Les conditions de la nature sont retrouvèe: The Tower of Shadow in Chandigarh and Other Le Corbusier’s Masterpieces

Abstract

The topic of solar control in architecture goes back over the relation between the shape and the light, which is a finely architectonic relationship. It is not a purely technical issue. The plastic properties of the architecture are emphasized by the light and the shadow. Le Corbusier’s almost unrecognized work is the Tower of Shadows, built at the center of the Chandigarh’s capitol as a part of the Fosse de la Considération. The Tower of Shadows represents the construction of a method. It is a significant reference for the architectural design issues, in particular for the architects evermore called to solve the requests posed by the energy issues of which the solar control has a constitutive role. The contemporary challenges suggest us to get back to the architectural principles that should not be contradicted as Le Corbusier and other main exponents of the twentieth century had theorized. The Tower of Shadows in Chandigarh makes clear the principles and reasons that are at the base of the relationship between architecture and nature, in particular the relation with the sunlight. This construction, even in its elementary skeleton, alludes to an architecture. It is a manifesto.