The Cartesian sky-scraper, designed by

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

in 1938, is a type of

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifi ...

known for its modern and rational design. This type of modern administration building has its origin in the first sketches for the Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau in 1919, which proposed a

cruciform Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described ...

shape for

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Modern sources currently define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition. Skyscrapers are very tall high-ri ...

s, radiating light and stability. In principle, the cruciform plan (with two axes) does not adapt itself to the path of the sun, which has only one axis. Studying further, it was seen that with this

symmetrical Symmetry (from grc, συμμετρία "agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement") in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, "symmetry" has a more precise definit ...

form about two

axes Axes, plural of '' axe'' and of '' axis'', may refer to * ''Axes'' (album), a 2005 rock album by the British band Electrelane * a possibly still empty plot (graphics) A plot is a graphical technique for representing a data set, usually as a g ...

, the cruciform skyscraper does not receive sunlight on its north-facing sides.

References

{{cite book , last=Abalos , first=Iñaki , author2=Juan Herreros , author3=Joan Ockman , title=Tower and office: from modernist theory to contemporary practice , date=December 2003 , url=http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=9133 , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060918011254/http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=9133 , url-status=dead , archive-date=2006-09-18 , format=cloth , publisher=MIT Press , location=Cambridge, Mass , isbn=978-0-262-01191-4 , chapter=The Theoretical Contributions of Le Corbusier , chapter-url=http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/chapters/0262511908chap1.pdf , page=400

External links

L'Esprit Nouveau_Biblioteca di Area delle Arti sezione Architettura "Enrico Mattiello"
Urban studies and planning terminology Le Corbusier buildings