From Earth To Sky, From Darkness To Light: And The Promenade Architecturale Juan Calatrava

Among the theoretical founda- meaning by using the same word, This ‘promenade’ was often tions of some of Le Corbusier’s applying it to the context of archi- associated with the significance most important projects, such as tecture. His ‘promenades architec- that Le Corbusier is known to have the [6a,6b] and others turales’, which mostly take place ascribed to the intrinsic differences lesser-known, is the concept of the from ‘within’ houses, eventually between the two basic systems of ‘promenade architecturale’; an connect to the outside, yet invari- vertical communication: the stair- architecture where movement and ably begin inside. These constitute case and the ramp. If a staircase circulation are given precedence just one of the devices used in a separates and a ramp connects, over the static1. Yet it is precisely Corbusian house to enable the then the ramp must surely consti- here, in the name of the concept inside and the outside to merge tute the most suitable device as an itself, where the first paradox lies: together to form a hybrid that intermediary for this architectural Le Corbusier’s alternative use of a embodies a new idea of home and walk.2 word with an otherwise well-estab- living. Since Le Corbusier, it is However, this does not simply lished meaning. Although the term now possible to ‘go for a walk’ refer to circulation, or rather the ‘promenade’, in the usual sense of within what was traditionally movement needed for fixed and the word, generally refers to a walk thought of as the immobile, sta- definite points to communicate outside (to a ‘walk’ ‘en plein air’ as tionary area, or rather the inside of with each other. Le Corbusier’s opposed to within the oppressive a house, along a route which inevi- architecture is certainly abound 6a,b / Le Corbusier: Villa Savoye. Poissy. 1929. gloom of a house, which became a tably ends outside, suggesting the with designs that stand out for key tool for Rousseau’s thought integration of the inside with the their wealth of circulation and process), Le Corbusier distorts this outside world. movement, such as the circulation

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section1_06_J.Calatrava_lay2.indd 48-49 30.06.15 17:09 of patients and healthcare staff, ‘Grand Narrative’, which has very essence of this villa lies in the Earth to sky, from the dense and sacred´ and where the senses would and modern ‘protoecology’, gave which formed the basis for his provided us with greater insight as variety granted by this ‘walk’, even dark to the aerial and luminous; an be reunited (leaving behind the rise to Le Corbusier’s project. The project for the Venice Hospital; the to the ‘other’ Le Corbusier; a within such a strict constructive element that serves to connect exorbitant privilege of sight) and key player of this project was the different paths taken by workers as character who was far more and structural setting. The ‘prome- human constructions with nature. synthesis would occur between Basilique universelle de la paix et du they make their way around the complex than his lesser image as a nade architecturale’ is a source of From this ‘toit-jardin’, which is architecture and the arts. In the pardon: a telluric temple dug out of Duval and Olivetti factories; the guardian of machinist diversity and allows for a range of far more ‘designed’ than one would same year he began work on a the rocky mountain side that route embarked upon by a visitor as functionalism. In this new, different viewpoints, producing a expect of a simple roof, the ramp project that he would continue to would pass through the mountain they wander through the musée à historiographical context, we can series of discoveries that are spe- leads to a window which provides a improve and amend until the end from one side to the other, from croissance illimitée or in the Pavillon now fully appreciate the extent to cific to a concept of architecture spectacular, framed view, like the of his days, despite the fact that it the sacred cave all the way to reach des temps nouveaux, and the which the concept of the that sees beyond the frontal per- pavilion in Zurich5 would later, of was unsuccessful: the underground the Mediterranean Sea. [6c] The collective ‘promenade’ of his project ‘promenade architecturale’ goes far spective; these discoveries evoke the ever-changing sky of the world cathedral in Sainte-Baume. route, which was truly initiatory in for the beyond the purely architectural and the idea of an intellect that is pur- seen through the prism of the In Marseille, Le Corbusier its most hermetic sense, with its (designed to convey and firmly plants itself in Le suing a continual quest to under- geometry of this window/frame. became acquainted with Édouard sloping planes designed to repre- communicate Walter Benjamin’s Corbusier’s complex world view: a stand the relationship between The ‘promenade’ does not finish on Trouin; a visionary character and sent access to higher levels of spiri- so-called aestheticisation of patchwork of hermeticism, man, his artificial creations and the the roof of the house, but rather landowner of territory in the area tuality by means of physical politics). Interestingly, at the very alchemist thought, more heterodox natural environment in which continues its virtual route through (between Toulon and Marseille) strength, would begin from the beginning of his career, the ramp versions of Christian piety and his these arise. this very window; the spiritual known as La Sainte-Baume, which dark mouth of the cave and lead all already played a key role in both of dualist view of a world in two This ‘promenade’ in the Villa meaning of this can only be under- was named after the legend of the way to the opening at the other his slaughterhouse projects in 1917, halves (built on the foundations of Savoye also allows us to reflect on stood by those who have completed Mary Magdalene who was said to end, where the traveller would be serving as the race for the cattle to dual tensions between light-dark, the special role that history plays this initiatory journey. have lived in a cave in one of the greeted with the glaring light of move along. man-woman, sun-moon, night-day, for Le Corbusier; a role that is both Almost 20 years later, Le hills. Trouin was determined to the Sun (representing Light and However, unlike simple earth-water, earth-air, reason- evident and conducive, despite the Corbusier published his article preserve this territory, which he Fire) and the Mediterranean Sea circulation, the ‘promenade passion, etc.). His was a divided long-standing idea of a supposed titled “L’espace indicible” in 1946, had already predicted would be (Water). This path was illuminated architecturale’ does not aspire to world where the only task of the ‘tabula rasa’ that would entirely in which he formulates the idea of closely tied to seasonal tourism in by both natural light (through sky- lead the walker to any place in architect or designer was to lay disregard lessons of the past. More an immeasurable space, one which the future. This union between lights, which clearly resemble the particular, or to seal off its route, down bridges and to establish specifically, Le Corbusier intro- is linked to the experience of ‘the ancient spirituality, ‘genius loci’ drawings created in Hadrian’s Villa but rather it constitutes an end in connections, no matter how duces us to his concept of the itself and becomes one of the momentary these may be. From ‘promenade’, not as his own inven- keystones of the architecture that the time of his studies until his tion but rather as the (re)-discovery contains it. According to Le most brilliant visual-theoretical of a principle which, according to Corbusier, the ‘promenade’ is what views expressed in the Le Poème de him, was already present in Islamic allows the senses to contribute as a l ’Angle Droit (1955), the architecture: the concept of an whole, rather than just sight alone: ‘promenade’, whose poetics of architecture that rejects the use of by viewing a walk as a means of walking involve both the body and a fixed viewpoint and that can only encountering an experience that is intellect together, transforming a be fully appreciated by walking just as physical as it is emotional, walk into the means of around it4. the ‘promenade’ involves the entire encountering the human The Villa Savoye also allows us body, becoming a comprehensive experience, is nothing other than to appreciate more clearly the deep, tool for knowledge. The the architectonic translation of an cosmological meaning of this ‘promenade’ introduces the ancient initiatory journey from the ‘walk’ along the ramp. The journey temporal dimension into material to the spiritual world; embarks in a deliberately dark area, architecture; the experience of the from earth to sky, from darkness to shaded by the ‘pilotis’, where the progressive passing of time based light: a journey that turns the act ramp is in direct contact with the on a succession of fragmentary of wandering into the path to earth; it rises upwards towards the moments as opposed to a single man’s spiritual purification and light, freeing itself from heavier, moment captured by the fixed, refinement. material aspects. Initially from frontal gaze. In his description of the Villa inside, it leads out onto the terrace, The extensive revision of Savoye in his Oeuvre complète, for turning the ‘toit-jardin’ into the historiography over the past few the first time Le Corbusier first stage, not the goal, of a decades has called into question describes the ‘promenade’ as one of promenade which often ensues in a Modernism’s canonical text, the the keystones of the building. The vertical direction: from Mother 6c /Le Corbusier: Design for the subterranean Basilique de la Paix et du Pardon. La Sainte-Baume. 1948.

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section1_06_J.Calatrava_lay2.indd 50-51 30.06.15 17:09 spectators who penetrated into this den, which was hyper technolog- ical, natural and tellurian all at the same time, would be met with an astonishing display of oversized images projected on the walls, playing out the main themes behind Le Corbusier’s world view in a dramatic, captivating way. The entire inside of this real stomach/ space, which was designed to ‘digest’ and transform the con- formist spirit, forced the visitor, who was perhaps absorbed in the multisensory experience of Le Cor- busier and Varès’ Le Poème électro- 6e/ Le Corbusier: Stair in La Maison de nique, to move about, abandoning l'Homme. . 1960–1967. the tranquillity of the usual sta- tionary position assumed for cinema. Finally, in the early 1970s, Le Corbusier began the final chapter of his series of promenades in La Maison de l’Homme; the pavilion Pavillon Philips. 6d/ Le Corbusier: Exposition Internationale Bruxelles. 1958. that he designed for his art dealer Heidi Weber in Zurich: neither a house nor a museum, this iconic construction was capable of pro- viding a comprehensive summary of Le Corbusier’s architectural in 1911, similar to those that dral of Sainte-Baume was rejected kind of promenade, one which ideas and harbours a variety of appeared much later in Ronchamp) by the hierarchy of the Catholic passed between the ancient history contemporary artwork. [6e, 6f, 6g] and by electric light that was clev- Church, a large part of the symbi- of mankind and its latest techno- Between 1960 and 1967, the design erly altered so as to represent the osis between ancient religious piety logical developments8. [6d] With and construction of the Zurich spiritual ‘tempi’ of this route which and modern spirituality would be the unity of architecture, film and 6f/ Le Corbusier: Ramp in La Maison de l'Homme. Zürich. 1960–1967. pavilion underwent several takes the wanderer from light echoed several years later in both music by Le Corbusier, Iannis changes9, without ever losing that through to more dappled, thinner Chapelle Notre Dame du Haute in Xenakis and Edgar Varèse, the quality of synthesis which lay at the light as it filters through the Ronchamp and La Tourette: two represents Le Cor- very essence of the architecture shadows. religious places where special kinds busier’s 50-year aspiration to itself and which had characterised Research carried out by Flora of promenade were also meaning- achieve synthesis between the arts both the architect and the dealer Samuel and others6 revealed a fully placed (in Ronchamp, the and the human senses. Despite the from the outset. marked connection between this memory of the old pilgrim path use of advanced construction tech- This concept of synthesis project and the concept of Santa and the idea of the large glazed niques, the shape of the pavilion bestowed all its glory on the last of Teresa’s mystical, interior journey, door as the threshold; in La resembled the form of a nomad these ‘promenades architecturales’ and between the influences of Tourette, the cloisters which are no tent, recalling the architecture of designed by Le Corbusier. In the Rabelais’s hermetic thought. The longer ‘hortus conclusus’ but travel (this concept of a modern quintessence of the idea of home reason behind this particular com- instead form a spiral of crossroads form of nomadism led Le Cor- that is the Zurich pavilion, the bination appears to be steeped in of all kinds of sacred routes. busier to call his tapestries ‘mural- main area is constructed of ridged Le Corbusier’s rather personal reli- Some years later, the Philips nomads’). This modern ‘tent’ cubic pieces measuring 2.26 m in 6g/ Le Corbusier: Opening in gious devotion and his dualist view Pavilion for the 1958 Brussels housed a ‘promenade’ which pro- the roof in La Maison de length () screwed together of the world7. Although the Cathe- World’s Fair constituted a new vided a total, sensory experience: l'Homme. Zürich. 1960–1967. by means of metal beams.

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section1_06_J.Calatrava_lay2.indd 52-53 30.06.15 17:09 1 Josep Quetglas: “Promenade architecturale”, in Josep Quetglas: Artículos However, the roof, which rests staircase in the Villa Savoye that enabling sunlight to pass through de ocasión, Barcelona, Gustavo Gili, 2004, p. 205-208. Flora Samuel: Le above the interior space, assumes the joint presence of both these the metal, allowing it to move Corbusier and the Architectural Promenade, Basel-London, Birkhäuser, 2010. its original role as ‘shelter’. The elements would feature yet again in whilst still being enclosed in a 2 «Du pilotis on monte insensiblement par une rampe, ce qui est une vast metal roofing had to be built Zurich as one of the keystones of frame. The house is the ‘daughter sensation totalement différente de celle donnée par un escalier formé de marches. Un escalier sépare un étage d’autre: une rampe relie» (Le first, independently and separately the project. Here, the staircase and of the sun’, proclaimed Le Corbusier y Pierre Jeanneret (1935): Oeuvre complète, vol. 2: 1929-1934, from the main body. In the shape ramp represent the emphatic Corbusier in his Le Poème de l’angle ed. Willy Boesiger. Zürich: H. Girsberger, p. 25). 3 «Dans cette maison-ci, il s’agit d’une veritable promenade architecturale, of a double umbrella and supported invasion of concrete (with visible droit, and the aperture on the roof offrant des aspects constamment variés, inattendus, parfois étonnants. Il by 9 tall, steel pillars, it grants the traces of the wooden timbering) conveys this solar ‘affiliation’, est intéressant d’obtenir tant de diversité quand on a par exemple, admis roof of the building a remarkable, into the light, airy world of metal turning the roof into an area of au point de vue constructif, un schéma de poteaux et de poutres d’une rigueur absolue» (ibid., p. 24). truly sculptural appearance; and glass. The choice to construct contact between the two elements, 4 “L’architecture arabe nous donne un enseignement précieux. Elle s’ap- beneath the top layer, rather than the main body of the building out where human creation exists in précie à la marche, avec le pied; c’est en marchant, en se déplaçant que l’on voit se développer les ordonnances de l’architecture. C’est un principe the traditional attic, lies a new of metal, and not of concrete as harmony with the course of nature. contraire à la architecture baroque qui est conçue sur le papier, autour d’un kind of intermediary space originally planned in the first Finally, from Poissy to Zurich, point fixe théorique. Je préfère l’enseignement de l’architecture arabe” (ibid.). between the inside and the outside; project, creates another kind of Le Corbusier’s ‘promenade 5 Pavillon d’exposition ZHLC (Maison de l’Homme), Zurich, Suisse, 1963 a real terrace that creates synthesis synthesis: the original combination architecturale’ is not only a system 6 Flora Samuel: “La cité orphique de La Sainte-Baume”, in Le Corbusier. Le symbolique, le sacré, la spiritualité, Paris, , 2004, between the flat terrace and the of three classic building materials of movement, nor is it just a way of p. 121-137. Id.: “The Philosophical City of Rabelais and St. Teresa. Le Cor- sloping roofing. seen in modern construction using and appreciating busier and Edouard Trouin’s Scheme for St. Baume”, Literature and The- In this final stage of his (concrete, glass and metal), which architecture, rather it is a complete ology, 13, 2, 1999, pp. 111-125. J. Birksted: Le Corbusier and the Occult, Cambridge (Mass.), The MIT Press, 2009. Juan Calatrava: «Mito, historia, trajectory, Le Corbusier began to is also open to new discoveries such sensory, spiritual experience memoria y arquitectura: cinco episodios en la obra de Le Corbusier», in experiment with other variants of as neoprene, which was very recent designed to transform man and José A. González Alcantud & Juan Calatrava (eds.): Memoria y patrimonio. Concepto y reflexión desde el Mediterráneo, Granada, Editorial Univer- the ‘promenade’. A fundamental at the time. prepare him for a new way of sidad de Granada, 2012, p. 243-307. aspect of the centre of the Mill The staircase floats in the living. 7 Juan Calatrava: «Le Corbusier y Le Poème de l’Angle Droit: un poema habitable, una casa poética», in Cat. Exhibition Le Corbusier y la síntesis de Owners’ Association in internal space, almost las artes: el Poema del Ángulo Recto, Madrid, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Ahmedabad, India was access to independently, like a concrete 2006, p. 9-49. 8 Le Corbusier: Le Poème Electronique, Paris, Forces Vives, 1958. M. Treib: the building itself, facilitated by a sculpture textured with metal Space Calculate in Seconds. The Philips Pavillon, Le Corbusier and Edgar pedestrian walkway via a ramp; ‘passementerie’, whilst light also Varèse, Princeton, 1996. A. Capanna: Le Corbusier. Padiglione Philips, similarly, the ramp was the plays an important role, streaming Brussels, Milan, 2000. Vincenzo Casali: «L’imaginaire du ‘Poème Électro- nique’” , in Le Corbusier. Le symbolique, le sacré, la spiritualité, quote., keystone to the beginning a in from the terrace above. But p. 139-157. journey inside the Palace of perhaps the most remarkable 9 Juan Calatrava: «Una casa para el hombre: Heidi Weber Museum - Centre Le Corbusier» in Le Corbusier. Museo y Colección Heidi Weber, Cat. Assembly in . In the aspect of this project is the sheer Exhibition Madrid, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 2007, Carpenter Center in Harvard size of the ramp, which rises up p. 212-241. (1961-1964), the ‘promenade from the basement, or cavern, on architecturale’ takes on an entirely the ground floor and, with its urban meaning: the ramp crosses upwards climb, is gradually flooded the building, just like any other with more and more light from street in the city, all the while wide, lateral slats; it flows out inviting those who follow it to beyond the alveolar cubes in the engage with the artistic activities north side of the building to exit taking place on either side in the outside, climbing further upwards studios that occupy the two main before returning to the edge of the areas of the building. In 1964, the building and eventually to the project for the Palais des Congrès in terrace. Strasbourg featured a long ramp By just tracing this relatively that stretched from the core of the short route, we are transported building all the way to the terrace from the darkness of the earth in on the roof, not unlike the Villa the basement to the lightness of Savoye, but on a rather different metal and glass, and finally to the scale. union with nature and the victory However, it was not until more of light on the roof. The than 30 years after the brilliant magnificent triangular aperture on partnership of the ramp and the the roof plays an essential role in 5g

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