Lecture
March 10, 2016
Mary McLeod
professor of architecture at Columbia University
Introduction: Stanislaus von Moos
Lecture hosted by LTH3
“Architecture and Revolution”
Le Corbusier’s Architecture and Politics from Regional Syndicalism to Vichy
This lecture examines Le Corbusier’s architecture and planning proposals from the1930s to World War II, examining in particular his projects for the Radiant City, Radiant Farm, and Algiers. It focuses on the relationship of these works to his political ideas, especially his involvement with a little known political movement Regional Syndicalism during the 1930s, which was part of a larger tendency in France during the period known as l’esprit des années trente. It also considers his involvement with the Vichy government in the early 1940s and the projects undertaken under its auspices. More generally, it explores the transformation in his aesthetic approach from the white villas of the 1920s to the more rustic and regionally based projects of the 1930s and how this transformation might be linked to the changes in his ideological position during this period.
Mary McLeod is a professor of architecture at Columbia University, where she teaches architecture history and theory. She has also taught at Harvard University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Miami, and the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies.
Mary McLeod is the editor of and contributor to Charlotte Perriand: An Art of Living and her articles have appeared in journals including Assemblage, Oppositions, Art Journal, AA Files, JSAH, Casabella, and Lotus as well as anthologies such as The Sex of Architecture; Architecture in Fashion; Architecture of the Everyday; Architecture and Feminism; The Pragmatist Imagination; and The State of Architecture.
She has received numerous fellowships and awards, including a Fulbright Fellowship, NEH award, and grants from New York Council of the Arts and the Graham Foundation. She received her bachelor of arts, masters of architecture, and doctorate from Princeton University.
Her research and publications have focused on the history of the modern movement and on contemporary architecture theory, examining issues concerning the connections between architecture and ideology.