Toward an Architecture [Paperback]

Published in 1923,Toward an Architecturehad an immediate impact on architects throughout Europe and remains a foundational text for students and professionals.

Le Corbusier urges readers to cease thinking of architecture as a matter of historical styles and instead open their eyes to the modern world. Simultaneously a historian, critic, and prophet, he provocatively juxtaposes views of classical Greece and Renaissance Rome with images of airplanes, cars, and ocean liners. Le Corbusier’s slogans—such as “the house is a machine for living in”—and philosophy changed how his contemporaries saw the relationship between architecture, technology, and history. This edition includes a new translation of the original text, a scholarly introduction, and background notes that illuminate the text and illustrations. 

Jean-Louis Cohen (1949-2023) authored over 30 books on architectural history and was a preeminent authority on Le Corbusier. John Goodman is a translator and art historian. He has rendered some thirty books from French into English.