’s provocations? The relationship between Zevi and Le Corbusier is problematic and ambivalent. Zevi adopts the educational and communicative methods of Le Corbusier and his critical writing style, but his interpretation of the French-Swiss architect also demonstrates an attempt to delineate a new concept of “organic architecture”, related to his researches on a historiographic redefinition of the Modern Movement.