Intuited during Le Corbusier’s trip to Sudamerica in 1929 and developed in 1937, the plan for Buenos Aires contradicts general assumptions about his early urban theories. It is not a generic proposal that breaks with the inertia of geographical, histori- cal and formal precedents. On the contrary, it follows Marcel Poëte theory of the cities as organic souls whose destiny is registered in their birth. The Plan is founded on an interpretation of the geographic settings and proposes a metamorphosis of the city on their own footprints, such as they were sketched on a map of 1713. This radical change in Le Corbusier’s formal and theoretical presumptions is due to the intuition of buildings with engineering scale in contrast with the magnitude of the American landscape. Also to the material provided by a previous urban project for Buenos Aires by the Comisión de Estética Edilicia (1925) with a clear agenda for the urban future and a historical interpretation of its historical development filled with old maps and photographs: this publication acted as a hidden dossier and inspired Le Corbusier’s proposal.
Rigotti, A. M. (2016). Le Corbusier’s plan for Buenos Aires. Useful explanations on the birth of the cities. Journal of Architecture and Urbanism, 40(2), 121-130. https://doi.org/10.3846/20297955.2016.1189366
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms
that this article contains no violation of any existing copyright or other third party right or any material of a libelous, confidential, or otherwise unlawful nature, and that I will indemnify and keep indemnified the Editor and THE PUBLISHER against all claims and expenses (including legal costs and expenses) arising from any breach of this warranty and the other warranties on my behalf in this agreement;
that I have obtained permission for and acknowledged the source of any illustrations, diagrams or other material included in the article of which I am not the copyright owner.
on behalf of any co-authors, I agree to this work being published in Journal of Architecture and Urbanism as Open Access, and licenced under a Creative Commons Licence, 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This licence allows for the fullest distribution and re-use of the work for the benefit of scholarly information.
For authors that are not copyright owners in the work (for example government employees), please contact VILNIUS TECH to make alternative agreements.
