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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle

Thomas Heatherwick gets Le Corbusier all wrong

Roof Terrace of the Modernist & Brutalist Cite Radieuse or Unite d'Habitation (Housing Unit) by Le Corbusier in Marseille, France.
Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse in Marseille. ‘I know Le Corbusier designed buildings to serve people’s needs – real, human needs.’ Photograph: Chris Hellier/Alamy

Thomas Heatherwick believes Le Corbusier to be “the god of boring” and blames him for a generation of flat, shiny, plain, straight, monotonous and anonymous buildings (Thomas Heatherwick’s war on boring buildings: ‘I’ve never gone against the whole industry before’, 25 October). Really? I’ve visited Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse in Marseille and I’ve walked through the wonderful cross section of the building, housed in the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine in Paris. I know Le Corbusier designed buildings to serve people’s needs – real, human needs.

I’ve also seen plans and models of Heatherwick’s monstrous Google “groundscraper” in London’s King’s Cross and have walked past the construction site.

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