"He came from an incredible avant-garde in the 1930s" when building techniques had yet to catch up with architects’ ideas. "After the war in the face of a baby boom and slum housing they had to build three million homes in 30 years. When it closed, they started another called "Prelude".Jarcy said that Le Corbusier wrote in support of Nazi anti-Semitism in "Plans" and in "Prelude" co-wrote "hateful editorials".His 1925 urban plan to flatten the historic centre of Paris included razing the Marais, a district long home to the capital’s Jewish community.In October 1940, after France had fallen to the Nazis, Le Corbusier wrote to his mother, "Hitler can crown his life with a great work: the planned lay-out of Europe. "Some of his "vertical cities" were adored by their residents, particularly his Marseille block built in 1945.When the Mediterranean city was made a European cultural capital three years ago, La Cite Radieuse was one of its most visited attractions.Le Corbusier allowed light to bath the double-aspect duplexes with their open plan kitchens, then a design revolution.Inside everything was planned to Le Corbusier’s own human scale he called the "modular", based on his ideal man, who, added Fernandez, was "handsome, sporty and six foot tall".Out-and-out fascistThe image, in fact, of the perfect Aryan. For the architect was also "an out-and-out fascist", Xavier de Jarcy, one of his biographers told AFP last year.Another biographer, Francois Chaslin, said he was a longtime far-right supporter, who was "active for 20 years in groups with a very clear ideology".He said his anti-Semitic beliefs were "kept hidden" long after his death to protect his architectural legacy.Soon after arriving in Paris in 1920 Le Corbusier hooked up with Pierre Winter, a doctor who headed France’s Revolutionary Fascist Party, and worked with him to create the urban planning journal "Plans".

Source: The Nation Bangkok July 17, 2016 09:56 UTC