Le Corbusier’s Cinematics

Le Corbusier is a great master of 20th century modern architecture,whose architectural works and ideas have deeply influenced architects and urban designers until today.Apart from architectural and urban designs,Le Corbusier also took part in other art branches,including painting,sculpture and domestic furniture,at the same time tirelessly propagating his own ideas through lectures,exhibitions,publications and even public media,in order to bring modern life filled with new spirit to people living in modern age.Nevertheless,the close relationship between Le Corbusier and films has seldom been discussed,and Le Corbusier’s architectural designs have never been systematically analyzed from the perspective of cinematic architecture,in spite of the fact that Le Corbusier was one of the architects who were the first to take part in cinematic practices-Le Corbusier actively explored the art of cinema on his own initiative,kept in touch with a wide rage of photographers and film-makers,and frequently presented and propagated his own works through photography and cinema.Besides,in the new-born but complex research field of cinematic architecture,the definition of"cinematic" or "cinematic architecture" hasn’t been systematically elucidated.Therefore,in this thesis,the author will try to define what is "cinematic space",based on which the relationship between Le Corbusier’s architectural designs and image will be analyzed.Therefore,this thesis could probably fill the gap in the study of both Le Corbusier and cinematic architecture.This thesis argues that it is due to the great importance that Le Corbusier attaches to visual arts and human body that multiple cinematics emerge in his architectural designs.Different from the geometrical analysis used by most of the scholars on the topic of Le Corbusier’s architectural design,this thesis helps to re-understand the architectural spaces designed by Le Corbusier,because the author analyses Le Corbusier’s cinematic and living spaces which are human oriented from the perspective of cinematic architecture.Besides,this thesis analyses Le Corbusier’s cinematic space from three levels.At first,the author uses the method of typology to distinguish cinematic spatial elements which imply architectural ontology,after which the timeline and spatial narrative are brought in to explore how the combinations of spatial elements help strengthen the perception andexperience of human body in architecture from the perspective of empiricism.At last the living events of the real living situations about how the space is used are analysed through sketches and photography.These three levels are a continuous and progressive process,from ontology,architecture and abstraction to extensions,life and concretion.In addition,this thesis helps to re-understand cinematic space,for the author argues that the characteristic of "cinematic" is multi-dimensional,that is,the dimension of elements,narrative,and daily life.Then the author gives a hypothetical definition of "cinematic architecture",which may serve as a designing method for cinematic spaces.Contemporary architecture is closely linked to new visual media,and more and more architects begin to attach importance to the integration of architecture and the media of image,while using image to assist architectural design and extend the sphere of architecture.In addition,this thesis tries to make clear the definition of "cinematic architecture" from a certain extent and provide a design method for "cinematic architecture" based on the analysis of Le Corbusier’s cinematic spaces in the background of contemporary information age,in order to strengthen the visualization and narration of architectural space and the interaction and the perception of human body,as well as offering a new thinking for interactive space and image-augmented-reality space in the contemporary field of architecture.