The legacy of Le Corbusier
A town in the Massif Central region is set to become an unlikely world
heritage site, thanks to a unique collection of buildings by the
controversial pioneer of urban architecture
By John Lichfield
Published: 19 December 2006
Firminy is a small, industrial town, part old, part modern, in a bowl of
beautiful, wooded hills on the edge of the Massif Central. You might
easily be in the Pennines or in the valleys of south Wales. On the high
street in the older part of town, loudspeakers broadcast merry, seasonal
music, including "White Christmas" and "Jingle Bells" in French. This
might seem like an odd place to seek the blueprint for a contented,
urban future for mankind. Look again.
In the new year, one district of the town of Firminy is likely to be
declared a world heritage site by Unesco, joining a list which includes
the banks of the river Seine in Paris, the lagoon and canals of Venice
and the Tower of London. The coal mines on which Firminy's prosperity
was originally built closed down in the 1930s. Engineering has prospered
and slumped. Now the town believes that it may be sitting on a mine of
long- neglected, tourist gold: the largest concentration of buildings in
Europe designed by the most influential, the most admired - and the most
detested - architect of the 20th century.
His name was Le Corbusier. He died in a swimming accident in 1965, aged 78.
cont'd....
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2086681.ece