Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts

The Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, designed by Le Corbusier, is a building of intricate spatial devices, carefully choregraphed movement, and revealing views. It is Le Corbusier's only building in North America and one of his last buildings. As such the building is a fascinating collection of ideas, architectural language and devices developed in Le Corbusier's lifetime, compressed into a complex building which reveals and explains itself to you with ease. Elements from La Tourette, Marseille, Chandigarh, and earlier works of the 1920s such as Ville Savoye and Maison Ozenfant are visible. Approaching the building from any angle one is swept up, under or into the building, leading to the centre of it as views of the different volumes and glimpses into the office spaces are revealed. The exhibition space opens up before arriving at the full-height glazed walls of the studio, where the building is effectively cut through in section, split by the ramp and movement of people.