Le Corbusier’s Influence on Southern Vietnamese Modernist Architecture

Le Corbusier was the 'nom de plume' of Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, who was born in Switzerland but practiced architecture primarily in France. He was one of the pioneers of the new modernism in Europe in the 1920s. Arthur Kruze, the Director of the Architecture Department of 'École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts de l’Indochine' in Hanoi undoubtedly presented Le Corbusier’s early work on villas to his architecture students. But it was in the 1950s that Le Corbusier’s work made an immediate impact on Vietnamese modernist architecture. It is likely that southern Vietnamese architects became well aware of Le Corbusier’s work in India, especially the Secretariat of the union government of the Punjab in the new Capitol Complex at Chandigarh, India, in 1953. This building displays the articulation of architectural features in composing the facade, such as the low walls making up guard rails at the balconies, separated from the columns. The horizontal planes at the loggias act as deflectors for light into the interior spaces, as well as platforms for air conditioning condensers. Architectural elements like this with adaptations for the tropical climate became standard features of Vietnamese mid-century modern architecture. [Architectural photography used under CC BY 2.0 license, Source: Lian Chang from New York City, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chandigarh_Secretariat.jpg]