La Ville Radieuse by Le Corbusier, once again a case study

ABSTRACT: La Ville Radieuse, ‘The Contemporary City for Three Million Inhabitants’ proposed by Le Corbusier for central Paris is a myth in the history of contemporary town planning. The proposal, according to Le Corbusier, could increase the urban capacity and at the same time improve the urban environment and the efficiency of the city. The thoughts and design principles embedded in the proposal of La Ville Radieuse quickly became models for architects of the post-war period. Le Corbusier was ambitious for the proposal and he even suggested demolishing the whole part of central Paris in order to adopt it; this of course raised strong objections. Though the proposal has never been realized, it has attracted a lot of discussion. This study employs computer simulation to evaluate the daylight and solar performance of La Ville Radieuse; it attempts to test the propositions of Le Corbusier, with reference to daylight design and to draw conclusions about the design of high density solar cities.